Loving Lampwork

I've just been naughty and bought some more Lamp work beads, this time from Crafted Gems I couldn't resist. Sorry Jimmy!

When I first started making jewellery properly almost two years ago I knew very little about the components, I didn't know what Lamp work was or how to use tiger tail or make ear wires from silver wire. I used cheap glass beads that looked pretty but had no story but that's fine because i was learning, I still am. I like to tell a story. I did a jewellery party last week at a pub near my house and I took my lower cost items and lowered the prices further to meet the market. For ease I priced all my earrings at £2 a pair or 3 for £5 bracelets £4 or 3 for £10 necklaces £8 or 3 for £20. Most of the pieces were just simple pretty glass except for one bracelet. I was trying to tell the customer about it, give her a little idea of what she was buying but she didn't even listen which was just rude. I was trying to tell her that the bracelet was made of Chinese Jade which I bought from a market seller in Dubrovnik whilst on my honeymoon. Now if I was buying a £4 bracelet and someone told me a story like that it would make the piece all the more special. Plus the fact that I actually pay attention when I am being spoken to.

And that is ladies and gentlemen why I will never lower my prices like that again. If you want cheap crap go elsewhere. You get what you pay for. Funnily enough some one has convo'd me on Etsy today and asked me to sell them my Marina earrings for $15! Seriously WTF?! I'd made a serious loss if I sold them at that. THE PRICE IS THE PRICE IS THE PRICE

Anyway, moving on before I move into perpetual ranting. I really want to make my business as ethical as possible. The wholesaler I use only uses ethical suppliers and claim that their products are all fair trade. I want to replace the plastic carriers I use with recycled and re-usable packaging. To me the point of buying handmade goes beyond the quality of the piece and the skill involved, you are supporting someones dream. We should all support small businesses and we should all consider what we spend our money on more carefully. Times are hard for most people right now and it's time to put your money to better use. Obviously if you are struggling financially you aren't going to buy jewellery but you can buy from markets selling local produce and farm shops.

So to follow on from this I want to promote the people who create the beautiful beads that I use. When I sell a pair of earrings I want to be able to promote the bead maker and tell their story, and weave that through mine. Create a new story.

My newest creation... the story? Oh right, yeah, well, you see...errrrm?!

Mt First Treasury

I'm so happy that I finally got a treasury. Please, go take a look here

Obsessed? I'm not obsessed, who said anything about being obsessed, not me not me. maybe you are obsessed and your calling me to mask your obsession?

Okay maybe a little. Heres a few more pics of Marina

In day light
and with flash

My god how pink are my fingers?

Ok so I changed my mind

They are on Etsy but I'm going to add some more photographs once I have some better ones.

The most beautiful earrings in the world

I was a very happy girl last night. When I got home I noticed that there was some post for me. Now ignoring the £500 in energy bills the post was great. Firstly my comic arrived (Elle) and then my newest addition to the bead family my Marine Lizard beads made by bead artist Laura . My housework plans thus thwarted I sat with my pliers and made some earrings. I tried numerous combinations of beads, none doing the beautiful beads justice until I stumbled across the perfect combination. Now I've taken a couple of pictures and they really don't show them off properly. May I introduce Marina...

I was going to put them on Etsy but until I have some better photographs they're not going anywhere.

Laura's work is truly inspirational, these beads are so intricate and beautiful and that makes it almost too easy to make something gorgeous. The combination of the antique gold and olive Swarovski Crystals with the beads is amazing. I was so lucky to finally get to buy her beads. They sell so fast!

I must say I have Jelveh to thank as she convinced Laura to sell her lonelies. Jelvah is another amazing Lamp work artist you should take a look at. So thanks Jelveh.

One day I'll try Lamp work, put me down for a course next year Laura!

Holmfirth Craft and Food Market

Saturday was craft market day in Holmfirth and although I'm not going to be retiring on the profits anytime soon I had a good day. On the way there we took a couple of wrong turns (my fault for reading the map wrong and his fault for not knowing better than to trust my map reading!) and so we were a little late but it didn't seem to matter as a few of the regulars arrived after us.

