My life. The blogable bits.

UPDATE

2007-08-04T22:51:00.001+10:00

YOUR BOOKMARKS PEOPLES!!!

I have moved!!!!!!

to.....

http://bethjarrett.com/

04.08.07

2007-08-03T23:10:00.000+10:00

Challenge #3 over at Memory Bugs is out!

Colour Challenge!

"Black and white photos express reality better. A dog's reality that is."

Thats right, this challenge is all about colour! I want to see a layout that has a colour photo, coupled with all things colourful. No black or white allowed here this week and any topic allowed!

So enter over at Memory Bugs for a chance to win a $10 gift voucher! Due August 14th. So that's 2 weeks people, well, almost anyway!

Now, I don't usually do this, but I was sitting here reading Mel's blog and decided to blog hop. Sooo glad I did! I found some really cool blogs with some amazing photography and crafty stuff! I just wish I had more hours in the day sometimes.

I went to sewing class today and I decided to do a bit more of the curtains for the baby's room. They are coming along quite nicely and are rather cute! When I have finished the room, I will be sure to upload a photo! I also saw the cutest cane baskets at the Reject Shop the other day - they were lined with pink gingham. I think I will go back and get some. *Edited to add - curtains are finished and look fab!*

After sewing class I went to watch Kate at her assembly as her class was performing an item. She was so cute! You see, after the abnormally warm weather yesterday she wanted to wear a skirt. Yep, sure. But today is freezing and raining so of course she still wanted to wear her skirt, just with her jeans underneath. I also went to Target yesterday and picked her up the cutest top, but in a 7, and of course it was too big but she didnt want me to return it, she wanted it, so a white singlet underneath did the trick! LOL! She is turning into a real fashion diva! It is totally cute and since I have always been a bit of a tomboy I never really bought her cutsie stuff. But I have to admit, I am liking the fact that she is a girlie-girl!

I also came across instructions on how to make a pillowcase top - which I am totally going to do because I think Kate will love it! And I also think she will love one of these skirts too!

Oh and I sooo want to make a shoulder bag like this one! Very cool, huh?

We made a start on Kate's room yesterday. You see, her room has a bright red feature wall which looks really feral so we have patched it up, thanks to the 40 or so nails that were in it, and tomorrow I will undercoat it. Then I am thinking, left over pink from the babys room sounds nice! LOL! She wants one purple wall and the rest pink. I am not so much into that cool feature painting, but we shall see....

Also, we have to take Webster to the vet tomorrow, he has a sore on his side and it looks infected. We have a great vet that we go to and he is so cheap! As he says, if they are cheap, people will look after their pets by taking them to the vet when they need to. True. So me and the kids are doing that first thing in the morning as Steve is going fishing. *Edited to add that Webby is ok! He just caught himself on something and cut himself, so an injection, tablets and cream and $63 later he will be a-ok! See, I told you they were cheap!*

Our new couch came yesterday. Mmmmmm, it is so scrumptious! Steve, the wonderful man, stayed up till all hours putting the coffee table and tv unit together. It is really nice and tomorrow I will take a pic and upload. Which reminds me, I would love to make some cushions for it!

Here it is (well, the 3 seater anyway, I am sure you can imagine what the 2 seater would look like!)

I got newborn neice cuddles today! My sister, BIL and baby Sarah came over for a visit. Sarah is still so tiny! She is 2 weeks old now and has just reached 3 kgs which isn't quite 7lbs. Tiny, huh? She has the cutest little feet! I should have whipped out my camera but I didnt want to disturb the sleeping princess!

Well, thats about it for now. I am still bloghopping so if I come across anything else I love, I will be sure to let you know! LOL! ;) Also, I want to say a big thanks for everyone who stops by and has a bit of a read! :D

04.08.07

2007-08-03T13:10:00.001+10:00

Challenge #3 over at Memory Bugs is out!

Colour Challenge!

"Black and white photos express reality better. A dog's reality that is."

Thats right, this challenge is all about colour! I want to see a layout that has a colour photo, coupled with all things colourful. No black or white allowed here this week and any topic allowed!

So enter over at Memory Bugs for a chance to win a $10 gift voucher! Due August 14th. So that's 2 weeks people, well, almost anyway!

Now, I don't usually do this, but I was sitting here reading Mel's blog and decided to blog hop. Sooo glad I did! I found some really cool blogs with some amazing photography and crafty stuff! I just wish I had more hours in the day sometimes.

I went to sewing class today and I decided to do a bit more of the curtains for the baby's room. They are coming along quite nicely and are rather cute! When I have finished the room, I will be sure to upload a photo! I also saw the cutest cane baskets at the Reject Shop the other day - they were lined with pink gingham. I think I will go back and get some. *Edited to add - curtains are finished and look fab!*

After sewing class I went to watch Kate at her assembly as her class was performing an item. She was so cute! You see, after the abnormally warm weather yesterday she wanted to wear a skirt. Yep, sure. But today is freezing and raining so of course she still wanted to wear her skirt, just with her jeans underneath. I also went to Target yesterday and picked her up the cutest top, but in a 7, and of course it was too big but she didnt want me to return it, she wanted it, so a white singlet underneath did the trick! LOL! She is turning into a real fashion diva! It is totally cute and since I have always been a bit of a tomboy I never really bought her cutsie stuff. But I have to admit, I am liking the fact that she is a girlie-girl!

I also came across instructions on how to make a pillowcase top - which I am totally going to do because I think Kate will love it! And I also think she will love one of these skirts too!

Oh and I sooo want to make a shoulder bag like this one! Very cool, huh?

We made a start on Kate's room yesterday. You see, her room has a bright red feature wall which looks really feral so we have patched it up, thanks to the 40 or so nails that were in it, and tomorrow I will undercoat it. Then I am thinking, left over pink from the babys room sounds nice! LOL! She wants one purple wall and the rest pink. I am not so much into that cool feature painting, but we shall see....

Also, we have to take Webster to the vet tomorrow, he has a sore on his side and it looks infected. We have a great vet that we go to and he is so cheap! As he says, if they are cheap, people will look after their pets by taking them to the vet when they need to. True. So me and the kids are doing that first thing in the morning as Steve is going fishing.

Our new couch came yesterday. Mmmmmm, it is so scrumptious! Steve, the wonderful man, stayed up till all hours putting the coffee table and tv unit together. It is really nice and tomorrow I will take a pic and upload. Which reminds me, I would love to make some cushions for it!

I got newborn neice cuddles today! My sister, BIL and baby Sarah came over for a visit. Sarah is still so tiny! She is 2 weeks old now and has just reached 3 kgs which isn't quite 7lbs. Tiny, huh? She has the cutest little feet! I should have whipped out my camera but I didnt want to disturb the sleeping princess!

Well, thats about it for now. I am still bloghopping so if I come across anything else I love, I will be sure to let you know! LOL! ;) Also, I want to say a big thanks for everyone who stops by and has a bit of a read! :D

01.08.07

2007-07-29T16:46:00.000+10:00

Well, this past week or so has absolutely flown! I am trying to remember the details but I think between sick kids, Harry Potter, cleaning and a new idea/computer program, I can't recall all the details!

So, yes, my poor babies have been sick with flues and it hasnt been fun. Kate even had to have her ear flushed. Quite icky really. But they are on the mend, which is great!

I finished Harry Potter on saturday. I know heaps of people just loved this book, but honestly, I felt a little, well, disappointed. I don't know if it is because it is the alst book in the series and I felt alot was left unexplained, or if it was the ending, or if it was some characters that died I think they should have lived. Not sure really. But my overall impression at the end of the book was disappointment. Oh well. I am going to start from book 1 again as I am sure I have missed lots of vital information though.

So I have been wanting for a while to dabble in hybrid scrapbooking. I mean like really hybrid scrapbooking. So I have been playing around in Illustrator and wow, that is one cool program! You can do some really cool stuff in it! I have been thinking I might start with making some digi papers firstly, some boy papers and some wedding ones as I think there are more girls papers than anything! If I like them, I might sell my soul and peddle my wares but I have to see what I come up with first! I have no idea how to make elements yet or anything, but I am sure I can find some tutes on the net, afterall, you can find almost anything on the net! LOL!

So on saturday we decided to head out to Toys R Us and buy us some kites. Lucky we ended up buying the $3.00 Bratz one for Kate as the expensive on we picked up had a piece missing. Grrr. *note to self - exchange kite* The kids enjoyed it and so did we, to be honest. But we couldn't stay out long as Kate started coughing in the crisp air so we cam home again. Hopefully it will be windy this weekend so we can go and play with the kites again.

So we have a family room in our house. It is furnitureless as we never had a family room before so we didnt have enough furniture. On the weekend we decided to go shopping and we got a new leather lounge, tv unit and coffee table. Very exciting stuff and even better that it gets delivered this friday! We have decided to put the old stuff in the family room so the new stuff doesnt get wrecked! As well, painting on the baby's room is going well. I am happy that I ended up getting a lighter pink because even still it sure is bright! It will tone done once the furniture goes in though probably. It still needs another coat but then it is done. Quite exciting! I am still getting there on the curtains, just have to hem them now but I was too tired yesterday to finish them off and had a nap instead.

I was very excited to find my name pulled out of a draw for one of Mel's pin cushions! How exciting! I can't wait to get it! The funny thing was, I was looking at them on her blog and I thought, you know, I should make myself something like that! And now, I dont have to! Very cool! Thanks Mel and Bella!!! :)

I have been trying to scrap but I am just not liking the results. Grrrrr. I am undecided if I will enter the FK Awards of Excellence, we shall see. I loved my Masters entry, but I cant pull anything else together that I love. Oh well. I still have this month to do 5 layouts which shouldnt be too hard *cough*.

Anyway, I am procrastinating here, I really have to get to the shop to buy some dinner, I might head over to Spotlight and maybe even go and see my sister and baby Sarah. Dunno. I could stay and clean, but nahhh that doesn't interest me in the slightest. I really dont feel 100% though, I woke up with a headache and felt pretty crappy at work last night, just burning eyes and dull headache, but I am sure it is just all tiredness. Ok, must go, got stuff to do. Not that I can be bothered.

