We are united...yes!

Before Christmas I received a box full of goodies and my friend told me they were just for fun gifts and my real Christmas gifts would come later....

We waited and waited... she thought it was probably lost forever so contacted the seller. The seller told her to tell me to get in touch with the mail company on my side to find out where it was. I had no idea who to contact as we have Royal Mail and Parcel Force ( as well as a few other companies but these 2 are the ones used by the seller). So in the end I got in touch with the seller and got the information I needed. This was Saturday, the UK postal service and banks are only open until 1pm at the latest or not at all so it was a fruitless attempt at phoning Parcel Force as I just got a cheerful, nice but I can't do a hell of a lot for you assistant. I was all in a panic, maybe even made myself a little ill from it as I wasn't sure how on earth on Monday I was going to get in touch with the mail company due to my working hours and breaks. At some point my younger brother let it slip that he had the day off, I asked him if he would deal with it which he said he would if I left all the details. I ended up feeling so guilty as he ended up wasting his whole day sorting out Parcel Forces mistakes.

Basically whoever came to deliver the parcel on the 12.12.12 found no one home at the time they attempted to deliver it. The thing is I know my mum is home at that time as she teaches some of the neighbours to read the Qu'ran and they are here between 2pm and 3pm and they attempted to deliver it in that time...supposedly. The deliver driver left no card to alert me of where the package was, which really makes me wonder if the package was taken straight to the post office instead. I have never had problems with Parcel Force before, if anything the drivers are so friendly and compared to Royal Mail actually attempt to get your parcel to you, they usually always come to the back as we are a corner house so it baffles me as to what went wrong.

Anyway as I didn't after 2 weeks attempt to get the parcel, the Post Office sent it back. With it being a Wednesday and Post Offices being open for half a day only except those in the city, it was taken to one there so there was no chance of my local one at some point putting 2 and 2 together, as sometimes things work in weird ways that get a connection even though they don't know me by name. I would have been happy to collect it from the post office as the city center is not so far away from me so that wasn't a problem. The Parcel Force office is another matter entirely as it would mean going in to the next city and depending on the location it would take 30 minutes to a hour to get there.

To make matters worse, the person who collected the parcel didn't scan it in when they got to the Parcel Force deport so when my brother phoned they had no record of it and were trying to send him on a wild goose chase but finally they realised they had no leg to stand on so some poor soul had to check all the parcels for mine. Eventually they found it, as they weren't kind enough to make the journey to get it to me that day my brother had to arrange for it to be left at the post office as no one would be home.

Imagine my absolute delight at finally getting the package but my annoyance at them sticking a sticker on demanding for me to pay £1 for their mistake.

Convenient Delivery my a***. I was thinking to start with that my year was supposed to be a positive one but how can I stay positive about something like this. Then I decided that this is something that happened last year so I will stay positive that after a month of being on its voyage it will not get sent back to the seller and I will receive it. I did receive it and love everything.

 

My niece had her fingers in everything telling me its hers, in the end I agreed to her having the pencil tin which she took home to put all her pens and felts tips in.

 

Hopefully you have had some great mail days also. I did get a card as well but forgot to take a photo of it.

Secret Santa

I got a taste for Secret Santa when I was part of yahoo groups and really enjoyed it. Once I left them though I quite missed taking part so its nice that some of the places I work do them. This one despite being at this work place 6 years only the lower end of the school organised it where I didn't work until this year.

 

I saw this at the first store I went to and really liked it but I loved the red one and both of those were broken, the orange one I liked but I know its not a colour a lot of people would go towards (except me!) so I debated about this pink one.... in the end I left it as the handle on the lid is just stuck on with glue and painted silver... it looked so messy and really spoilt it for me. I ended up going to a few stores with my sister on her weekly shop but with a limit of £5 it was so hard to find anything appropriate. Only in one store I liked some pocket mirrors but it just felt too small to be exciting.

