** Look @ the views!! **

Happy Good Friday to you!!!

I hope you are enjoying the lovely, long Easter Weekend.

I have been away from Blogland for a while as we have been away to stay for a while with our relatives over in Northern Ireland, but I'm back now and having loaded up the hundreds of photos that we took I thought I would share a few.

Look at these amazing views over Lough Eske. Hubby and I treated ourselves to a night in a hotel overlooking this stunning scenery.

On the way to the hotel we stopped in the famous pub, Biddy O Barnes. I loved it, a roaring fire, old flagstone floor, traditional decor & furnishings and fab coffee!!! Hubby had to have Guiness of course!!



And the beautiful beach at Rossnowlagh, Co. Donegal. which has to be one of my favourite places ever! Not the best photo due to the overcast skies but I love the way it captures the waves crashing in and how there is hardly anyone else on the beach.



We had a fabulous time catching up with friends and family, shopping, walking and generally relaxing and chilling out. But after almost 2 weeks living out of a suitcase we're now happy to be home and enjoying the wonderful sunshine.

I'm sure I'll be scrapping some of these very soon!

* What's On Your Workdesk *

I haven't joined in with WOYWW for a while, but this morning as I was sat doing some scrapping I thought it would be fun to participate this week so grabbed the camera and took a few pics to share with you. So this is a pic of the table in the dining area part of our living room which is as it looks most days .... a mess! We rarely use the table for eating, although I do clear it from time to time but I will admit that most evenings we eat our dinner sat on the sofa in front of the TV. I love working at this table as it's beside the patio doors so I get lots of daylight and today was lovely with the sun streaming in. So on my table there is the obligatory cup of coffee and the new issue (purchased this morning!) of Scrapbook Magazine but more interesting are the 3 storage boxes/baskets that you can see at the back of the table. I have a set of shelves just behind the table which stores some of my stash, with the rest upstairs in the spare bedroom. But I like to have the things I use the most close by. It's a case of if I can see it I will use it! So I have these 3 on the table whenever I'm scrapping.

• The cake tier stand which stores my favourite punches in the bottom and glues, adhesives and my acrylic stamping block in the top two tiers.


• The little white basket holds some of my stickers and embellishments.

• This plastic storage box is overflowing with Thickers, alphabets and more stickers. Anything new goes into either this box or the little white and lilac basket.

Thanks for stopping by and if you want to know more about WOYWW pop over to Julias blog to see more crafty desks.

* House Renovations Part 2 *

I had hoped to post Part 2 yesterday but just didn't get chance. The day started very early as I was woken around 7.30am with pressies, cards and flowers. Then it was off to the Dance School as H had a tap dancing examination. Fingers crossed she did okay! It was such a lovely sunny day we decided to go out for a walk on the beach and I was treated to lunch out as it was Mother's Day. Hope all Mums had an equally fabulous day!

So, anyway on with Part 2 of the lounge renovations!!

Once all the replastering was done, our builder fitted a new radiator!!

With the structural stuff done it was time for us to take over with the painting and decorating. We painted the walls, wallpapered the feature wall and painted the fireplace white! A new electric stove finished the fireplace and looks really cosy with the flame effect on. If we had known how difficult it would be papering around a chimney breast we would have had a rethink but it was a case of now we've started .... we have to finish!

So, now that the walls are painted, the feature wall done, window frame painted .... we could start laying the new wood floor!!

This is about where we are up to. It's a long, slow job as we only have the weekends and hubby has managed an hour or two some evenings.

We STILL have to finish the floor, fit skirting boards and the door architrave, put up the new curtain pole and ceiling lights. I'm sure it will be worth it when it's done!