Hmmm, not an overly exciting post, but thanks for dropping by!!! And if you do drop by and get this far, leave me a wave as I would love to know who drops in from time to time! Thanks! :)

22.07.07

2007-07-22T14:15:00.000+10:00

We have a new baby in the family! No, not mine! :P My sister had a little baby girl, Sarah Jacqueline, on thursday 19.07.07. She is so tiny! She was born at 18.16 weighing 2.7kgs and was 48cm long. She is so cute and my sister seems to be going well, she had to have an emergency c-section. Instead of flowers I made some muslin wraps and tied some helium balloons to them, I also did a birth announcement for the Daily Telegraph.

Well, I am 26 weeks now. It is going quite fast. I am feeling heavy though. The baby is lying low in my uterus and so it often hurts. It's all good, as I would rather that than having little feet in my ribs. All in good time I guess as the baby is still not head down.

So I got the new Harry Potter book yesterday. I have started reading it but I am a little tired so I haven't really gotten into it much. Besides, today we did some yard work and did a trip to the tip. The previous owners just left so much junk lying around the yard! If we ever buy another house, I am going to stipulate that nothing be left behind! Talk about a pain in the butt! We have found all sorts of unusual things that had just been thrown under overgrown shrubs. And also, grass clippings do NOT break down if they are left in your yard! Grrr! But, it is a work in progress.

Speaking of work, we got some paint the other day to paint the babys room. Pink, of course! LOL! Steve had to fill a few holes and dents but it is ready to be painted now. It is very exciting, purely because we can paint! With no one's permission! Exciting stuff.

I scrapped the other day too! I started this layout before I stopped scrapping, so back in january. It's nothing special, but I just loved these photos of Luke. It's about how he just doesn't stay still, even if I ask him nicely! But, this is him, all the time, not just when I want to take photos!

I am feeling much better now, I am still blowing my nose like nothing else, but I feel better and that is great. Luke is sick now and Steve thinks he may be getting sick again. Once again, Kate has escaped it. I am sure she is the one bringing the bugs home!

Well, nothing much else is happening here. I have to go to the shop to do some shopping now. Boring stuff, but it does need to get done. So, thanks for dropping by and take care! :)

17.07.07

2007-07-17T20:39:00.000+10:00

Monsters In The Closet Challenge!

Ok, so this is the next challenge over at Memory Bugs!

The details:

At one stage or another we have been frightened by something. Whether it be a phobia, or a childhood phobia (like monsters) or something that has just freaked us out (I get freaked out by maggots!). This weeks challenge is to get that memory down! This layout doesn't have to be about you though, maybe you have a funny memory of your sister jumping on a chair because she saw a mouse, or maybe your child gets scared every night from the dark. Whatever the scare, get it down on a layout! It might be funny to look back on in 10 years time and have a good laugh!

Now, I do have a childhood fear. I used to hate flushing the toilet at night or if I was home alone. I would always think that it gave my location away if someone was to jump out and grab me. I would bolt from the bathroom to the loungeroom where I was deemed 'safe'. I am not sure if anyone in my family noticed that I did this. LOL! Funny thing is, not that I find it particularly funny - I still do it!

So have a crack at this challenge and post it over at Memory Bugs to be in the running for a $10 gift voucher! :D

So, what gives? I am posting at night? Well, I am unwell so I am having the night off work. It would seem that Steve was a sharing caring kinda guy and gave me his cold. Of course it is a virus, so there is no fighting it, but darn I wish it would go away! I think Luke is also coming down with it. I heard him sneezing earlier. I hope not. I feel terrible. I wouldn't wish this on anyone!

Last thursday I decided it would be nice to buy some hot chips and take them to the park and have a picnic. The kids really enjoyed laying at the park, even if there were some young girls there who hadn't had their brain food that morning. You see, they had taken their dog, a poodle, to the park and it was getting frightened by the kids and they had the nerve to ask some kids parent not to play near the dog as it was frightened. Umm hello?! I just said, if the dog is frightened it shouldnt be there. Not long after that they went home. Oops, I hope it wasn't anything I said! LOL! Anyway, this happy snap was taken with more ass than class as the kids were actually spinning around and around on this thing when I took this photo. It was making me dizzy just watching them! But, kids being kids, they love this ride out of all the equipment there.

So, I did the sadest thing ever on sunday - I went to the movies - by myself! LOL! I quite enjoyed going by myself actually (even if I did feel a bit looserish! LOL!) I went and saw Harry Potter. I have to say, this movie was by far better than Goblet of Fire. I am so looking forward to getting my hands on that book on saturday! It will be sad to see the end of Harry, but something else will come by and fill the void I guess. Hopefully anyway.

I did end up taking the kids to Lollipops on monday and we were there for like 3 1/2 hours! The kids really enjoyed themselves, even if our mini hot dogs had no bun, just 4 cocktail franks, seriously, whats the go with that?! LOL! But it was fun and even though I wasn't feeling well, I tried to make it fun for the kids by going on the teacup ride and pushing them on the flying fox and throwing balls at them in the ball pit. Fun stuff.

And today - the beginning of term 3 for Kate. And we had a fight after school which involved me buying Luke a MilkyWay while Kate missed out. I don't know what it is with her attitude at the moment but I gave to like 4 chances to say she would a MilkyWay but she refused as she wanted something else. I thought, I am too sick to be fighting but there is no way I am giving in. So I didn't. Too bad, so sad. And Kate went without. Maybe next time she will be grateful for what she is offered.

And with that, I am going to go to bed and hope this virus goes away.

Take care! :)

12.07.07

2007-07-12T09:27:00.001+10:00

I really didn't mean to leave it a week between posts. I really have to be more vigilant and update more often as I tend to forget the things I did 7 days ago! LOL! No it is not pregnancy brain, it is just normal Beth brain!

I went and picked Kate up sunday from my Grandma and Pops, so Kate's great-grandparents. They loved having her, I think it keeps them young at heart when they visit or are visted by their great-grandkids! ;) Although Grandma told me she did have one run-in with Kate. Over food. Nothing new there. Kate apparently was going to 'tell my mummy on you' so Grandma said, there's the phone, but surprisingly, I didn't get a phonecall! LOL! ;) I told Grandma she did the right thing. You see, I am such a horrible mum, I absolutely refuse to make different meals for the kids. If they are hungry later on they can have a piece of bread. Kate has a habit of not liking everything thats put on her plate. I know darn well she eats it, but she likes to tell me she doesn't like it. Drives me crazy!

So anyway, I picked up Kate and I asked her to tell me a few things she liked or did and this is the answers I got:

1. I liked drawing

2. I like playing with my toys

3. It was good

4. I liked it

5. I talked to Grandma

6. I sat next to Grandma when I had breakfast and lunch and dinner

7. I liked buying stuff (she only had $5!!! LOL!!)

So I have my sisters baby shower on this weekend. I tried shopping twice in the last couple of weeks for it, and all I ended up buying was stuff for my baby! I came home on the weekend with a cot quilt, 2 sheet sets, a little shirt and a couple of Wondersuits. I also laybyed a few things like a baby bath and some other little things. Then I had to go out again and buy something for Fliss. I did eventually. I am hopeless. All those little pink things are just too cute!!!

I finished my Masters entry and it went postal on tuesday! I am actually really pleased with my projects this year. Last year I was a little ho-hum on my layouts, but this year, I think they are the strong point of my entry. Now that I am 'back in the groove' my house has gone to ruins! LOL! It is going to take me all day to clean it top to bottom! Having Kate home does not help either. She likes to spread things from a*hole to breakfast time.

<----It was Steve's birthday yesterday. 31 years old. Here he is opening his present. He got an in flatable life jacket and a Quicksilver jacket. I spent way too much money on him, but I have a slight tendancy to forget about his birthday and it always a last minute rush. I even baked him a cake and he got to have whatever he wanted for dinner - he chose his Grandma's omlette recepie. They are yummy, but kind of like a cross between a pancake and an omlette. LOL! He loves them though!

So yesterday we promised the kids we would take them to Lollipops Playland. No worries. We get there at midday. I struggle to find a car park and end up parking illegally. We walk inside and I am greeted by the loudest room ever, worse than the Nickelback concert I swear! Anyway, I look at the equipment and fair dinkum, the kids are almost at a standstill! There are that many kids in there it is not funny! There is no way I am letting my kids go in there! If there was an emergency and we had to be evacutaed, they would be trampled to death or lost! It wasn't worth it. So I made a deal with Kate and Luke, we will go back on monday as it is a pupil free day and we will go to McDonalds instead and then shopping for daddy's present. They accepted. Afterall, they did get to have McDonalds midweek! LOL!

So on the way home we went to the cheap shop and bought some craft supplies. The kids have been kept busy ever since! There is nothing quite like some coloured paper and glue! ;) LOL!

Well, I better get going, I have promised Kate I will watch her 'Cat Circus' which in other words is just me watching her play with the cat! LOL! But it has kept her amused and occupied while she has been practicing her routine, and I have been able to write this post!

Thanks for stopping by and take care! :)

05.07.07

2007-07-05T11:40:00.000+10:00

Run, don't walk, over to Memory Bugs and check out my new challenge section. Woohoo! LOL! I was so excited to be asked to set these fortnightly challenges as I love setting challenges! These are not your normal challenges though. I find challenges that restrict what product and colours you use hard to do. So, I went in a different direction. If you upload the layouts to the gallery you can be in the running to win a $10 voucher. I will also post the challenges here because I think they are fantastic! (if I do say so myself! LOL!)

The Not Quite Perfect Photo Challenge!

Yep, we all have these! LOTS of these! The blurry ones, the ones where not everyone is looking the same direction, the ones where the composition is just off balance. But these are some of our most favourite photos because of the people in them, or the story they tell. Scrapbooking doesn't
have to have perfect photos all the time. So go on, scrap that photo. You've got nothing to lose, except the precious memory behind it! Any topic.

So, for some strange reason I woke up on monday and decided that I just had to enter Masters. I know. I have spoken about this alot. I thought the due date was July 31st. No. It is the 13th. So I have set myself a challenge to get this done! I have almost finished my mini album. About to start on my storage idea which is expanding on my original BTP idea. I have my layouts in my head so hopefully they wont take long. So, well, I am scrapping. Wow. I even set up my scrapping table yesterday as I need it to take photos of my storage idea. DH came home and just shook his head! LOL! The house is going to shambles though and I am resisting the urge to go and clean it! LOL!