The market building itself sticks out like a sore thumb in picturesque Holmfirth, a mid 20th Century golden stone box nestled amongst the19th century blackened buildings. It's split over two levels. Upstairs leads onto the main street and the downstairs entrance is on a much quieter back street. They have recently reduced the size of the market, limiting the traders to one floor, curiously the lower floor. Inside the market has recently been painted and looks clean and much more inviting. The stalls were covered with sunshine yellow canopies with light bulbs running along making it all look very pretty from the outside.

There were about 5 unoccupied stalls and 10 occupied, 5 food and 5 craft. I have tasked myself with recruiting new traders. I'm going to approach local Etsians who create appropriate lovelies and invite them. I really believe that with a little perseverance this can be successful. In order to have a stall over the summer you must become a semi permanent trader now, it's quiet at the moment but it will be worth it in the summer, I'm sure. The council sent out 10,000 fliers this week and it's going to be advertised in the local press.

So If you or anyone you know would be interested in attending email me at apriljaneellis@yahoo.co.uk Please note that Jewellery stalls are all taken, sorry!

Running out of time

Last night I was nowhere near as productive as I needed to be so I have a lot of work to do tonight. I'm going to make a quick tea and then get straight on with organising. I'm going to ask Jimmy (hello!) to nip to Tesco with Suki and get some sandwich fillings and nice bread for tomorrow and some bottles of water or pop so that I can make up a packed lunch (Thanks X)

The busts are great. A little small but some of the necklaces look amazing on them. I measured my fabric and its 9 foot by 5 foot and the stall is 10 by 4 so it's a little short but its wide enough to accommodate so boxes underneath that will give height. The I have two black acrylic hands that are great for bracelets and three Ikea jewellery trees. All of my display items are black and really show off the jewellery. I'm going to take some pictures throughout the day tomorrow and post them here on Sunday. I am a little anxious about it all, I want it to go well because I'm hoping that this could be a regular thing for me. Tomorrow the goal is to give out business cards and cover the stall and petrol costs. Obviously I'd love to make a decent profit but and it's still early in the season and the weather is still cold I'm not expecting miracles. Still fingers crossed.

Ooh, and Jimmy would you like to pick up a couple of packs of mince and some bread cakes for Saturday night burgers. (and maybe bacon and plastic cheese too?) xxx

Spring has sprung

I'm so excited that Spring is almost here. The crocuses and daffodils are blooming and the snow has gone. The sky is dark grey today but I don't mind that, rain is good. Rain brings life...... and bad hair.

Tonight I'll be getting ready for the craft market on Saturday. Pricing items, pinning them to the boards packing up my display equipment. I'll try and get all that done tonight so that tomorrow I can step back, look at my stock and make some more to fill any gaps I see. I know I'm always going on about how excited I am well I'm uber excited about this! I need to have everything done tomorrow night as we have to be there for eight thirty on Saturday morning so it all has to be ready to go in the car. I'm also going to make a packed lunch and some bottled water as I don't want to be spending all my takings on refreshments.

Yesterday I ordered some display busts from a shop in Ireland and they arrived today. I had them delivered to my brothers house rather than work and I haven't seen them yet but my he took a piccy and sent it to me.

He's going to bring them down later and I can chose which necklaces to display on them. Ooooh even more exciting!

Bye for now

My adventures with Jimmy, Suki and Jeremy

It's funny, almost two weeks ago now I was panicking, relatively calm on the outside but not so calm on the inside. Being made redundant by a company I have really enjoyed working for was tough, especially when you have just been told that profits are up and we are doing well. Then just five days later my dad offered us a little car he uses to go to the allotment in. She is Suki Suzuki Swift and she is lovely. Jimmy and I went a brum brumming all over this weekend. It was so good to be able to visit friends without having to make a whole weekend of it every time and it's been great to have him home at a reasonable time on a week night.

And then... a manager in another department, one I worked in when I first joined the company, offered me a position in her department. It was crazy, I've never had a week like it which tells you how generally great my life is. Sure there are highs and less highs but no real lows, I'm a lucky girl.

