I Hate Housework

So take a guess what I'm supposed to be doing right now. Instead I'm sitting at the computer, eating my lunch, listening to James Blunt and updating my blog! LOL
To be fair, I have done 4 loads of washing this morning (including sheets and towels) and that was on top of the 3 loads I did yesterday. Admittedly the folding is still in the bedroom and calling my name. (*sticking fingers in ears "I can't hear you"*) I have also done the dishes, put toys away etc. When I get off here, I have the kitchen floor to wash, the beds to make and the folding to do. I've done a few other little things though. You know how it is, you go into a room to put something away and find something in there that needs doing so you do that and find some rubbish. So you take the rubbish out to the bin and on the way remember that you haven't taken the meat out of the freezer for dinner yet or cleaned the milo stain off the couch. You do those and spot the box of baby toys that you got out last week for a visitors child that Miss Four has commandeered so you repack the box to take it back to the shed...... Well you get my drift.

Brendan's dinner went well the other night. He was placed on a table with all the VIP's - the Federal MP and her husband, the State MP and his wife and the Mayor and her husband. Brendan and our mayor go way back and she is a lot of fun in a social atmosphere - if somewhat eccentric. She was at the 20's club dinner the other night as well and definitely had people laughing. I'm not saying I support her policies and the way she runs the town but I do like her as a person. There was also a couple of local councillors on the table. He didn't get home until almost midnight and then he was picked up early yesterday morning to collect for the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal. He came home and then went to work for a few hours. Came home and then went to church. That boy has a social life!! LOL

I scrapped last night. I have been steadily collecting Carrie Stephens kits for a few months now and just haven't had the chance to scrap with them yet. Then last week I won a $10 voucher to Fishscraps so I went shopping yesterday. I thought I'd better do a layout with some of her kits and so here is "Shortcut". I thought it was about time I did a layout of Brendan. It's so hard to get nice photos of him because he pulls faces when he sees the camera but I'm really happy with this layout. Background and strips from Carrie Stephens Bellissima; Journal Strip and staple from Carrie Stephens Family Togetherness; Get Funky Frame by Carrie Stephens; Artisitic Adornments by Carrie Stephens. Fonts - Cheapskate Fill, Pass the Chex and No Mystery

Well, I'd better go and finish my housework before it is time to pick up Miss Four from preschool. She is still not well but I couldn't keep her home. One of her friend's mothers is helping out there today so she is keeping an eye on her for me. I really hope she shakes this 'flu. She's had enough of it poor thing.

Under 8's, Police Cars, Ambassadors and Coconuts

Bet you're wondering what this is all about? Well I figured if I put it in the title, I'd remember all the things I had to tell you. LOL
So this week has been just the busiest week I can tell you. Thanks to my ISP, I almost didn't get to meet the gorgeous Judy from MacDigi but a quick trip to an internet cafe and 15 mins of sorting through emails and I found the one I needed. So I headed down the coast and met a lovely woman and her equally charming husband.
The photos are all still on my camera but Judy has posted one on her blog. I think my face needs a bit of photoshopping but it is still a nice photo. Isn't it great when you meet someone and you feel like you've known them for years? That's what it was like when I met up with Judy. I didn't stop talking the whole time.

Yesterday was Under 8's Day and I rugged up my miserable and fluey little girl and got her out into the sunshine to enjoy the festivities. She wasn't terribly interested in participating in a lot of the crafts and unfortunately by the time she brightened up, most of them had run out of supplies and were cleaning up. The local fire brigade and police force had parked their vehicles up on the school oval so we went up for a look-see. We provided laughter to the other parents and children when the fire engine set off its siren as we were walking in front of it. The fire safety Koala was wandering around having his photo taken with children but when they approached Miss Four, she hid behind me and told me that he smelled and she didn't want her photo taken. You would hope that she would have communicated this to me in a quiet voice but as is the way of four year olds, she didn't care who heard. More laughter followed us. So we went and joined the queue forming behind the police paddy wagon. Miss Four climbed inside and had her photo taken. We came back a little later (after I had been dared by Miss Four to have my face painted - so I did. A small red heart covered in glitter), and spoke to the policewoman beside the wagon. She was really nice and turned on the lights and siren for my little girl. My daughter then insisted that I climb inside and she would take my photo. So I did. My other half's reaction on seeing the photo? "Bet that's not the first time you've been inside one of them. They should have taken you away last night."
Last night being his 20 Year Club dinner for work on Thursday night. I had a couple of glasses of wine (as you do hey Judy?) and had an enjoyable evening. It was certainly helped by the fact we were sitting with some great company.