So we went out on the boat the other day. Steve bought this boat just before we moved and this was the first time we went out on it. He has spent many an hour doing modifications to it. You see, he bought the hull new which mean it was just that, the hull. No lights, no nothing. So he has put in a couple of little floors to make it easier for him to fish off. He has connected all his lights up and wired it all up. He has carpeted the seats, which I tell you, make for a much more comfortable ride! LOL! He really has put his little heart and soul into this thing for the last 6 weeks. It looks really well done too. It better as he is not getting another boat for a very long time.

<----Luke came with us. He likes the boat although he doesnt like the sound of the motor, but he like going fast. Speaking of Luke, we have had a really nice week so far. I do miss Kate terribly as she is at Grandma and Pops, but it has been nice with just me and Luke and not having to do the 9am and 3pm school rush! We have been doing stuff. Nothing much really. Just stuff. Painting, playdoh. Stuff. Although I wish I didn't get up in the morning with him watching Saving Private Ryan. That movie has now been confiscated. He is really into guns but he is 3 and does not need to be watching these things. Hmmm. Right now I am looking at him and he is using his leg as a gun trying to shoot me. Sigh. Butter wouldn't melt in that mouth now, would it?

Well, I am off work tonight as Steve has gone away for work. I like work. But I also really like having a night off every now and then. Especially since I have scrapping to do! ;)

Well, the weather is wild here today. I am not planning on going out in it at all! I am not even hanging out the washing for fear it will be blown off the line! Such wild, wild weather lately.

Ok, I better go, my kitchen table is calling my name to go and scrap and I will con Luke into painting with me! Thanks for stopping by! :)

02.07.07

2007-07-02T10:22:00.000+10:00

Wow, another week has passed us by and I feel like I have got nothing done! This year is zooming past and unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it. I feel a bit sad in a way. You see, after Luke we had decided that we weren't going to have anymore children, so when I fell pregnant I thought to myself that I will really savour these moments. You know, really enjoy what my body is going through and what it is creating. Well, the first 3 months was a washout with tiredness and morning sickness. Then the house move. Now, settling in (yes I still have boxes to unpack LOL). I feel like it has flown by and I haven't had a spare moment to stop and really take it all in. Sure, I lie in bed feeling the baby (who I have dubbed Amy because that is the frontrunner in names!) move and kick, and even Steve feels it, but I haven;t actually sat down and thought about it much.

Here goes I guess...

I am really scared about having a baby around the house. There will be almost 4 years between the new bubs and Luke. I am going back to work quite early after I have the baby (night work luxury, also so I can keep this house! LOL!) and I worry Steve wont get all the sleep he needs but I guess we will both be suffering from lack of sleep so I can feel comforted by that.

I am scared about the impending labour. The baby has to come out sooner or later in one way or another. But I really dont feel like going through pain again. Kate was posterior so I have experienced a very long and painful labour with the assistance of pethidine and with Luke, he was pretty quick with gas for only a couple of the worst contractions. So as far as I am concerned, I have had my fair share of pain and I really dont want to go through it all again.

But it is like that incontenance pad ad, isn't it?

Yes I've paid the price but look how much I've gained.

*Note to self - continue regular keegal exercises*

I guess it is normal to get scared. I do have another 4 months of pondering the scary side of things.

I also have 4 months left to look at the positive side of things. I cannot wait to meet my new little angel. I wonder if she will look the same as the other two, who looked really alike at birth, and still do! I wonder if she will be a great little sleeper like the other two. I wonder if she will be a happy and contented baby like Kate and Luke both were. I guess I am just wondering if she will be another perfect little addition to our family.

I am excited. But I just feel overwhelmed by it all every now and then.

Other baby news - I have picked out a colour for the baby's room. I have bought some material to make some curtains aswell. Also so muslin to make some wraps. I might do the wraps today actually. Also today, I have to go to Bunnings to pick out a colour to paint Kate's room. I have already got Luke's colour picked. Hopefully I will get the paint sometime this week so I can get started on that.

Speaking of painting, I have decided afterall to pull my finger out of my behind and enter Scrapbooking Memories Masters again this year. SO I have already started some of my projects and well, I am quite taken by paint at the moment so I am sure it will feature heavily in my projects. Now just to get some nice photos of the family!

Kate has gone away to my grandparents house for the week. She loves going there as she loves being doted on! They live in the Blue Mountains so they might even get some snow. While I am sure it is pretty and all, I think it is all just a little too cold for me! LOL!

<--- And here is a picture of my lovely two taken the other night while I was at work. So this is what they get up to while I am not here! LOL! Gosh they are dags, aren't they?!

Steve and I have been together for 9 years tomorrow. Wow, that sounds like such a long time, but it has gone so fast! We have a good relationship, we barely fight and we usually end up agreeing to the same things. We take each other for granted alot of the time, but at the end of the day, we are there for each other. I don't think I showed him my layout I did of him at Kiwiscraps, it was soppy and made me want to cry (but of course I will blame the pregnancy hormones LOL!) and it said, if I die and I don't make it into heaven, thats ok, as I have already experienced heaven on earth. I really believe that. Ok. Enough soppy stuff. LOL!

Well, I better go, as I have to bo and buy some fruit and vegies and buy a birthday present for Steve's brother and a baby shower present for my sister who is due 12 weeks before me!

Thanks for stopping by!!!!! :)

24.06.07

2007-06-14T09:50:00.000+10:00

I'm ba-ack!

Well, a whole month has passed and I don't have terribly much to write!

We moved, of course. The house is more wonderful than I ever thought we would have! It is so spacious and feels so UN-cluttered! You see, where we lived previously, it didn't matter how clean it was, it always looked cluttered and messy!

I have the best invention in the world here aswell - a dishwasher! OMG! If you dont have one - get one! LOL! It makes life so much easier and I find cleaning up is not so much of a chore as I don't have to worry about the dirty dishes in the sink!

Sorry for the lack of photos - I have yet to take any! I know, what a bad scrapper I am! LOL!

All my scrapping stuff is still packed in boxes. Thats ok though, I am still not in the mood to scrap. I am enjoying sewing and I have made Kate a cushion cover, although I have to unpick some and redo as the material pulled. Oh well! Here is a photo of my first cushion cover I made though.

Gosh, it has been so long since I posted, I am beginning to forget some of the things we have done in the last month!

Kate recieved her Silver Award at school. She loves school! A couple of times we have used the 'kiss and drop zone' and I tell you, it is heartbreaking! Even DH said he didn't like using it. She liked it though. She felt grown up to be able to sit in the front seat of the car and open the car door herself. Needless to say, we have been on time since then as we both hated using it!

Luke is, well, Luke. He is really into guns and shooting things. He lies on top of the mailbox and snipes cars and people that go past with his pretend gun. He makes guns out of everything! He will find two sticks lying on the ground and somehow he will turn them into guns?!

I am 22 weeks pregnant now, or 5 months. I have a bump! It is exciting! The baby is quite active and I love feeling her move around! That's right, I forgot to tell you all that I had an ultrasound and the baby is a girl! I will be going through the Birthing Centre at the hospital this time as I am very low risk. Which means though, no assisted deliveries. Damn, I was going to waltz in there and ask for an epidural. In this day and age, childbirth should be painless, right? Oh well. I guess a little bit of pain is worth what you get at the end of it!

I have been reading a bit lately too. I read Angela's Ashes. Quite an interesting book and I love the way it was written. So conversational and easy flowing. After that I read Bad Ground, the book on the Beaconsfield Mine rescue. That was interesting, and a bit heart wrenching and I admit, I cried, hmmm, actually I cried reading both books. Gosh I am a sook at the moment! LOL! I go through phases with books, I will read like 3 or 4 in one go and then I wont read for 4 months. I guess it is the same with most hobbies. It is good to have a break every now and then.

Well, I guess I better get going. I want to re-paint my nails. This rainy weather is perfect for it! I love rain. Bring it on I say (just not in the form of storms!).

Thanks for stopping by! :)

21.05.07

2007-05-23T10:29:00.000+10:00

7 more sleeps until we move into our own home! I am so excited! Although I am not so excited about the packing! I packed up all my scrap stuff yesterday. That was slightly therapeudic actually. I am glad I am taking a break from scrapping. I got to the part where I had to pack my albums, from the last 2 years, the others are in my wardrobe yet to be packed, and Steve came out and he is like 'are you packing them or looking at them?'. Quite obviously I was looking at them. I realised how much I loved those pages. They weren't daggy. They didnt have 'old' stuff on them. They told a story. That was the most important thing. The pages I barely looked at were the ones with no journalling. For a long time I have believed that journalling was the most important thing on a layout and yesterday reinforced the fact. I have finally realised that scrapping isnt about how many layouts I can get into a magazine or how many prizes I can win in challenges, its about my memories, my childrens memories, my families memories. That alone is priceless.

So I am 17 weeks pregnant now. Yesterday morning I felt the baby move. It was more like it had hiccups because the movement was very rythmic and consistant. It was precious. I had been a little worried in the last couple of weeks as I have not popped out at all and had not been able to feel the movements. I think it is because I have lost weight (somehow I have lost another kilo aswell in the last week?!) so it is just filling up the space that used to be tubby! That being said, my clothes are too tight to wear now. So today I am off to the shop to buy some tracksuit pants or something like that. We are lucky we can wear them to work! Yeah, we all look like dags, but at least we are comfortable dags! ;)

Mother's Day was really nice. I got a little sleep in, although I apparently yelled at the kids to go away and let me sleep when they tried to bring me breakfast in bed. Steve said it looked like I had stabbed them in the heart, the poor sweethearts! The problem is, he does not understand how totalled I get working nights - its ok for him to go to bed at 9pm and wake up at 7am, but going to bed at 3am and getting up at 7.30am is a little bit harder! Anyway, Kate bought me a sweet necklace from the Mother's Day stall, and made me a gorgeous card at school. Kate has worn the necklace far more than I have! LOL! We went for lunch out at Hungry Jacks at McGraths Hill, with an alterior motive of Steve's to drag us to 2 boat shops. (Dont worry, he is going to a scrapbooking shop on father's day!) Then we went over to the river at Windsor to let the kids have a bit of a fish. Of course that didnt last long with my two. Oh no. They preferred to splash about in the water instead.