And then there's Jeremy. Ahh Jeremy was a lovely little green finch who decided to fly at full throttle straight into my office window on the first floor. Seeing him fall I ran downstairs to see him lying on the floor twitching and blinking. I saw no blood or obvious injuries so I very gently picked him up and he straightened himself up and hopped onto my index finger. He didn't move, I think he was stunned poor little thing. I have to say it felt lovely to have this gorgeous little creature in my hand. I sat with him for a while and he seemed to perk up a little bit so I took him over to a little bush and popped him down under it. At first he wouldn't let go of me but I soon convinced him that he would be fine. I went back inside and cut the bottom of a plastic water cooler cup and filled it with a little water and placed it next to him, I gave him a little tickle and went home. I felt so guilty leaving him and all night I was worried. The next day I ran straight over to his bush and he was gone. I heard later that a colleague had gone to capture him and take him home and he had seen her and flew away. See me and Jeremy, we're buddies.

Total turnaround

I can't say much because I don't want anyone I know professionally to read this but lets just say that I no longer need to worry about a job. To celebrate the elimination of that need James is taking me to Wagamamas in Leeds on Friday night to celebrate that and payday! Mmmm Chinese Chicken Dumplings.

In other news my dad gave us a car the other day! How great is that. It's a little runaround he uses to go to the allotment. We are picking it up on Saturday, I'm so excited! James' 2 hour bus rides to work will be cut to a 45 minute drive (in light traffic) and I'll see him more and we wont have to rely on people for lifts. I feel so happy today, funny how things can turnaround so fast.

Muchos apologies for not being around much lately, my head has been all over the place but rest assured everything will be back to normal soon.

XXX

I'm in a treasury

Thanks to Gillian at Iheartcrafts for including my blue wonder bracelet in her first treasury. I love being in treasuries but it is extra special when the creator is someone you admire so much. It's a beautiful selection. Thanks Gillian

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=40572

101

So, there was shock, denial and then real internal anger, hidden from view. Now there is acceptance and clarity. Tomorrow I will update my CV (yes I know I should have already done that!) and have a look online. I've always wanted to work in schools, I think I'll look into being a teaching assistant.

So anyway back to the really important stuff. I've been creating! Yay! And it's about bloody time I can tell you. I've been really slack lately and not made anything. I sent a general text to all my girlfriends on Thursday apologising for whoring myself out but asking if they new anyone who would like to have a jewellery party. It worked, my sister has got me a stall at a local pub, they are having an, ahem, Ann Summers party and she said I could pop along so I will.

Here we have some lovely Amethyst and Citrine pieces, all made with sterling Silver fittings. I have just listed them on Etsy, I'm really going to try and push that over the next few weeks.

100th post!

Should have been a positive one but I don't feel that way out so tough! LOL

I feel settled here. I know what I am doing and I do it right. I don't want to start again somewhere new, I love knowing what I'm doing. But, I have no choice so I'm going to take it as an opportunity for self improvement. Even though I don't feel particularly positive today I'm going to go to my friends house tonight, drink some wine and turn this into an exciting adventure. Worrying will achieve nothing I'm just going to look as hard as I can for a new job and really try with my jewellery too. I'm not going to whinge too much, people are losing their homes, families and lives at the other side of the world. My problems are tiny by comparison and I am thankful for everything I have.

crap crap crap crap crap day

I'll keep it brief but essentially today I have been asked to relocate to London or be made redundant. Given the practical aspects of moving there it's not an option. Being epileptic I can't drive and it would take around 4 hours each day and cost around £80 a day when I earn around £50 a day. I have a house wth a mortgage here in Yorkshire and My husband works up here. So in 5 weeks I am out of a job and we don't have a disposable income. Practically every penny we earn goes on bills and food. I'll be back later when i'm less pissed off.

Black Sea

I love this necklace, it's the first piece I've made in a week or two and I love it. The large stones are lack agate and that's teamed up with black fire polished glass and hand made lamp work beads.

This week

I have honestly not known weather like this for years. My messy garden hasn't looked this good for years!


The streets are still covered with snow and there is more forecast for tomorrow. We have been lucky enough to see some sunshine yesterday and today but the snow is sticking around. Don't let the golden sun fool you it's still freezing

The day after my birthday I was very lucky to receive something really special through the post all the way from down under

I needed a case for my new camera and Camera Girl over at Light Renditions very kindly sent me one in the gorgeous fabric. She also sent me a mini version which as luck would have it fits the new I pod mini I got for my birth day perfectly.