Friday night saw Miss Four off to her preschool disco. Parents were not allowed but I came a little eary to pick her up and watched the children through the window. They were having a great time. After I picked her up, we went off to the Blue Light Disco where we watched my son receive the 2006 Youth Ambassador Award for the Country and Horse Festival. Lots of photos also taken - but still on the camera. Tonight he is off at a corporate dinner as one of the representatives of the Festival Committee. He looked wonderful in his suit and tie.



Did a layout today using my Tatiana kit. I'm so pleased with it. It's different to my usual style but I like it.

Bet you're wondering about the coconuts? Well a week or so ago, Miss Four asked us to buy her a coconut because she'd never had one. So we did. It went to preschool for show and tell and then today Daddy drilled a hole in the top and put in a straw. She was so not impressed with the taste of the milk. I had to bribe her to put the straw back in her mouth for a photo (and yes, that is still on the camera). Then we cracked it open to eat the flesh. Now that I like. So it's been a fun week so far in this household.
Well, I'd better dish up dinner and put the Miss in the bath because the Silly Show is on soon (Funniest Home Videos). Oh, I'd better remove the little paper umbrellas she's stuck in my jumper before I do that. Argh. For a child that's not 100%, the attitude and mischief are still there.

Digitally Speaking

I've got some new things up in the store.
The next kit for the ABC's of Me crops at Digitals is up. Filled with soft and pretty pastel pinks and green, Tatiana is on sale from now until midnight Sunday 28th May for $2.00 - that's a 50% saving.
If you purchase the kit and come along to my next ABC's of Me crop at Digitals @ 9pm EST on Friday 26th May (11am Saturday on the East Coast of Australia and 9am for those in West Oz), and post a layout to the ABC's Gallery and you receive the Tatiana addons just for posting. Speaking of crops and chats (well I was wasn't I?), my chat at Scrap2Gether is on Saturday 27th May @ 4pm EST. For those of you in Australia, this works out at 6am Sunday on the East Coast and 4am on the West Coast. Sorry about those times but with all these time differences, it was really hard to find a time that suited everyone.
Well the month is nearly over, and for those of you who didn't collect the pieces of the kit day by day, my Meyar kit is now up in the Digitals Store. For something completely different for me, I've also put these tags up in the store. These were created for my crop comp over the Digitals NSD Celebration Week and I've had requests to put them up so I have. I know tags aren't everyone's 'cup of tea' (little Australian saying there) but I had a lot of fun creating them.
Keep your eyes peeled for next weeks kit to go up soon - in shades of lilac.
I've also decided to revamp some of my older kits so that is the next project on my 'to do' list.

It's Sunday Already

I don't know what happened to my week. I'm sure yesterday was last Sunday wasn't it?
This week isn't shaping up to be any less busy at this point in time. I have to get my Tatiana kit finished by this afternoon but have a birthday party to take Miss Four to at McDonalds at lunch time. I also have to get my other kit finished in the next couple of days.
The weekend didn't start off to well for us with the news of another death in the family. This time, it was my partner's aunt. She was a lovable and eccentric lady and we all adored her. She will be greatly missed. She was also the family historian and picture taker. Thankfully, over the past couple of days, I have been contacted by a cousin of my partner's that is also researching the family and we hope to be able to continue with this.

So yesterday was Miss Four's first dance performance. She looked so cute out there will all the other little ones. I took a heap of pictures but due to the rotten zoom on my camera, they aren't the greatest. It was just the cutest thing to watch all these little ones dancing to 'Walking on Sunshine'. I think they were combined with the class from Jimboomba because there were a lot of unfamiliar faces but I've got to say that the girls from Miss Four's group danced really well - even if they were at least two steps behind the older girls leading them. There was one little fellow there with them that just had the best time. He never danced one step that looked remotely like everyone else's but he put a smile on everyone's faces thats for sure.
Here are a couple of photos of my cutie in her costume. One with her big sister (who we went to visit after the dance so she could see the dance costume) and one taken in the back garden.





