Q. What do you get when you cross 3 over-tired mums with a heap of scrapbook stash and a trip to London?

A. A perfect 48 hours.

Admittedly Sheila and I should have had a smidge more than 48 hours for our whirlwind visit to see Jo, but the 7.05am flight to Southhampton (which required an alarm call at 4.15am!) didn't actually take off until 12.10pm. Not an ideal start - I mean, who actually wants to spend 4 and a half hours in Costa Coffee in George Best Belfast City Airport? Although, if you're ever delayed and need some cheering up on your way to somewhere lovely can I suggest you phone Sheila and invite her over to spend the time with you! I can think of no one who would help put the time in quicker, and to be honest, it went very quickly and the £7.50 food vouchers did aid our caffeine high nicely! See below for details of time and the gigantic bowl of cappucino!

When we did finally make it to Jo's we embarked on a splendid weekend of coffee, buns (clearly Sheila and I had a head start on that!) scrapbook loveliness and shopping, topped off with a trip to see Hairspray in the West End. Amazing fun all round. Sheila and Jo are fab fun and Sheila's alter ego, 'Brave Sheila' provided some controversial entertainment along the way! I amazed all and sundry with my unwavering self-control over my wallet (firmly trained by Martin Lewis - he would have been so proud) and came home with enough money to allow a brief online shop for some new stash for all the layouts in my head. A wonderful time all round.

I thoroughly recommend creating a bit of girl time on a regular basis - it's working for me!

I shall leave you with a photo of Patrick in full concentration on the marching (a term we use loosely when associated with the Anchor Boys!) at the display a few weeks ago. I doubt that a child has ever practised singing the marching tune as avidly as Patrick did in the run up to the display - it was the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean and we had to download it and make him a cd of it so he could master it perfectly. I suspect this may how he travels through life - totally prepared and dissatisfied with anything short of perfection. Please pray for us as we deal with this!!