There was also a new little friend in the package but I'll show her later.

I've been amazed by the interest in my new weight loss blog since i started it. Above all I've tried to be open and honest and that seems to work. I have a wonderful life but it still gets hard sometimes and I can be my own worst enemy. I was looking through other weight loss blogs and found some people who are really lost, trapped by their own expectations of themselves and eating disorders. People who I just want to throw my arms round and heal. If only I could.

It's bedtime soon. I want to have a great nights sleep and wake up refreshed tomorrow. It is after all another day

I did it

Check out my new blog

www.aprilelliswomm.blogspot.com

Thanks

I was considering starting a weight loss blog the other day and then I realised that I couldn't think of enough to say to fill it or make it in the slightest bit interesting so I thought I'd bore you guys with it instead. I was thinking that if I blogged my progress it might be easier to keep up with. I'm not overweight, despite what the Wii Fit says, I'm just a little chubbier than I want to be and because I am only a short arse I don't carry extra weight well. I have set the 28th March as my target date and my goal is to lose 20lbs. Yes this might sound a little unrealistic but I set this goal some weeks ago and have only lost a total of 2lbs so that's 2.3lbs a week to lose which actually doesn't sound too bad. So including this weekends weigh in I have seven to go before the final eighth week. Why the 28st March? Well because the following weekend I have my cousins wedding to attend and the day after is James' 30th birthday and one of my presents to him will be a slimmer wife (although he is happy with the one he's got) Hopefully that will also make me a more confident wife and eliminate the "I'm too fat to wear that" panics I get. So every Sunday or Monday I will post my progress and I wont be able to lie cause James reads this blog. Also by the 28th of March I am going to have saved enough money to buy myself a new outfit for the wedding to show of my new silhouette.

I'll also post any great tips or recipes that i discover. I'm really good at making chuck it in and hope for the best soups that are both healthy and yummy so I'll post whatever I discover.

I'm lucky that my lil' brother is a fully qualified fitness instructor and nutritional genius so I have him on hand if I need advice. I might even start an "Andy's health tips" section in fact I might set him up a blog and force him to write on it! Wow, that would be great and you'd all stop by would you?!

Off to start a blog

ta ta!

Random blogging

My walk to work was somewhat treacherous this morning, the roads are very icy and the pavements are even worse. I was skidding all over the place until happily a colleague was driving past and picked me up. I'm bored of the snow now, I want to be able to wear my pretty little summer dresses again and have picnics and sit outside on a light evening and drink a glass (or two) of Blossom Hill white Zinfandel. Mmmmmm. Oh and not have to spend a fortune on gas heating the house.

The back of our house is actually the front. The kitchen overlooks a small road and the living room overlooks the garden and some allotments over the garden wall. The garden is split in two by a path that runs down the whole terrace. This year (probably may) we are hoping to patio the garden, it's very small and barely usable as it is so my plan is to pave this side of it and put some nice planters out and a table and chairs so we can have barbies in the summer. Plus then we wont be letter out immaculate gardened neighbours down anymore! The other side of the path is very small and we have a laurel bush and three largeish conifers. I'm going to build a raised bed and plant veggies. I'm also going to invest in a small water butt and compost bin. We are also hoping to rewire the whole house so I don't know how we'll manage but hey, we'll find a way. Me and my big ideas!

On a completely different note I've had to cut my blog list down somewhat as it's got over 40 blogs on it so I'm showing the 25 most recently published blogs. I do however still visit the others and you can see them all by clicking "show all"... obviously LOL.

The Karisma interview

I have this week been lucky enough to be interviewed by the very lovely Karisma

1. What is the most amazing thing you have ever done in your life?

Gosh this is a difficult one. It depends on what you mean by amazing. The best thing I have ever done is marry James, our wedding day was the best day of my life and knowing I'm going to spend the rest of it with him is amazing.