Yes, Steve has bought a new boat. I was not entirely happy when he sprung this on me, but it is bigger and alot more stable than the one he has now, so I guess for safety reasons, it is better we get it.

Luke sits on Steve's lap while Steve plays his computer games. They play Battlefield or something or other. Anyway, it is Allied troops vs German troops. We were driving the other day when Luke says, in his 3 year old slendour, "Why Germans have guns?" Ummmm just what exactly do you say to that?! I told him that they dont actually have guns, but they did a long time ago in the war. Do you think he understood? I dont. LOL!

Lukes new favourite word at the moment is "why". Everything is "why mummy?" Gotta love it or it will just send you mental, although I have gotten to the point at times where I say "it just is!"

I got my camera back from Fuji - the repairs cost $130 - $10 part, $110 labour and $10 GST. Its all good though. My baby is back! And I tried to use the forced flash yesterday, and do you think for the life of me I could work out how to turn it on?! Nup. So after we move and I find the maunal - I am sure it is in a box here somewhere - I will read it and actually learn how to use my camera! LOL!

Kate had a whole week off school last week. The poor darling was not well at all - she had this cough and she sounded like she was going to cough up a lung. Took her to the doctor and of course it is just a virus. Luke is unwell also. He has more of a congested headcold though. Once again, just a virus. I have been craving orange juice so I think it is helping me fight off the sickness! I have also been craving hot dogs (go figure! LOL!)

Anyway, thats about it from me, I better get going as I have heaps of packing to do, although we are getting there slowly. I have organised the gas and electricity already so thats good. We can move our phone number as it is in the same exchange so that is great! I have to pick up a redirection notice from the post office and get that filled out so it is up and running on time. I have booked the carpet cleaners and I have booked my ultrasound. I think I have done everything I was supposed to do! LOL! I should book in for a quote to have a builtin robe installed in the master bedroom. I will do that today I think.

Take care and thanks for stopping by!!! :D

07.05.07

2007-05-06T16:32:00.000+10:00

So. Firstly, I have been tagged by Moira, Jolene, Debbie and Sue. Thanks guys!

The rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I hate coffee. I eat everything, except anything with coffee in it or coffee flavoured.

2. I was a racewalker when I was growing up, I was good at it, held regional records and got medals at nationals and all, but never really tried my hardest and I was always slack at training. (I hope mum and dad dont read this!)

3. I have travelled to every state except NT and TAS for athletics, even to NZ (not that it is an Australian state! LOL!)

4. I am studying Civil Engineering at uni by correspondence. When I finish I want to become a maths teacher.

5. I love mail, even if it is bills and I get dissapointed if we get no mail. I think junk mail is the best thing ever invented! I love it!

6. My children were born at the same hospital that I was.

7. I read newspapers backwards.

Now I am going to tag, ummm, well, I think everybody has been tagged by now! Oh, except Lusi, Steph Lim, Mel Moor, Kylie, Sandi, Lauren and Cass.

So I am now 15w and 1d pregnant. Considering I found out really early, it seems to be flying! Only 24w and 6d to go! EEK! So the baby is about 10cm long and weighs about 70 grams. I am supposed to be able to feel it move and stuff, but not yet, everytime I lie down I tend to fall asleep so I havent been able to stay nice and still and awake long enough. LOL! I still have a little bit of sickness, like this morning I went to do my hair and teeth and I had to sit on the loo as I got really dizzy and lightheaded and felt like I was going to be sick. Ugh.

Luke has decided that he no longer needs the pram to walk Kate to school in the morning. Oh no. He uses his tiny skateboard instead! It takes about twice as long but he is so cute so it is hard to say no. *Note to self - get photos of him riding his skateboard.*

Speaking of photos, my camera has been sent to Fuji for some repairs. Nothing was wrong with it so dont let me scare you off Fuji's, but when it has fallen to the tiles from the kitchen table, assisted by the cat, things break. Like the flap that holds the batteries in. Lucky I have my old camera, even if it does have the worst shutter lag ever. I forgot how much I DIDNT miss that! It's all good. Insurance will cover it if it costs too much.

So I made a cushion last week. It is a country cushion for my couch. I was very pleased with my efforts! I have decided to make my house a little countrified because of the timber floors etc. I bought some magazines and was saying to Steve, oh I want to do this and oh I like this etc. He just says 'you aren't going to do too many of these are you?'. HMPH! It's my house and I want to make it look pretty!!!! So now I am making Kate a cushion which says 'Strictly girls only' then she wants a blanket. She doesnt want much, hey? I wanted to do a table runner first before I embarked on anything big like a blanket!

Other than that, I am supposed to be making some bookmarks for the Mother's Day stall at Kate's school. Just something simple, but nice enough. I will get onto that today. I also got some facewashers and some bars of soap and wrapped them in tissue paper for the stalls also.

Speaking of Kate's school, I have decided to move her to the school close to our new house, not until the beginning of next year though. It is as close as this one is to us now, so a 5 minute walk, which is good. Plus I have heard some really good stuff about it, so I am feeling quite positive about the move.

KiwiScraps last weekend was THE BEST!!! I dont normally do classes as I am never happy walking away with a layout just like every one else. This was totally different. I learnt stuff. I think I finished 1 layout out of my 7 classes. The tutors were awesome! Rhonna Farrer is like that sister out of that US sitcom that used to be on channel 7 at about 11am, Faith and Hope, well she is exactly like the younger sister! She was so cool! Tia Bennett was so cute and her accent was just even cuter! For days I was talking in my head with her accent! Emily was very cool and laid back and so friendly! Nic Howard was very cool, and gave me some spare New Zealand chocolate to take home to Steve. New Zealander's think they have the best chocolate in the world! LOL! Oh and my ring tone on my mobile is a sheep baaing - you can imagine my embarrassment when it rang in Nic's class!!! OMG! LOL! So I learnt sooo much and I am so eager to scrap!!! I just havent found the time yet (and Steve wants me to pack it all up for the move!) The best part of the weekend was being roommates with Lusi and Mel. I was really comfortable with these two. Like an old pair of socks! LOL! You guys rock! Oh and so did that kebab! Mmmmmmm!!! Yep, one of the best weekends to date!

Well, thats about it from me. I have bookmarks to make and packing to do. Only 3 more weeks till settlement! How exciting!!!

Take care and thanks for stopping by! :)

18.04.07

2007-04-18T16:03:00.000+10:00

Grab yourself a cuppa, this is a long update! LOL! No photos either as my mouse on my computer needs new batteries.

Ok, so March 31st saw us take our trip down to Jamberoo. All the hotels were booked out so we drove down there and back in the one day. All the way down Kate kept singing (and got Luke in on it too) 'Jamberoo where you can troll the action'. So cute! ROFL!

How much fun was Jamberoo?!?!? We all had a ball! It was great as we didnt have to wait any longer than about 5 minutes for any one ride. Now, I always knew Luke was a little bit of a daredevil, but I guess I just didnt realise how much.

GGGRRRR The photo wont upload! <-----He went on this ride all by himself. Twice. He beat Steve and Justin the first time, but second time things went a bit strange and he was facing the wrong way at one stage! ROFL! He still loved it though!

Both the kids LOVED the luge!!! It was fun, except when you get stuck behind slowpokes who are scared! The pools were a little cold, but do you think that stopped my two? No siree! They were in the thick of things all day long! We really did have a wonderful family day out and lets just say we slept well that night!

Just before Easter we tried for a home loan. The amounts of money they are willing to give you is rediculous! There was no way we could repay what they were willing to offer us and because we didnt want to have the bank foreclose on the loan we went for a sensible amount! We got it! We found out the day before Good Friday so it made it one awesome friday!

Easter was kind of fun. ROFL! It started with the bunny leaving some eggs (Hello Kitty for Kate and Cars for Luke) and some powder footprints in the loungeroom, followed by an egg hunt in the front yard! The kids were sugar hyped for days! It was not fun looking at houses with hypo children, let me tell you! I used the video camera as I really want to capture the voices and the fun and excitement and sometimes photos lack this. Lucky DH grabbed the camera though so I will have something to scrap! ;)

Then Kate went to my grandparents house for a couple of days. I was devastated when I returned. You see, about a month or so ago I bought a canary. I always wanted one growing up. So I bought myself one. When I got home, Meggs (our cat) had knocked the cage over and eaten the bird. The feathers in the house speak for themselves. The cat was close to extinction, but I forgave its 'natural instinct'. He is sporting a spiffy new collar with a bell now though, he hates it and is always trying to get it off! Serves him right!

Then on the weekend, after being mucked around a little over an offer we put in for a house, we were scouring the internet again looking at the same old houses. A couple of weeks ago when we first started searching we saw a house that was nice but it was listed at $380k, so we didnt bother persuing it as it was a little our of our range at $350k. Well, on saturday we saw it listed as $365k so we thought, why not lets have a look, you never know what they will take as an offer. So we went and had a look. We really liked it. We decided to put an offer in. The agent said $355k so thats was our offer. We got a phone call later that day. The house was ours!!!!! We couldnt believe it!!!

It has 4 bedrooms (for the growing family ;)) plus a double garage (obviously LOL) and it has a family room, a lovely wooden kitchen with black granite benchtops, plus a ensuite, it has a study/computer area that is my new scrap area (YAY!) and it has parquetry floors even in the bedrooms, it has these wonderful french door which open onto the backyard, and 3 aircons (lucky DH like it cold! LOL!) The best part is, NOTHING, not a thing needs to be done to it! Sweet! Although it is one of the 'blander' houses on the street so it needs the gardens done I think.

Now. I know it has a square window. It annoys me to no end. DH has decided to grow a big jacaranda tree in the front yard to hide it! Now my biggest decision is whether to move Kate's school? It is only the next suburb away. Not sure. Still deciding.

I am 12 weeks and 3 days pregnant today. I had an ultrasound last week, the nuchal translucency one. All is well and it was so cute to see the little peanut! I am keeping well. I am still sick, not as much and not all day (which is a blessing)! I even did a 8 1/2 hour shift standing up on friday and didnt complain once (although I felt like it! LOL! ;)) The tiredness still remains, but working nights will do that to you anyway I guess.