And whilst on the subject of my little girl, I just have to share a couple of her sayings. When she her foot or hand has 'gone to sleep' ie pins'n'needles, she tells me that her foot is all wrinkly. And when Daddy needs a shave, she tells him that he has too many sparkles on his face.

Oh, got to show you a photo of what I saw after I finished with my job interview the other day. I was on the way down to the park to pick up Miss Four (where she had gone with a friend whilst I had my interview) and I saw this parked on the side of the road. I walked back home to get my camera and got heaps of photos. I think it may be a little lost. We're a country town and this fellow was a long way from home methinks. How cool is that?

Mid Week Deliberations

I seem to be posting too infrequently these days. I think having the other half home for the past week or so has really cramped my style. Can you believe that he actually expected me to do some work around the house and the trouble was that he guilted me into it by painting walls, pruning roses and cleaning out all the jumble on his side of the dressing table. So scrapping and designing seems to have taken a back seat over the past week or so.
I had a nice Mother's Day. It was very quiet. Miss Four came out to me and climbed up on my lap and asked if it was Mother's Day? When I answered yes, she said "Wait here" and ran up to her bedroom to pull out the things she had made for me at preschool. Daddy had also bought a card for her to decorate and she had all these beautiful drawings of everyone on horses all over it. The preschool things were lovely and the next day all the mothers compared notes and had a good giggle over what our children had told the teachers to write about us. After I'd opened those, she said to me "Daddy has something for you too". I told her that I would wait until Daddy got out of bed to give it to me but she said "No, it's alright. I'll get it". And bought out a beautifully wrapped (okay, I'm being smart here because it was in a plastic shopping bag) present. He'd bought me bedsocks! Which is exactly what I wanted because I've been wearing socks around the house as it's not quite cold enough for slippers yet. My oldest daughter had bought me around her present a couple of nights earlier - and that was a pot of flowers. The cheeky thing told me that if they lived she wouldn't have to buy me flowers next year. And my son gave me a list of chores all with $$ amounts attached to them, and a credit of $100. So it was nice.

On Monday, I joined a few friends for lunch at the local RSL. Since all of our children have stopped going to playgroup now, we try to get together every couple of months to touch base. I joined the club because all meals are half price on Mondays - so that was a pretty good deal. Tuesday night was Special Person's Night at preschool. Mardy was Miss Four's guest of choice and since she doesn't drive, I took her up. I think she enjoyed herself. I took lots of photos of them reading together, drawing and painting and of course doing the Chicken Dance at the end. A couple of the other mothers tried to drag me up as well but I took lots of photos. Not sure I endeared myself to some of them with the shots that I got but it was all in fun.
My SANDS coffee morning came and went yesterday with just myself and one of the ladies I met through playgroup, who although not a SANDS member has lost a pregnancy and knows what it feels like. I wish I could have talked more openly about things but having my darling man home, sort of hindered me. I'll try it again next month and see what the response is anyway.
And last night was volleyball. I actually stopped playing volleyball at the end of last season but I was asked to come back when one of the other ladies pulled out. Last night was fun. We were playing ladies who were on our team last season and there was lots of good natured sledging going on. It's just as well we only play for the fun of it because we seriously suck!

Speaking of that saying... Miss Four has been coming out with some beauties lately. This morning she said to me in response to something I said "Well that sucks doesn't it??". I just told her that young ladies of her age don't say those things. Wish I'd thought of that when she came out with a beauty on the way to dancing last week, instead of erupting into laughter because now she thinks that it is okay to say it. I was telling her about something and when she didn't answer, I said to her "N, I'm telling you something. Are you listening?" And she comes back with "Yes, don't crack it!!" Now she thinks it's okay to say that when we are going mad at her for something.
Oh the joys of being a parent.