When it comes to jaw dropping awe inspiring amazing I would have to say that the travelling I have done has been just that. I have seen some amazing places and had great times all over the UK and Europe. James and I have been fortunate enough to have been on two cruises and we have seen the most amazing places such as The Vatican City, Rome (obviously! We visited the Colosseum)Pompeii, Florence, Portofino, Barcelona, Dubrovnik, Korcula, Venice, Kefalonia, Corfu and France. As a youngster I spent time in Braunschweig, Germany and whilst there I visited Hamburg, Hanover, the Hartz mountains and Berlin. In Berlin we went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum and touched the wall. I've also visited London and Edinburgh (Despite what many foreigners believe all English people do not live in London and it is not the only city in the UK) and traveled extensively through England and Wales. Now I would love to go further afield, Canada, United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. I would also love to visit the Scandinavian countries and see the Fjords.

I also have had amazing times with amazing friends. I am very fortunate in that I have a really great group of friends who I love dearly.

2. If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be and why?

At this moment in time I would say Australia because I'm sat in a cold office looking out at snow. I'd really love to live in Canada but I think James would prefer America, California in particular which I have to admit does sound appealing but I'd prefer to live in the southern states of the US and play my country music all day wearing boots and a stetson!

There are so many places around the world that I would love to visit. I might just pack up and pitch my tent in Karisma's yard!

3. You sing like an Angel and are a very talented jewellery maker! Do you prefer one over the other?

What a lovely question, thank you very much. Most of my childhood was spent dancing and singing in my bedroom and dreaming about becoming an actress and singer so that's a passion that's been with me for a very long time. I guess I go through stages, when I was at Uni it was all I could think of (I did a Theatre Degree) or if I go to a gig I get all inspired and I go away with big ideas. Sadly I am probably one of the least motivated people you will ever know and I rarely follow an idea through so when after a few months of jewellery making I realised that I hadn't jacked it in like every other fad I'd had I realised that this was something special. My ultimate dream would be to move somewhere picturesque where there's a good but compact music scene and do small gigs now and again by night and make and sell my Jewellery by day. If I was forced to give one up forever I would chose the Jewellery because successful or not I could never totally give up the music

4. We all have embarrassing moments! What was yours and did you ever live it down?

Wow, erm well thankfully I haven't had that many. When I was about 10 I had to play home on the range on the guitar in a school play and the dress rehearsal was in front of the whole school. During my performance I heard sporadic giggling from the several hundred strong audience. Afterwards a teacher came over to me and suggested that I wear thick black tights next time as the whole school could see my nickers! I was horrified LOL

5. Do you plan to have children? If so how many would you like? (Be careful what you wish for! HEHE!)

No, neither myself or James want children. I realise we may change our minds and I'm open to that but I doubt it will happen. That being said I do love kids, James and I have 7 Nieces, 7 Nephews and last week we welcomed our great Nephew into this world.

Thanks Karisma, that was quite a challenging interview.

If you would like to be interviewed by me just follow the instructions below.

Here’s the directions:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me."

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions)

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Haven't heard my music? Visit www.myspace.com/apriljanewalker

The White Stuff

So rare is it that we have heavy snowfall that here in the UK we are so completely unprepared for adverse weather. One or two inches of the white stuff sends us into a nationwide panic, as it has done today. I wish I had brought my camera because it sure is pretty but it's two maybe three inches at most and it's closed thousands of schools and caused countless road traffic accidents. The problem isn't that we are a nation of softies but that we are ill prepared for such weather. We don't have snow tires for cars or snow shovels to help us get out of our own garages. Buses stop running at the hint of snow and workplaces are left with a skeleton staff. It took me about 10 minutes longer than usual to walk the 4.3K to work, my feet are still numb but I got to work to find that colleagues who live closer to work than me aren't coming in because they can't get their cars out of their streets! These people are in no way unable to walk in they just see it as a good excuse, well I don't.

James unfortunately could not get to work this morning as neither of his buses were running and as we don't own a car and 50K is a long way to walk in the snow he was stuck. So he is at home irritated at having to use a days holiday. He'll be fine though, his Xbox will cheer him up I'm sure :)

Earlier on I was looking at the sun (yes directly) and it was so strange. It was really bright but you could see the snow moving across it like thick fog. It was quite beautiful but it's gone. The sky is solid grey and the snow is falling thick and fast.

Ohh we had a moment of bright sunshine but another big cloud is approaching although it is a little less solid and I can't see any snow.

My baby brother has just emailed me these pictures taken at his house. Last week when we met this little fella we were sure that spring was on it's way

However today the crocus sprouts are hidden below.