Yesterday we went tp Plumpton Park to feed the ducks. We had a ball and the kids ran about and laughed and yelled and had fun. The ducks did not want out bread. The fish did though so at least it wasnt wasted! ;) I was going to take the video camera and I wish I did as Luke was saying the funniest things! There was this duck there and he points at it and calls out "mum, its a chicken duck" and sure enough it looked like a chicken! ROFL! But I did take my camera so hopefully I have some good shots of them.

So, we have been very busy these last couple of weeks. I still have not scrapped and am happy about that (you see I am building my mojo up till I self combust! LMAO!)

I received the new SM today, it has the Masters 2007 details in it. Guess what? NO BTP! Yes I am spewing but I am still going to do my project as I love the idea of what I am going to do. I guess I can share that now huh? I bought an old wooden ladder off ebay. I cut it so I had 5 rungs (it was like 8ft long and wouldnt fit in my car anyway! ROFL!) and I bought 4 canvases. I am going to make a frame with it so that I have a canvas between each rung. It is going to look wonderful once it is all stained and the canvases are done. I am going to wait until my belly pops a bit more for the photos so all 5 of us will be in it. ;) So it will be a long time coming but essentially, that is it.

Well, thats about it from me today. I know, one heck of a long post, but if I dont get it down I will forget it all!!! I better go as I have to have a shower and get ready for work and eat dinner all in about 35 minutes. Easy peasy, but getting the kids in from the front yard may prove a little harder! LOL! They love playing in the front yard but we get a few cars up and down the street and I am constantly looking out the window and door at them to make sure they are ok.

Ok, enough! LOL! Thanks for stopping by and take care! :)

09.04.07

2007-04-09T15:51:00.000+10:00

So, Kylie, you want an update huh?
You will just have to wait until I drag my lazy arse big belly out to the other computer!
:P
x

30.03.07

2007-03-30T13:15:00.000+10:00

Soooo friday already?! This week has flown!

Yesterday I went to KMart to buy Luke Toy Story 2, you see I bought number 1 but for the life of us, we cannot find the disc?! I think Luke has taken it and hidden it as it is his favourite movie at the moment. So while I was there I picked up Ice Age 1 & 2 and Over the Hedge. They were having a sale so I got all of them for $55. Sweet.

And then Luke did the unimaginable, unthinkable...

He fell asleep as we were going through the checkout.
He hasn't done that EVER in his 3 short years!
He must have been so tired as he hasn't been sleeping well lately.
He didnt even stir when I out him in the car or when I put him into bed.
So we had a 2 1/2 hour nap.
Sweet.

Today I went to the school to watch the assembly as Kate's class was presenting it.
She has been practising her line all week.
"Thankyou for a beautiful item 3H."
She was superb! She didn't waver or anything!

Then on the way home I walked past the high school and they were having their cross country carnival.

Random Memory #173
I was Red House Captain when I was in primary school.
The other captain was a boy I previously played soccer with when I was younger, Alex.
I was good at Cross Country and remember one year our school won a big shield at the District Carnival and I and other person, Todd, had to collect it as we had won our races.
As we were walking back I thought he had a hold of the shield so I let go of it and we almost dropped it. LOL.

I know. Interesting.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

26.03.07

2007-03-26T12:08:00.000+10:00

I don't really know why we make plans as they never turn out! I bought tickets for Jamberoo months and months ago and we kept saying 'we have to go, we have to go' and well we havent as yet. We decided last week that we would go yesterday, sunday, but of course it was cold and windy so we didnt end up going. We plan to go this sunday though.

We plan to go down to Kiama on saturday and stay in a motel and play at the beach etc. Then get up early on sunday and go to Jamberoo. Lets hope it stays fine this coming weekend.

So instead we did stuff around the house on saturday. Just tidying etc. Then up I went to vote. You see Steve is a Kiwi and is not a citizen so he loves voting day, as he doesn't have to vote. Then I went to get some takeaway for lunch - Red Rooster - yummmm. I also went to the real estate as I have found a house that has everything we want - I just hope it doesn't get sold before we get our loan. Fingers crossed. Then we went for a drive and we ended up at Cronulla. I was sick, Red Rooster isnt so good coming back up and getting stuck in your nasal cavity... Then we just played on the beach and in the rock pools. Luke, in typical Luke fashion, got wet from head to toe, yes, fully clothed too. And Kate had fun collecting shells. I didn't take my camera or anything and I am kind of glad I didn't. I just loved playing with the kids instead of watching them through a lens! Then to home where I fell asleep in the car to keep myself from being sick.

ARGH! How long does this sickness last?!?!?!

Not to mention the sleepiness!!! Saturday night I slept for 9 hours. Then went back to bed at 8.30am till 10am. Then I had another hour nap in the afternoon and still went to bed at 10.30pm. All I do is sleep and it is driving me crazy!!! Nothing is getting done! I am over it too. I am over everything right now.

I just feel like being a big ol whinging sook.

Right now. Right now I am sitting here still in my PJ's even though it is 12.20. I have been going for a shower for the last 2 hours, I just havent made it there yet, I decided to strip and remake the beds instead and clean Luke's room. Also the postie dropped off the latest For Keeps and I thought I would have a quick flick and lo and behold one of my layouts was in it, one of ET entries. They also have the details for the new ET comp in there. Due August 31st so 5 months to get 5 layouts done. Should be doable. Right now Kate is at school. Luke is here playing on his magnetic drawing thing. Oh wait, he has just dissapeared. He was getting food. That boy had eaten all his packed lunch by 10am. You see he was supposed to go to family day care today but the carer is having family issues so I kept him home. Right now the iron is on as I was waiting for it to heat up to iron my clothes to go to the shop. I want to buy Luke one of those rails for his bed so he doesn't keep falling out. I also might get out the kids winter clothes layby. Yeah I might do that too. I have to think about what to cook for dinner without making myself feel sick. Not so doable. I might get a sandwich - cream cheese spread. Mmmm. Bit of a favourite at the moment. And a glass of milk with chocolate nesquick. Yep. Sounds good right now. Also thinking of going to the library and picking up a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. We shall see how Luke performs first I think. Right now I am ignoring the washing up that needs to be done and wishing I had a dishwasher. Have to wait till we move first.

Right now I am going to stop babbling random thoughts and go and get that sandwich.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

22.03.07

2007-03-22T19:29:00.000+11:00

I just want to say a massive big huge THANKYOU to everyone for all your comments! You have no idea how my heart smiled when I checked my inbox and I had more well wishes than advertisements for viagra! Blissful! Thankyou all so much!

So since I am not scrapping, I have no layouts to share.

So I thought there are more things to scrapping than just photos.

A while ago I purchased The Journaler's Handbook by Tracey White (although I am sure journalers should have 2 L's but anyway...) and I just love it. It has heaps of journalling prompts. So I thought I could post a couple and answer them aswell. If I dont get these things written down I will never remember them in a few years to come! So PLEASE join in too!!!

You know what, lets start at the Teen section. Because I need to remember these things and my memory is fading fast... LOL!

1. What was your first job? McDonalds Woodcroft.

2. Tell the story about how you got your first job. All my friends at school had Maccas jobs so I thought I would go to my local and apply. I didn't expect to get the job. When I got the phone call I said 'are you sure?' and he said I can ring someone else and give them the job if you like? LOL! No of course not!

3. How much money did you make at your first job? As a 14 year old I earnt $4.81 an hour (I think).

4. Tell the story of your first day. Did you come home exhausted or excited? I remember leaning the 7 (I think) steps of customer service. Greet the customer. Take the order. Suggestive sell or sell up. Take the order. Take payment. Thank the customer. Yes I know its only 6 but I cant remember all that well! LOL! I learnt that while walking around the carpark picking up cigarette butts. Such a lovely job.

5. List your job responsibilities. Take orders and get the stuff pretty much. Whatever a frontline maccas chick does really.

6. What is your favourite/least favourite thing about your first job? I loved working in the drive thru (yes *I* know it is through but apparently McDonalds Australia doesn't!) where you took the orders and the money. That was fun. Least favourite would have to be 8 hour dining room shifts. Mopping floors for 8 hours. What could be better than that?! NOT!

7. How did you spend your pay? On food. I got fat. I was 48 kgs. I went to ohhhh about 80 kgs in a year. I really should have saved some of that money. I remember getting $50 out so I could buy a towel from CHS State Athletics but it was stolen out of my bag. I was devastated so my parents replaced it. Other than that, food.

8. Did the job interfere with your schoolwork/sport or social life? I gave up athletics about 9 months after starting at work. I didn't have time and if I couldn't work certain days I wouldn't get rostered on much. The only thing I ever regret is giving up athletics. It didn't interfere with schoolwork though thank goodness.

9. How many hours a week did you work? Depended but I am sure I used to get a 3 or 4 hour shift during the week and a 5 hour and maybe an 8 hour shift on weekends.

Well, thats about it from me tonight - yes - it is nighttime! No I am not at work, Steve had to go away for work so I had the night off. Right now I am watching Saving Babies and trying not to cry! So heartbreaking! Then I am watching SVU and then I am off to bed. I will murder someone if I wake up at 4 in the morning and cannot get back to sleep! Thats the problem with nightshift! But I do love spending the day with Luke and dropping off and picking up Kate!

Although Luke is not always an angel. Like yesterday I was dragging my sorry butt out of bed only to have him tell me the TV wasn't working. I wonder why when you spray water into it?!?! Steve pulled it apart and had a fan going on it to dry it out and it seems to have done the trick! It is back to normal. For the moment anyway, and thats all that matters!

Well, thats probably about it from me tonight. Have a good one and thanks for stopping by!!! :D

19.03.07

2007-03-19T14:00:00.000+11:00

You know the old wives tale, if you give your baby stuff away sure enough you will fall pregnant. I knew I shouldn't have given away my pram and portacot! Yep, 8 weeks and 1 day today. We are due on our Wedding Anniversary!

I haven't been well. I have even lost a kilo. Just the very thought of food makes me feel sick! Bring on the next 4 weeks! I can't wait to be over this sickness.

I am hanging up my scissors and glue for a while. I am a little over scrapbooking at the moment. I am not finding joy in it. I find it quite boring and time consuming at the moment.

Kate turned 6 a week ago. We had a McDonalds party on the weekend. It was great! Cheap too, and I didnt have to clean up. I went to buy her a new dress to wear and I couldnt find one anywhere! I went to Pumpkin Patch to look at the maternity clothes and saw a beautiful dress down from $46 to $20. I ended up spending $57 but saved $83! Talk about some great bargains!