On the designing side of things, I have 3 kits on the go. I'm hoping to get at least one of them up in the store by this weekend as it is for the next ABC crop at Digitals on 26th May @ 9pm EST. I also have a kit to finish for my chat at Scrap2gether on the 27th May @ 4pm EST. I also have so many ideas for the mega kit we are putting together for the next charity kit at Digitals. Finding time to translate those ideas into designs is another thing.
And... I am putting my Meyar Kit up in the Digitals store this weekend so if you've missed the downloads at S2G, you can now purchase it.
I think that's about it - until next time. ;)

Phone call that makes me proud

I got a phone call from my oldest daughter this morning that made me so proud.
She moved out of home about 18 months ago and got a unit with her boyfriend so money is a real issue for them, although they are both working.
Anyway, she called this morning and said to me "Mum, thanks for bringing me up and teaching me honesty."
I asked her what she meant and she told me that she had just come back from the ATM (Automatic Teller Machine). Whilst she was waiting, she noticed the lady in front (who appeared to be an asian tourist) having difficulty with her transaction. The woman gave up and walked off and as she did, the machine spat out $300. Without even thinking twice about it, my daughter called out to the woman to come back and showed her the money. The woman thanked her profusely.
When my daughter went home and told her boyfriend about it, he wanted to know why she didnt' keep the money? And my daughter said to him "Because my mother brought me up to be honest. If something like that happened to me, I would hope that the person standing in the line behind me would be honest too."

Can you tell I'm proud of her?

Friday's mutterings

Today has been a busy day - well busy in a sort of a way. Of course my other half would debate my interpretation of busy I'm sure, since a large part of my day involved sitting at the computer.
After running #1 Son to school this morning, my friend arrived to drop off her daughter for a short while whilst she went to a job interview and had her hair trimmed. Miss Four certainly enjoys having her friend over and being only 8 days apart in age, they are about the same stage of development. My normally (reasonably) quiet young Miss and her friend then morphed into some kind of natural phenomenon - a tornado comes to mind. Everywhere they ran (note I said ran, not walked), they left a trail of debris and toys. We had to do the grocery shopping and my sensible other half suggested waiting until the tornado's mother had come to pick her up. I, on the other hand wanted to be home in time for Stacey's crop and said "Let's go shopping". Certainly not my brightest move but it made for an interesting trip. Don't get me wrong, the girls weren't naughty but I certainly had some interesting times. After having visions of young girls becoming jammed between railings and trolleys and quietly freaking out, we managed to get out of the supermarket with all fingers and toes in tact.
I came home to do the washing (laundry) and the significant other started pulling out the painting paraphenalia to finish up in the bathroom.
It's only taken 16 months but we now have 5 rooms in the house painted (2 in the past 2 days). #1 son's room (pale blue), Miss Four's room (yellow with a butterfly and flower border around the top), the toilet (wc), the laundry and now the bathroom. The last three rooms have all been done in pale green although we ran out of paint and under the sink area in the bathroom hasn't been done. Not that you can tell once we put the trolley and the laundry basket back in there. We were hoping to get the lounge room (living room) done whilst my man is off on a week's break and last night we had the colour charts out and were having great discussions but unfortunately the car has decided that it needs to be fixed again. There goes the bit of savings we had by the look of it. Looks like our holiday to the snow this year is going on the back burner as well.

So I've also managed to scrap - two more crop layouts down and 3 to go.
The first one is from my Celebrate You crop where we had to scap ourselves.



I'd like to say right off that this is an out and out CASE of Miss A (Angela, can you remind me what your surname is)? Her layout is called "What?" and is absolutely awesome. I have used a background from Karin McCombes "Yesterdays Treasures" kit, overlay from my Meyar Kit, and the font is Lemon Chicken and Berylium.



This layout is from Maddy's sketch crop and uses her NSD crop kit. The font is Euphorogenic and I've also used the chalk action from Atomic Cupcake on one of the backgrounds. The photo is of Miss Four and my dad. It is really hard to get photos of my little cherub with her grandfathers because we don't see them all the time and it takes her time to warm to people first up. I would say that is often a good half an hour before she will even think of talking to them, let alone posing for a photo. So although she doesn't look terribly impressed at being in this photo, I am at least grateful that I got one.

Miss A - Get a Blog!

For those of you that don't know what I am talking about, I apologise profusely but there are those of you who read this blog that know exactly what I am talking about.
Angela, you need a blog!! Then I can link to you from mine and people can see your amazing layouts.
And talking about amazing layouts - you have to check our Lee Scott's blog (she's in my links)... and for fantastic photography and layouts too check out Karen Johnson's blog link.