 

On the Sunday I even went into the city center but found nothing that I could buy, my partner is a coelic so getting a box of biscuits/chocolates was out of the question. In the end I went back to the store and picked this up and just stuffed some sweets in for her children as I knew she would ask me what to use it for (even though it pushed my price up to £6). Which she did as I was sat next to her. I've no idea if she liked it or not but everyone else loved it.

 

As for me.....

I got a pair of slipper boots. I bought a pair of slippers this year and considered getting myself some but decided not to as I want to just slip my feet in and out easily, plus all the ones I saw were white which is a big no for me as I end up going out in to the garden to throw rubbish in the bin etc... so they would have ended up disgusting. These however are black and sparkly, I really like them even though they will take a little time to get use to as I'm used to having support on either side.  

 

Do you like taking part in Secret Santas?

It's Today!!

I aren't doing anything exciting for the day which is nothing new as its like any other day for me but with presents. We do usually get a take away and someone turns up with a cake but this year neither will happen due to fasting. The take away won't be worth it with only being able to eat a small amount and the cake will just have a quarter taken out of it and then left to be moved from A to B then eventually thrown in the bin (my chocolate boxes are still sat closed would you believe!). I said we'll do something after fasting has ended as its also my wedding anniversary whilst fasting too. Next year will be the same but probably the year after won't... we'll have to see!

First the packages and cards arrived. I never imagined that I'd receive so many as I don't send things to all friends anymore and I keep telling myself I need to stop completely as I can't do things in small doses which isn't fair on my friends.

The friend who sent me these knows that I love altering things as she's sent me boxes and other such bits and pieces in the past. She always spoils me so much with what she sends. I already had so many ideas of what I was going to do when I came online to find a lovely e-mail from her and a link to explain my present to me. I have to share it with you as it may encourage you to buy some to try but remember you need to put your tea light candles inside a glass jar first in order not to burn the bag. Here's the link. Its now another project I can add to my list.

I absolutely love Morning Glory characters and prints but its so hard to come by Korean stationery these days. It was hard when I first became aware of Morning Glory but there were still bits and pieces that you could find but now its like they have disappeared off the face of the earth. So when this friend wrote to me on some Blue Bear paper I told her I was glad she did as I love it. So imagine my surprise when I opened this present and there was a pad for me. Its going to take me a long time to use this one as I won't want to part with it. She also matched the pen colours with it as I usually write in the colours that I can see on the paper but for some time I've stopped doing that as I can't seem to find the right pens anymore as I can only write with fine ones. If she'd stopped at this I would have felt spoilt but she went even further and sent me a tape and note cards which I'll use for make my day notes.

This one was wrapped but its the first thing I opened as it was on the top and realised I wanted to photograph everything. Its a really cute bag and wallet, you can never have too many bags right?  I love these little dolls and its such a cute print.

This arrived in the second box with my tapes. It was a super spoiling box as I got a letter and lots of brochures for a place my friend is staying in at the moment. I loved looking at everything and can't wait to use some of the things. So you can see a notebook,  pen, pen topper, pencil case/make up bag, a self control keyring (I really need that as I can only stay patient for so long), a badge, a book light which I can attach to my kindle cover so I can now read when its dark, a butterfly glow lights and a pig rubber and pencil.

Last of all plenty of cards from everyone. I haven't photographed all of them so please don't be upset if yours isn't there. My niece told me the blue pen closest the spine is my name, the blue blob is an apple. She told me off the other day for making a green apple when apples are red, I asked about her blue one which she suddenly looked upset about... oops! You've also got the sunshine at the top (she usually draws faces in them) and her name along the bottom... I can't believe she's growing up so quickly as she's 3 already. Its weird to think she'll be reading and writing soon as she's already drawing cute little people.

This isn't the last of my birthday post. You'll have to come back to see the rest tomorrow as it would end up too photo heavy otherwise.

Thank you so much my dear friends for such wonderful gifts.

Enjoy your Saturday!

My turn now...