Kate received a bike for her birthday off us. She loves riding it. Luke on the other hand has still not managed to work out how to ride his bike. He will not use those pedals for the life of him! For a kid that can stand 5 meters away and scon you in the head with a ball, I thought for sure would pick up how to ride a bike really easy. Apparently not.

I guess thats it from me. Not much has been happening around here, especially no housework. If I am not sitting around feeling ill, I am so tired I can barely move. Lets hope the next couple of weeks goes really fast!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

03.03.07

2007-03-03T14:02:00.000+11:00

SO you see I was trying to go a whole month without posting. No, just kidding. We received some news the other week which really rocked our socks and well we have come to terms with it and are moving forward. Details to follow.

So while I have been mostly offline, I can say that I got all that cleaning done. My house was spotless. Perfect. Two weeks later, you cant really tell. I am dissapointed. Anyone got some good tips for helping kids help? Thanks for everyones comments. I like to know that I am normal. I dont want to be extraordinary. I just want to be ordinary, normal.

I have scrapped a bit, but thats only because I am in two comps at the moment. I am competing in Reality Scraps over at Scrapbook City. The layouts for that comp are Joy and Friday Favourite.

I am also competing in The Big Challenge over at Bon's Scraps. The layouts I have done for that comp so far are Nambucca and Rain, rain dont go away.

The first layout - Joy - you could only use the MM patterned paper, no cardstock, and you had to use the 8inch MM chipboard shape and you had to put your journalling on it.

The second layout - Friday Favourite - you could only use cardstock, no patterned paper at all. You also had to have a handmade embellishment, use either a pice of bling or fancy edged bazzill, and a handcut title.

The third layout - Nambucca - had to use the colour combo aqua and peach. When I first read the challenge, I was like, What The?! but I love it now!

The fourth layout - Rain, rain dont go away - had to use the colour combo blue and red.

I tell you, the challenges arent easy but I am enjoying doing them.

I know I am sad, but I have already started on my BTP for this years Scrabooking Memories Masters comp! I just want to not leave it to the 11th hour like I did last year.

I was lookingo ver at Lusi's blog and I am so in love with her playing cards she is doing for Emily Falconbridge's challenge. Very inspiring stuff. I might just need to buy a pack and see what I come up with... Hmmm.... dont know exactly when I will have time to do it though....

Not much else has been happening. Home stuff and work. I worked 42 hours this week! Cant wait for pay day! LOL! ;)

I have been thinking about challenging myself (I am doing nothing but challenges lately! LOL!) to take a photo a day. Maybe every two days. LOL. I will start today and see how I go I think.

Signing off for now! Thanks for stopping by and I am slowly getting around to people's blogs... slowly.... Take care! :)

14.02.06

2007-02-14T10:37:00.000+11:00

I look around and me and my house is a mess and yet I am sitting here on this computer looking at nothing in particular and putting off the inevitable.

I have to clean.

But not only that, I have to declutter and just basically get organised.

Now that I am getting used to the lack of sleep, I am getting around 4 1/2 hours a night, I think it's time I started to reorganise!

Day 1
Fold mountain of washing
Change linen on the beds
Go through linen closet (since I bought new sheets last week at a fantastic price!)

That should be enough for today. Luckily we are having leftovers for dinner tonight - I made to yummiest barbecue chicken in the slow cooker yesterday. I got the recipe from my mothers group friend Rachel. So we are having it with some rice and vegies.

Anyway, since I have sat here, Luke has decided to make some more mess, not that you can really tell. So I better hightail it and go and start on my to do list.

I am SO not a domestic goddess.............

11.02.07

2007-02-11T20:45:00.000+11:00

Another week gone and another promise to update more regularly broken. Sorry about that.

<----Here is Lusi and myself. Aren't we just too cool? Totally. I went and visited Lusi the other week and had a total ball! Can't wait to do it again!

So I decided to enrol in KiwiScraps Freestlye Convention thingy in April. No, I am not a classes kinda girl, but I decided to go anyway as I think it will help me to let go more in my scrapbooking. That is my goal this year.

Well, on the homefront, not much has been happening. Kate, being the big year 1 girl now has homework. All it is is a list of about 20 words that they have to copy once. Easy. She loves doing it. I got a letter home from school the other day and it seems Kate may have to move classes due to her class becoming a K/1 composite. We shall see tomorrow I guess.

Luke was supposed to start his first day tomorrow at Family Day Care to allow me time to do some uni study since I work at night now. The poor little mite woke up with a runny nose! There goes my plans to get a haircut ad my eyebrows waxed. Maybe I might just take him along anyway. Surely a 3 year old boy can sit still for half an hour!?!?

I have done my layout for this weeks competition over at Scrapbook City. The theme was Passion. All I could hink of was this somg out of Flashdance! LOL! I worked it into my layout of course! The results will be up tomorrow morning and I have my fingers crossed that I go through to Round 2. There were some mighty good layouts submitted.

Well, I am sitting here supposed to be scrapbooking a layout for a CC at Scrapbooks Paper and Things - where Lusi teaches - but I didnt read the details properly and now my layout doesn't meet the criteria. Grrrrr. I really should read everything 3 times before I just jump in and start scrapping!

I also have to finish my DT layout and finish another challenge layout. Man I am on the go! It's all good fun though.

I have enrolled in some Yoga classes - just once a week for the next 8 weeks. I cant wait to start! It starts on tuesday. Hopefully it wont make me too sore! I have also been walking around the block again. After me and Luke drop Kate off at school we go - him in the pram - and me unfortunately pushing him up and down our hilly suburb. It takes just under 30 minutes. Not too long and not too short. Just right.

I just want to note that I am grateful to my husband who indulges my creative side.

Well thats about all we have time for folks.

Thanks so much to everyone who comes by and reads my blog!

I have been slack of late but hopefully I will be checking on you all soon!

Take care! :)

04.02.07

2007-02-04T20:02:00.000+11:00

Wow! Another week gone! This year is already going far too fast for my liking! Well in the last week I have had a birthday. I am now officially 27 even though I have been telling people that for the last 6 months as I kept forgetting - hopefully not a sign of things to come! LOL! I know - I look absolutely divine in my pyjama pants! I would just like to take a moment to thank everyone for their birthday wishes! You guys are the best! :D

Now, I think I did something on the monday, but you know, I cant for the life of me remember what it was. Man I have to start blogging more frequently... or keeping a diary, but I suppose that is what this is.

So Kate started Year 1 on tuesday. Only 2 other kids from her old class went into the new class. I was a little worried about that but I know she is in good hands as her teacher is awesome! I had a brief chat with her teacher as I thought maybe the class may have been graded, which was why she wasn't with her friends, but it isnt. So thats all good.

Wednesday was just a boring home day. I had to go to the Family Day Care office to enrol Luke though as I am putting him in care one day a week (to start with) so I can get some uni work done.

Thursday, well well well. I had a marvelous day! I went to my grandparents as Kate left something behind when she stayed there in the holidays, and then I drove a bit further up the mountains to go and visit Lusi for the day! I love this girl! We get on so well and I feel really comfortable with her. The kids got on famously too, which was awesome! Luke and Elijah were collecting snails and playing lego and playing with Buzz. I think Luke had just a good a day as me! Had so much fun talking about scrapping, and family and just well, stuff! Can't wait to do it again! Lusi is such a scrapping inspiration to me! She even gave me a notebook for my birthday which is gorgeous!

Afterwards I picked Kate up from school and then went to a lady's house to check it out for Luke to go there for care. It turns out that she has a daughter in year one aswell, and yep, even in Kate's class! LOL! It's such a small world! I will reserve my judgements until he starts there, but for now, I feel a little obliged to send him there. We shall see I guess.

Friday. Hmm it wasnt that long ago, so what did I do? Thats right, I had a nice sleep with Luke for an hour and a half. Thursday nights are the worst for me, I just hit the wall and then it takes me all day friday to recover. Luke was a great kid and even had a nap with me! :)

Saturday I got to sleep in - yay! We went out to Forty Winks and bought a new matress for Luke but its not in stock until wednesday. Then we had KFC for lunch. Yum. Then we just bummed around and got a DVD out to watch - the Jack Black one where he is a wrestler, man I am having the biggest brain fart in the world! Anyway we watched that and had an early night.

Sunday we cleaned all day. Not only that we put up DD's old bed that she didn't like at the time. It is one of those raised beds with the bookshelf and cupboard underneath. She wanted it so we moved her bed into Luke's room as he climbed out of the cot and well he is 3 now so its about time. So the whole house is spic and span and we shall see how long that lasts.........

I started a Photo A Day challenge over at Blue Bazaar and well, I only took my forst photo yesterday. A self portrait. It turned out ok enough. I did it in the bathroom mirror. I am so thankful for the moveable LCD screen on the camera. LOL!

I am also participating in Reality Scraps over at Scrapbook City and I have made it through the qualifying round and now I am in the challenge with 20 other very talented ladies. It is very exciting to say the least! Our qualifying challenge was to do a layout about what we wanted to get out of Reality Scraps. And here was my entry. A layout inspired by a talk me and Lusi had about just 'letting go' and having fun!

I just love the challenge to be honest. I work better with a challenge or a deadline. The week 1 challenge is 'My Passion'. I have a couple, not many really. But I have a few thoughts in my head.

So I sit here now contemplating driving over to Spotlight, I heard they had a good deal on Urban Lily stuff, and thinking I would also like to get some fish for dinner. I think I just may pull my finger out of my behind and go and do just that.

The other night I saw a snippet on TV about the book 'The Secret' and it is all about The Law of Attraction and it had a bit about being grateful. So I am going to post one thing I am grateful or thankful for in every post.

I am thankful that I have a sweet husband who likes to give me backrubs when I am falling asleep.

Ok, take care and thanks for stopping by!!! :D

27.01.07

2007-01-27T21:13:00.000+11:00

Finally an update. I thought that I had nothing interesting to tell you all, but thats not why I have this blog. It is to help me keep track of the thing we do so I can look back on it when I scrap. I have done before. I scrapped Luke's birthday last year and I went back and took the journalling from what I wrote here. So from now on, no matter how boring and mundane it is, it is my life and I need help in remembering it! LOL!

So.... umm... what exactly did I do last week.....