I check all the blogs in my blog link list every day and love every person there. We have so many great designers at Digitals (and at other places) and I have a lot of great friends and I'm grateful for the chance to share with them through this medium.

Digitals Celebration Week is making me Scrap

I've managed to get three layouts done so far this week and the week is only young.
Well the first one wasn't from one of the crops but it was sort of as a result of NSD - I needed to destress, so I scrapped.



This is from my birthday last year. My family decided that I needed a birthday barbie a few days after my birthday, so I shared that with Murry but this photo was taken on my actual 40th birthday. I've tweaked the photo to within an inch of it's life but I really like it. The kit is Altered Art Box by the very talented Karin McCombes and the fonts are LD Boxed, LD Painter's Hand and LD Cool.
This next layout is from Cristina's Celebrate Diversity Crop. We had quite an interesting discussion about the differences in language at the crop and since the challenge was to scrap something related to cultural diversity. This is my effort. I had a lot of fun doing this. The background is from my NSD Freebie and font is LD Shelley Script.



This next layout is from Stacey's Celebrate Renewal Crop where we had to choose a layout that we had done previously and redo it. Since I didn't really like the first layout I did, and I also wanted to update the journalling I chose the layout that I did about Granny's Lilies.


The kit is by Alisha Hess "You are my Sunshine" and matching alpha. Fonts - Porcelain and Labtop

I haven't done a layout for my crop yet. The theme was 'Celebrate You' but I'll be at Maddy's crop tomorrow. Stay tuned for more layouts.

NSD Day/Week Celebrations at Digitals

Woo hoo, the celebrations are starting now!! Here's a cut'n'paste from Stacey's email.

Digitals Scrapbook Week Celebration
We are taking National Scrapbook Day and making it Digitals Scrapbook Week Celebration. Its not just one day, and its not just for one nation, its for everyone who loves scrapbooking! Come celebrate with us all week May 6-12.

Two Crops Every Day
At every crop our Digitals Designers will have contests for free kits from our store, challenges, and a balloon. Collect balloons from 5 or more of the 12 crops to download the entire Celebration Mega Kit for free!
-7 a.m. Eastern U.S. time, May 6-12
-9 p.m. Eastern U.S. time, May 6-12
My crop is on 7th May at 9pm EST and the crop theme is 'Celebrate You'. I have a special crop competition as well and everyone who gets it right gets a prize.

Daily Downloads
We will have a free daily download available in our store May 6-12 that coordinates with our celebration kit.
Want to see what I've got to give away?? Here it is.... and I'm up first so get over to the Digitals store and nab it.
Check out the Digitals Newsletter for more information.

Blog Giveaways
Check out our designers blogs today. Several will have free daily downloads in honor of our celebration week.
Here's a preview of the background that I have made for you.
You can download it here.

It goes without saying that sharing this file with others is just not on! Please respect my Terms of Use and not share. If you think that someone you know would like this background, then please send them to my blog to download it for themself.

The Week in Review

I'm going to try to make this a regular Saturday morning thing where I review the week that was. Let's see how long I keep it up. LOL

In the News this Week:
For those of us in Australia..... did you all cheer along with me when they announced last Sunday night that they had located those trapped miners in Beaconsfield and that they were still alive? Did you also cringe at Mike Munroe's updates all that night? They are still in there and the rescue efforts are ongoing but I'm holding my breath that the rescue efforts are successful. So far, they've been underground for 12 days but for the past 6 days, they've been able to communicate with their rescuers. My hat goes off to their determination and sense of humour. I seriously laughed when they told one of the paramedics in contact with them that they were in a '2 Star Hotel' and that they were the two stars! And the other day they asked for newspapers to be given to them so they could start looking for new jobs. I am praying for a safe rescue for them.
And I'm also praying for little Sophie - the 5 year old Sydney girl. How much has this little girl and her family suffered in her short life. Still recovering from the horrific burns she sustained 3 years ago when a car crashed into her daycare centre and she was trapped underneath it, she now gets hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing and is once again in hospital fighting for her life. Please pray for her recovery.
On TV this Week:
CSI - Anyone else annoyed by Mike Munroe constantly interrupting this the other night? Made it hard to follow the story. But it's always good to see Grissom. ;)
CSI Miami/New York - Combined effort from these two this week and what a pearler of an episode it was too. Great stuff.
Lost - I'm so confused..... I need answers. Not more questions. Very interesting that they got to meet Zeke from the others. And if I was Jack, I'd be pretty annoyed at Kate as well.
Amazing Race - Hallelujah!! That annoying man Lake (and his long suffering wife Michelle) are gone!! I so did not like him. I think because he reminded me too much of my ex husband. Go the Hippies!!
The Bill - Haven't watched it yet. Still on tape. But I'm so getting tired of the Gabriel storyline. For goodness sake - get rid of him!!
My Life:
Way too busy.