Yesterday I showed you thing that I would be giving to people and today I decided to share with you some of the things that I have received mostly from children...

A handful of 'Thank You' cards, shop bought and handmade which were just so sweet, I could have cried.

I received 2 bunches of flowers which were exactly the same which is a good thing as I just put them both together to make a bigger bunch. I also received another pot of flowers which I really liked and I can't wait to keep it growing like my Roses one. I really now need to get a house to store all these wonderful plants in.

I received way too much chocolate but I'm not complaining as next year I'll be lucky if I get anything at all. With Ramadan hopefully starting on Saturday they will take forever to get eaten.

I also got a mug which I forgot to photograph and I'm too lazy to get up and do it now.

The background paper is cute don't you think, it looks so oriental and I'll have to think of something to be able to craft with it. I received this book from the teacher I worked with which sounds so interesting but its a little like wreck this journal in that some aspects of it are childish but I don't care as I know I'll have fun practising my drawing skills and relaxing. It would have made a nice cut out and keep idea for each area too. Like looking up different cushions, lamps etc... for your rooms to co-ordinate. Someone asked to see the inside on my Instagram so I took some photos of that too...

Tomorrow is my last day and I can't wait as I'm truely and utterly exhausted. For the first time in ages I slept all night and was rudely awoken by my alarm clock at 6am for my niece. I really could have kept sleeping.

I'm really not looking forward to September which makes it worse knowing my holidays will soon fly by.

Are you going on holiday this summer or will you be lucky enough to have some time off too?

P.S My cups were a hit!

It's for you....

I never usually give people at work any type of gift but this year and last I worked with 2 ladies who have really spoiled me with things. One of them I am currently working with but we will both face big changes in September so will no longer work together but may still see a bit of each other considering the location I'll be in. The other has been offered the chance to work in another school for a year and I'm so happy for her to have this experience. I wanted to get them both a little something and I've really struggled to find the right gift, I went yesterday to the supermarket to buy chocolates in the end but just looking at the selection I felt bored and came away having bought nothing. It wasn't until I was trying to sleep last night that I decided to create a feel good relaxtion package of hot chocolates, chocolate biscuits and a cup.... I thought it would be so easy as both stores near here always have tonnes of novelty mugs/cups but typically because I wanted one they had nothing. It was such a struggle to decide which cup to buy as all were plain coloured, clay looking type or really just your average cup... in the end I forced myself to buy this one which I actually really like but it wasn't quite the type of cup I had in mind.

When shopping a couple of weeks ago I saw this style of bag in a few different sizes and really liked them but didn't buy any. I then had the thought to buy one of the ladies daughter the bag and fill it with craft kits etc.... I got as far as buying the bag but just haven't had the energy to do anything more with it, I just seem to lack motivation which is probably why that right present never surfaced for anyone as my mind and heart just aren't in it. I had a look through what I had and came up with these things, I will be giving lots of loose notepaper but decided to photograph just this one as it was a present for me.

The little Miffy a friend in The Netherlands sent me and she told me they bring good luck, she sent me one and 3 to pass on. I really need some luck in so many areas of my life so hopefully it will work for me.

I came across a UK craft supply swap on swapbot over the weekend and decided to take part as I have so many supplies and some I've had for so long that I wanted to pass them on in order to get something fresh and new. Only problem is that I stupidily thought the swap was going to be posted on the 21st which is the first day of my holidays and I thought I could take my time sorting through my things to send. So imagine the shock I got the next day when I got an e-mail to start swapping and the deadline was actually the 21st. So in the end I had to go through my box for make my day to gather some things together. I just hope the person receiving this will like it. (the paper selection are actually a pile of one sheet each from the paper pads I own so all of these together will make one pad).

I have so far received some chocolate from the children at work myself and may get some more tomorrow. Then with it being my birthday next week I have a huge box full of presents to open which I have been adding to as letters and packages are flowing in. It's all so thoughtful.

Have you been celebrating anything lately?