Well first things first, I got myself a new camera! I had a Fuji s3500 and well, I was sick of the shutter lag and having to take a millions photos just for one good one, and then that was annoying because it was so slow. So Steve told me to go and get it. So I did. A Fuji s9500. He thought I should have spent the extra money and got a SLR but I dont want one. I dont have a passion for photography so I feel it would be wasted. Not only that, I fiddle too much. Steve is forever saying 'just take the darn photo... see now you lost it' and I figure with different lenses and stuff I would be missing far too many photos. So I got me this one and it has a manual zoom and it is one sweet machine. Even Steve has had a play aound with it. I have to admit, it is nice to be in FRONT of the camera. ;)

Also to that I have started collecting supplies for this year Master's competition. My BTP is going to be a big job so I figure there is no harm in starting it early.

I got my uni stuff in the mail too. I have decided to put Luke into preschool 1 day per week and that will be my study day. I was looking at the work I have to do and it doesnt look easy but as my sister said to me, it is a proper mathematics degree. True. It's not meant to be easy.

I had organised to go to the pool on wednesday. It rained. Of course. But the pool was indoors so we still went. Hardly anyone else did so it was great! Kate is getting very confidednt in the water. She kept asking if I could take one of the sections off her floatie. Not until she has lessons I tell her. She gets so excited by her accomplishments. Her teacher wrote that on her report card last year and yeah, it is very true. I like the fact that she takes pride in what she achieves. Luke on the other hand was not so confident, unless of course, he was stuck to me like a koala to a tree. I found out that the back floaties are potentially very dangerous. Luke fell forward onto his fron a couple of times and because of the floatie, he could not roll over. Scared me to think that I trusted the little sucker stuck on his back. Lucky I was only an arms reach away. So we had fun and were there for hours and the kids did not want to go home! And I even wore my tankini with NO shorts on. Getting pretty confident there. LOL.

Which brings me to thursday. January 25th. Luke's 3rd Birthday. Wow. I can't believe a year has already passed and yet I feel like it has just been a week. My little dude is so cute! I just want to bottle up his sweetness! He runs to me and plants a big kiss on my mouth and tells me he loves me - "I wub you mummy". But you can read that child like a book and fair dinkum he is so michevious! You can tell he is going to do something naughty waaay before he does it! It is written on his face! He is cheeky and yes I do call him evil, and some days I feel like he is, but I could make a mint if I could bottle the sweet side of him. But alas, he is 3 already. For his birthday we got him a bike. He can't ride it. In fact, he puts the brakes on when you try to push him along. I figure that he will 'get it' sooner or later.

Steve took his boat out on Australia Day. This was the first time he properly went out with the intention to fish. Now, I dont mind him going fishing... just as long as he brings nothing home. And he didn't so all is well and he can go again! LOL! Between Steve and BIL they caught a bundle of fish - most of them were barely legal but becasue they throw them all back its all good. And Steve enjoyed himself. He really did. And thats enough to make me happy. (Even he does come home stinking of fish and petrol!) My sister kept me company. It was nice to hang out and just gasbag. And she is expecting! How exciting! In another 6 months there is going to be the tiny patter of sweet baby feet!

Which brings me to today. We have an addition to the family. A kitten. Meggs (unless we think of a better name LOL). I was looking on the Trading Post site - for reasons seriously unknown - and I came across and ad that was selling rescued kittens. We had already discussed getting a kitten the other week and the one we were going to get wasnt ready for a few more weeks. So I showed Steve the ad - for $120 you got a desexed kitten, that was microchipped, vaccinated, wormed AND litter trained. So I rang the lady this morning and we went and had a look. And we got one. He is just so precious! And he has even showed Webster who is boss by hissing at him and scaring the crap out of Webby. LOL. He is all over everything though! At one point we were looking for him and he was sitting on top of Steve's computer table! The kids love him and wont leave the poor little guy alone! I am sure once he is settled in he will enjoy the attention. I took him to use the litter tonight and when he jumped out he stopped walking and looked up at me so of course I picked him up. I am glad he is warming to us so quickly.

Tommorrow. Is. My. 27th. Birthday. That just freaks me out a little. The downhill run to 30 sure does go quick! I feel like I should have accomplished more in my life. I feel like I just havent done enough to justify my age. But what is there to accomplish I suppose? I just dont want to get to 70 and look back and think that I have not done anything. I will keep pondering this for a while I think.

Well I guess I should go. I have to edit some photos to get them printed tomorrow. Not much scrapping has been happening here but that will change soon since I am in a competition over at Scrapbook City. We have to do a layout about what we want to get out of the competition. For the last week I have had a layout firmly in my head. I made Steve take the photo and now I just have to scrap it and hope it turns out the same as whats in my head because it looks pretty cool up in there. But anyway, here is my layout for my latest Memory Bugs DT assignment. I really like the way it turned out, and yes, I am a year late with the whole curly brackets thing, but I just have never 'got' them ok?! LOL!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and take care! :)

15.01.07

2007-01-15T15:30:00.000+11:00

Last week was so busy! I really should have blogged throughout the week as this is going to be a long post!

Last wednesday I rang my grandarents to see how Kate was going and they suggested I meet them at the shops. So I spent the better part of my day walking around the shops not looking at anything in particular. We had to cut the trip short as Luke had an accident. So we came home and I cooked dinner and then went off to work.

Thursday I met up with the gorgeous Lusi and her 3 munchkins! Lusi is just wonderful and her kids are just darling! I can't wait till the next time we meet up! The kids played really well together and I had the nicest chat and the best frozen coke! LOL! ;) Then I went and collected Kate from my grandparents house. Home to cook dinner then go to work.

Friday was just super hot! We went to the shops to buy some stuff for school and Luke needed a new pair of shoes. He even picked his own shoes out - Spiderman ones! He loves them and wants me to keep taking photos of them! LOL! Then back home again and the kids played around in the wading pool to cool down. They had heaps of fun and were in there for 2 hours while I sat and read a magazine (supervising LOL). Then dinner and work.

Saturday I got to scrap with Kylie and Moira at a class taught by Kylie. My layout turned out nothing like the class one, but I used it as inspiration. ;) I have decided just to let go with my scrapping and do whatever and you know, I had fun! I also had fun at the 50% off storewide sale. Lets just say ALOT of fun. I bought The Journaler's Handbook and lets just say I almost cried after reading the first 4 pages! I know I am a sooky lala - but I have so many journaling ideas floating around my head, I just wish I had some time to scrap them!

Then on sunday we went to Taronga Zoo! We went with Fliss and Jus and had a great time! The kids loved it! Although I think it may have been just a bit much for Luke. The seal show was great but after that it got quite hot and it was just after lunch time so alot of the animals were dozing at the back of their pens after that. Not to worry! We got to see the new elephants too. When we got home we had a nap and then Steve went out to dinner with some mates for a farewell and me and the kids watched Barnyard. Well I laughed and I cried. It was a good movie, but a little dark for kids I think.

Which brings me to today. Don't you hate it when you do the shopping and think 'nah I dont need that I have some at home' only to go home and find you have run out!? Argh! So back to the shop we go... while I was there this time I bought a new washing basket and yep I hung washing on my clothesline. I havent used my clothesline for the last 18 months I reckon. Since getting that dryer I use that and only that. It didnt help that we would always wash in the evenings. So my pegs are getting a workout. LOL!

Lusi and I were having an Ali E talk the other day about a Word. I have chosen my word for he year. ENJOY. I need to enjoy the small things. The big things. The obscure things. I need to enjoy my hobbies. I need to enjoy my family time. I need to enjoy my me time (not that there is much of that left nowadays!). I just need to enjoy.

Well, I better go as Luke decided to play with a bee and in Luke style, got stung on the finger. A lesson learnt I hope. So now the kids are watching Playschool. Quiet times.

Thanks for stopping by and take care!

09.01.07

2007-01-09T15:11:00.000+11:00

<---This is Webster. He got groomed today, and by that I mean he got shaved. He is a long haired border collie and well, not anymore. The grooming people said he can have his hair short all year round as he has sufficient 'padding'. LOL! So this is how he is going to stay! He looks so handsome now too! I mean he always did, but now even more so!

I signed up to a competition over at www.scrapbookcity.com.au - Reality Scrap. I think it is like a Survivor type thing, but whatever it is - I am really looking forward to competing in it! You all should head over there for a peek, the girls are so nice and friendly and the work in the gallery is amazing!

We hired some movies the other day, Cars and Pirates of the Carribean. Can I just say that I am totally in love with Cars and Mater is the funniest guy going around! I am thinking that this is one movie I will definately buy and Luke loves to watch the 'racing cars'.

I finished that layout for www.memorybugs.com.au and I will upload it as soon as the newsletter is out! Thats another great site that you should all head over to, and not because I am on the DT either (how was that for pimping! LOL! :P). The shop is great as well as the prices and the people on the forums are very friendly! And well, the forums need spicing up a little so if you have a spare couple of minutes, head over and make yourself at home!

Kate has gone to my grandparents (or her great-grandparents) house for a couple of days. She loves it up there as grandma and pop have beautiful gardens that she likes to roam around in. They live in the Blue Mountains and although they can't take her bushwalking like they used to take me and my sisters, I am sure she enjoys it just the same! :)

Well, thats it from me, I have to head up to the chemist. Get this. I went to the chemist yesterday to see if they had Head and Shoulders in Menthol because Franklins doesn't stock this type anymore. They didn't have it but they offered to order it in for me. I am like, umm isn't that a lot of trouble. No, not at all apparently because about 3 hours later I got a call to say that they had some in stock. Ok then. Sure. I will come and get it then.

So, thats my life in a nutshell right now, well, some of the more interesting points anyway! LOL!