Oh and it's snowing again!

Follow me on Twitter...

please. I'm aiming for twitter world domination but I can't follow more than 2000 people until 2000 follow me. I currently have 1320. Help!

http://www.twitter.com/aprilisjewels

Oh and hello February!

Friday yay!

This week we are having a quiet weekend. I'm going to the pub for a quick pint with some of the guys from work and then home. Tomorrow I'm going to do the tidying I keep threatening to do and make some jewellery. Same again on Sunday and then pub quiz at night. I'm hoping for some sunshine so that I can take some nice pictures of pretty things.

Have a great weekend

Weekend pictures

First things first, meet Barbarella

The Amethyst jewellery I made Cathy

One of the not so crystal chandeliers I bought for the hall and landing

My wonderful friends, my over enthusiastic hubby and my baby brother

The daffodils I mentioned before

and the lovely flowers Cathy and James bought me

One year older

I'm 27 Yey! I love birthdays and I don't mind getting older. Maybe that's cause I'm in my 20's! I dunno but lets face it, aging is far better than the alternative right?

I've had a great few days. I had Friday, Monday and Tuesday off work so it was a really loooong weekend but coming back to work today was hard. I'll have lots of pictures to show you from my birthday party.

James' mum bought me some cut daffodils for my birthday and I totally love them. Tulips and daffodils are quite possibly my favourite flowers. As soon as I see them poking their little heads through the frosty earth I know that lighter nights and warmer weather will follow.

Of course I change my mind with the seasons so in a couple of months when we are. My friends Cathy and James also bought me some rather lovely flowers which are helping the daffodils brighten up the living room.

I think I will tidy the living room tonight, it is quite tidy but I think I'll tidy up the bookcase. We have a lot of sorting out to do in the house which I would like to have done by spring. Cupboards full of things in that we do not need. We have so many lovely things that people have given us over the last few years and so I feel that we need to get rid of the unnecessary crap so that we can show off the good stuff.

Bloggers block

Yes, panic not I am alive. I have been suffering from a raging case of the above and in a bid to cure it I will attempt to write a post with a point.

First things first I have very kindly been given a Marie Antoinette blog award by my adoptive web mum Karisma

So now I have to pass it on. Hmm this is a toughy, I read so many blogs I'll have to decide that later. But for now thank you very much Mama K.

So on Saturday my parents very kindly took James and I over to Holmfirth to check out the craft market and I have to say I was very disappointed indeed. It was totally empty! There were three stalls and no customers. I'm not paying £20 to stand there all day and not sell a thing. I do feel that I would like to revisit the Market a little later in the year and see if it improves. the space is good and it's a popular with tourists. A very nice gentleman has just taken over running it and I spoke to a colleague of his today and she said that he is trying to restore it to it's former glory and I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help that. It was his day off today so I am going to call him tomorrow and have a chat about it with him. I'd like to encourage local crafters to get involved, i think it would be fun.

So afterwards we drove over to Hebden Bridge and had a look around there, it's a lovely little town, very picturesque and quaint. I asked about craft fairs and they have one once a month from the spring so I'm hoping that I can get a stall there at some point.

Tuesday was payday, thabk god, and it was a great day. We had a lovely healthy food delivery from Asda and I placed an order with my jewellery supplier. I bought some gorgeous things, Amethyts, citrine stones, black agate, crystal, swarovski crystals, Sterling silver beads. I'll show you what I made from it after I've given her it.

I have friday Monday and Tuesday off work this week for my 27th Birthday on Monday. Woo! On Saturday my friend and I are having a joint party so I'll be sure to post some piccys. It's fancy dress and James and I are going as Barbarella and Buck Rogers!

Herbal tea and cottage cheese

My lunch today consisted of cottage cheese, celery, red pepper and tomatoes. Team that with Nettle and milk thistle tea and loads of water MMmmmmm! LOL. It was Okay but pie and chips would have been much better but I aint bobbing for five miles to ruin it with nice food! Next week will be different, next Tuesday is payday so I'm going to order food to be delivered and get some nice healthy food so that I don't have to make do with what we have. It's much easier to lose weight when you actually like the food you are eating and luckily for me I love salad, fruit and veggies. I can eat a whole lettuce in one sitting and love it but sadly within 10 minutes i'd be hungry for something else.