I think that's about it right now. Well all that I can think of anyway. I'll have to remember to take notes this week.

Starting to feel normal again

So it's been a week now since we had my grandmother's funeral and I am starting to feel normal again now.
It's hard to believe just how much impact her death had on me. I've been dreading that early morning phone call for the past few years and wondering how I was going to cope when I finally got it. My grandmother was more than a grandmother to me, she was more of a friend and like a second mother. I spent several years of my life sharing her home so she has become rather special.
The last few years since she had to give up her home (because she could no longer care for herself) and move into the hostel have been hard. I struggled seeing the strong and caring woman that I knew lose herself as dementia started to take hold.
My visits and phone calls to her became fewer and farther between because to see her just broke my heart. Eventually she didn't know who anyone was or even who the photos on her wall were of. Amazingly though, the one person she never forgot was her first husband (my grandfather)although he had passed away almost 30 years ago. How strong must their love have been?
So, I put off going to see her until my mother called me one day to tell me that miraculously she had 'come good'. She was remembering people and could hold a meaningful conversation. She encouraged me to go and visit. So I planned to go on my next pay day when we could afford to put some fuel in the car for the trip. Unfortunately, my grandmother left this world before I had the chance to say goodbye to her and have the opportunity of her knowing who I was.
I honestly believed that I was coping well with everything. I put together the Order of Service for her funeral and I wrote the eulogy (although that was very hard). I cried for her but I thought I was doing really well.... until a time zone mixup for a crop and then my world disintegrated. I hit my lowest point and I didn't seem to be able to pull myself out of it for the next couple of days. But a phone call to a wonderful online friend put a smile on my face and that was the antidote I needed.
Now I feel stronger and able to get on with things. (Although I am prone to occasional outbursts of crying) but I am moving forward. It's amazing how therapeutic it is to tap away at a keyboard.
So if you managed to follow my ramblings to here, you've done well and I thankyou.

Now, off to cook the family's dinner before I get into trouble for being on the computer.

Personality Test

I saw on someone's blog where they had done a personality test and thought "Hey, why don't I find out mine? Even if it's pretty silly, I could be able to use the colour scheme for a kit!" It's one way to waste half an hour on the computer anyway. :)
So I did the test here and gave it a go. I am apparently a Benevolent Artist and these are my colours (each colour means something different). Pretty interesting stuff really. It nailed me on some areas but I'm not too sure that answering a question on a computer can really show you who you are - but it was fun! And hey, I got some more colours to put in my colour swatch folder!

Benevolent Artist

Woo Hoo

Guess what?
I'm the guest sponsor for May at Scrap2Gether. When I got an email from Lilach at the beginning of the year asking if I wanted to be a guest sponsor, I was like "Oh wow! Are you sure you've got the right person?" But she apparently really likes my work and wasn't kidding. Just as well she didn't slot me in for April, or I would have started to worry. (You know April Fool's and all that??)
So as part of being the guest sponsor, you have the opportunity to download a part of this kit every day for the month.

After this month is over, this kit will be for sale in my part of the Digitals store.
I'm also really excited to be hosting a chat toward the end of the month over at scrap2gether. This is just too exciting for words.

May is definitely shaping up to be such a busy month with the National Scrapbooking Day/Week crops, chats and competitions at Digitals and also my regular ABC's of Me Chat at the end of the month as well. If you throw into the equation, a couple of Miss Four's little friends birthday parties, my partner's 20 Year Club Dinner and the SANDS coffee morning, it looks like a busy month for me. I wonder why I do this to myself sometimes but at least it stops life from being boring. I wonder how many times this month I'm going to get into trouble for being on the computer too much? Anyone want to hazard a guess? LOL