Tonights tea is sorted, one of our relatives very kindly bought us a slow cooker for Christmas and it's great. Last night I chopped some leeks, potatoes, carrots and broccoli and chucked it all in with some stewing beef and stock. Threw in some broad beans cause I love em and filled it with water and it's been cooking since 7.30 this morning on low. It feeds four so we are going to have it tomorrow too. I used lean beef so with the exception of the small amount of fat in the stock and only a few spuds in there it's pretty healthy. By the time I get home this evening it will have been cooking for around 10 hours so the broccoli will be mush but I've been craving veg after eating quite a lot of beans on toast lately. I am very suseptible to cravings, we don't eat a lot of meat and when we do it's chicken, it's rare for us to eat red meat but I get cravings for steak when I haven't had it for a while. I could just eat a plate of Veg but my body would tell me that it's not good enough and I need carbohydrates and protien too.

I can feel the hunger bubbles in my chest, better get another cuppa!

Walking on Air

The new series of 24 started last night, I watched the first couple of series and liked them but couldn't be bothered to watch the rest so I left James watching it in the living room. I decided to do my usual thing of putting on my I Pod and dancing in the kitchen like Animal from the Muppets. I'm not trying to impersonate him you understand, it's just how I dance. So I'm dancing away to Pinks new album and I'm thinking "Hmmm physical activity, how unusual, i think I'll do more" So out comes Bob the Air Walker. We bought Bob over four years ago after seeing that a friend had one and having a go. It seemed so easy to use and not hard work at all.

Meet Bob

But Bob and I never really saw eye to eye, I didn't understand why he wasn't losing my weight and he didn't understand why he had to stay folded up against the wall in the spare room. He felt unloved and alone and I felt heavy.

But last night something magical happened, an alien stole my consciousness and replaced it with that of a self motivated determined person. She worked out like a crazy person, initially working to my target of just 20 minutes, she decided to round the calorie counter number up to a whole number and then realised that she was at 37 minutes. Might as well go to 40! 40 came but So What was blasting through the headphones so she decided to wait until the song had finished but by then we were at 44 minutes. Alien April obviously shared Human Aprils Obsessive tendencies and couldn't stop at a number like that, no she would continue to 50. Why not make it an hour she thought as U2 and BB King belted out When Love Comes to Town. As Bono disappeared Roxette took over with listen to your heart and took her to 60 minutes and 38 seconds. The number irritated both Alien and human April but her thighs simply would not continue. The Alien then floated off and left me knackered but happy! Now I know I said that it seemed easy when we first had a go on our friends Air Walker Bill but if you are doing it properly it isn't. I was going so fast, using my arms and legs to try and get as much out of it as possible and I feel great today, I'm a little stiff but not as sore and achy as I expected.

Tonight I'm going to get on our Wii Fit and so some rhythm boxing then tomorrow back on Bob.

Craft Market A'hoy

I've been looking for a craft market to sell my wares at for ages now and I was beginning to get sick of looking when I discovered that there is a very local Craft Market in Huddersfield. I've never visited it before so this weekend I will be going to have a look around and size it up. I will be looking at the location, how busy it is and how the stalls are displayed. I want to make sure that if I do get a stall it's worth my time. I hope it is cause I'm really excited about it.

I'm also trying to get a treasury over on Etsy, I keep thinking I'm timing it right and the number will drop low enough for me to get one but when I go back its up to seven hundred and something. It's very frustrating as I really want to get one. I guess persistence is the key.

As 2009 is going to be the best year I've decided today that I'm going to get organised tonight, get some serious tidying done, I may even do some ironing!

Howdy ho

It's trying to be a sunny day today, I really miss the sunshine. I'm really craving the spring now, just an hour a day more daylight would be wonderful. I'd love to see the sun high in the sky instead of skimming the horizon. I'm hoping it lasts so that I can take some better pictures of the bracelet I listed on Etsy today.

I made it last night from some of the pretty beads I was telling you about. I'm sure I've said this before but it really makes me think of spring. I'm loving turquoise greens blues and yellows at the moment. I'm definitely a seasonal girl!

It's the height of summer in Australia, I wish I was there now.