Oh, and if you dont have Blogarithms - GET IT! It helps keep track of all your blogging buddies with one concise email per day that lets you know which ones have been updated. So go to www.blogarithm.com and sign up today. And thats an order! LOL! And thankyou to Kylie for telling me about it! :)

Alright dudes, catch you all later! :)

06.01.07

2007-01-06T20:05:00.000+11:00

*drumroll please*

The answers to my quiz are:
1. My favourite TV show is HOUSE
2. My favourite band is NICKELBACK
3. I have a dog which is a BORDER COLLIE
4. My siblings are 2 SISTERS
5. My favourite food is CHOCOLATE
6. My favourite movire is FORREST GUMP
7. When I was gowing up I wanted to be an ARCHITECT
8. When I finish Uni I will be a TEACHER
9. My hobbies include SCRAPBOOKING
10. My favourite day of the week is WEDNESDAY

So today we took the kids to Lollipop playground at Penrith. This was the first time we went there as we normally go to KidAbout at St Marys. Well, my jaw, and DH's almost hit the floor when they charged us $4.40 per adult to get in! You see no where else we have been does, so it was a bit of a shock. But I have to admit, it was clean and well kept and we all enjoyed ourselves. Yes, me and Steve are those dumbarse parents you see that go on the thing aswell! So I guess $4.40 is better than the $11 you pay for the kids! LOL! Anyway, so we were there for a couple of hours and had fun.

Then we just bummed around at home. Steve was playing around with his boat as he bought the remaining things it needed. I was going through all my old mags. I have mags dating back to 2002. That is sad. So I am chucking them all out! Well, most of them anyway. I decided to go through them and pull out anything I like. So far, lets just say, very Creative Memories..... so I havent pulled out much!

Ok, so I am sitting here procrastinating about a DT layout I have to do for Memory Bugs. I am also thinking that I have so many blogs to catch up on and just not enough time. Ok, nothing much else is happening around here. I better go and try and scrap..........

Take care and thanks for stopping by and dont be shy and leave a message!!!!!

01.01.07

2007-01-01T21:52:00.001+11:00

Today was fun! We went out on the boat! Well, I didnt, but DH and the kids did. Now I know I didn't say it was anything spectacular, because it isn't. It's just a 12' tinny. Nothing special but makes DH happy just the same. And that makes me happy. Luke just loved it! He was so excited that he did not want to get out! We were only out for a short time as it started pelting down rain. The kids just look so adorable in their life jackets! LOL!

So it is 2007. I hope everyones New Year went off with a bang! My sister and BIL came over for a BBQ but we stuffed ourselves silly on all the nibblies that we didn't end up cooking the BBQ. But thats ok as they came over today so we had it for lunch. So I had a couple of drinks last night and we played Buzz. That is a cool game. Even if Fliss always wins!

I was a little dissapointed by the fireworks, dont get me wrong, they were spectacular, but the bridge ones were lacking. When I want to watch fireworks off the bridge, I want to see fireworks off the bridge! I think we are just so used to seeing it, thats all.

Well Christmas was fun here. The kids as usual got spoilt, and so did I this year! I got a slow cooker, a guillotine cutter thing (which I was going to test tonight but instead spent all night chatting to Kylie and Moi!) and a new cordless keyboard and mouse which I am using this instant! I was very spoilt indeedy!

So I am going to go soon as I want to read a bit more of my book before I go to bed. I am reading the DaVinci Code which is quite interesting as I didn't even know who Mary Magdaline was! LOL! I have done a bit of internet researching, like looking up the image of the Last Supper and so forth because religion is not something that we were brought up with. But I am finding it very interesting indeed.

But before I go... I have a quiz for you all to take!

Create your own friendquiz here

GOODLUCK EVERYONE FOR A GREAT 2007!!!!!

29.12.06

2006-12-29T16:16:00.000+11:00

Sorry, no photos. Thats right. How bad is it when a scrapbooker does not even take one photo on Christmas Day? I will redeem myself by saying that I did videotape Christmas morning. So there is still some keepsake of the day. And thats what it is all about I guess. Preserving the memory.

Which brings me to a scrapbooking gripe. I was over at 2peas and I was cruising the gallery. I came across a layout and the poster had put a whole big paragraph in the details section explaining all about the photo. One the layout there was one sentence about the photo. One sentence that didnt explain the photo quite like the comments section. Will they remember these additional details in 10 or 20 years time?

Now to me journalling is pretty important. I never used to journal much, just the 4W's. Who why where and when. It was Erica G's open heart journalling that made me rethink my layouts about 2 years ago. I realised that in 10 years time I wont remember the background info regarding photos so I figure its better, especially for future generations to just be able to read it in the layout.

But thats just me I guess.

So, not much to show on the scrapbooking front as I havent scrapbooked in a couple of months. Purchase goods, yes. Use them, no.

So work has been tiresome. Last night I started at 6pm and then finished at 5.30 this morning. Hard stuff but I am enjoying it. My managers have told me I am doing a good job, which I am pleased about. And super happy I have now finished up with Westpac! YAY!

Well I must run as I have to get ready for work. Fun times. LOL.

Before I go, I just want to mention a special lady. Moira. She is such a beautiful person. For my birthday she sends me a card and a little surprise and she sent me a card for Christmas with another special surprise. I was so touched. You see I am a bad friend. I know it and I acknowledge it. I barely call anyone to say hi, I never send cards, nothing. I think about it, but then time gets away and I forget. So I apologise to everyone in advance for being a horrible friend! Seriously.

Well thats it from me for today!
I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and I wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Take care and thanks for stopping by!!!!! :)

15.12.06

2006-12-15T11:30:00.000+11:00

THANKYOU!!!!!! Thankyou to everyone for their comments about SM Masters!!! It has sincerely brightened my day to come her and see all the comments. You girls are the best!!!! I am so thankful that I found scrapbooking and have made such wonderful friends!

I have learned that sleep is overrated... until it catches up with you that is! I am home today and I am a wreck! My head hurts! One night I had 2 3/4 hours sleep. Oh well. Only 8 more working days to go. EEK! Surprisingly though, when I am over-tired I get all happy and talk lots and really fast. LOL! I have been in such a good mood all week! The job is good. Gosh it is great to not have to deal with customers!! Sorry, but it is!!

It is sad that I only see the kids for an hour in the morning while we are getting ready and apparently they are missing me. Kate had a birthday party yesterday and she sat there all sad because she wanted me to be there. I feel so bad right now and am contemplating not working at the bank but am worried about losing my entitlements and it is only for another week. Ugh. I just dont know what I should do.

So Steve bought a boat the other day. We are picking it up tomorrow. He is so excited. You see, he had a boat before we had Kate, but he sold it when Kate came along and has regretted it ever since, so yeah. At least this will stop him from annoying me - you see, everytime we are in the car and a boat goes past, he says, nice boat. EVen the kids say it now. Drives me crazy! LOL!

So Christmas is only a week away and we have put our lights up and after Steve's blessing (so he thinks! LOL!) I bought another 3 sets of lights. Unfortunately I can not find any gutter clips ANYWHERE so I cant put 2 of them up! Argh! Oh well, it still looks nice enough.

Well thats about it in my life this week. Pretty boring I know. Ok. I am off to have a nap before I go and collect the kids. Hmmmm what should I ccok for dinner..... decisions, decisions....

Take care and thanks for stopping by!!!!! :)

08.12.06

2006-12-08T22:20:00.000+11:00

First off I would like to say a big big thankyou to everyone for their congratulations about me getting the job. The only problem is I will be working both jobs for the next 3 weeks, so 8.15am - 5pm at Westpac and then 6pm - midnight (possibly later) at Linfox. So I wont be around much in the next 3 weeks!!!! What time spent NOT at work will be spent SLEEPING!!! Argh!

Well. The Scrapbooking Memories Masters book is out! Thank goodness we can all relax now! Phew!!! Well I am not a master. Oh well. But I did get 3 Honourable Mentions out of 4 projects, well this was as close to a master as I could get. I am a little dissapointed, you know the saying, so close yet so far, well thats what it kind of feels like. But I am very pleased and I am sure the dissapointment will wear off quickly as I come to realise how lucky I am to have gotten so far!!! A big congrats to the new masters and all the HM's!!!

Here is my single page layout:

Here is my double page layout:

Here is my beyond the page item (which is actually really large, the photos are 6x8 if thats any indication):

Here is my monogram:

Thanks for stopping by everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

07.12.06

2006-12-07T18:52:00.000+11:00

I

GOT

THE

JOB!

YAY ME! :D

30.11.06

2006-11-30T20:23:00.000+11:00

I got a phone call today. The job is getting closer and closer I can almost smell it! LOL! I have a meeting with a manager on monday. Half of my medical test is back, still waiting on the pee test results. Since it was a drug and alcohol test, I should pass! ;) LOL!

I almost got divorced yesterday, just kidding! I can't help myself. I promised Steve I would only buy one new set of Christmas lights every year. I got my second lot yesterday. Oops. But they are cute dangly ones with stars and trees and stuff. Very cool. I cant wait to put them all up!!!

I received 4 out of the 5 layouts I sent in for the For Keeps Awards of Excellence competition. A bit bummed as the one they kept would of had to have been the worst of the bunch! I hope they dont publish it as it is embarrassing! LOL! Well at least I can share them here now..... and sub them to other mags! LOL! I know, I am pimping myself..... :P

Hey Shaz, I had a good look for us in SM and by crikey thats us!!! Well you anyway and the top of my head! How cool!!!

Well I am a little bored of scrapping lately. I still enjoy checking out the forums and stuff, I just dont want to scrap. I cant be bothered really. I thought about trying out some other crafts but I thought, meh, too hard. So instead I have decided to start reading some books. You know, like become more intelligent and stuff... :P So I read Treasure Island. I thought it would be different considering its a classic and all. Oh well. Now I am reading Morgan's Run. I am the worst reader and always skip ahead to see what the characters are doing. LOL! I should just read it properly! So if anyone has some good book recommendations, please share.

Well, thats about it from me. I might clean up this desk and maybe head back inside to read some more. Hmmm. We shall see. Or maybe do some sudoku. I am a sudoku freak. Love it! Sad little life I lead I know... LOL!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by and wishing you well! :)

25.11.06

2006-11-25T20:58:00.000+11:00

Well where on earth did tuesday, wednesday and thursday get to?! I cant believe it is already saturday and its almost over aswell!

I have had a bit of a full on week. I had my job interview which went well, well I think it did since I have the last hurdle to cross on monday, a medical examination. Fingers crossed all is well as I want this so bad!

I had an RDO on wednesday which was great as I got to see Kate perform at the Assembly of Excellence at her school. She has been practising her line for the last 4 months and of course I tok the video camera to film it and of course the battery died about 2 seconds BEFORE she said her line! Ahhhh! Modern technology. Gotta love it!

Then my tooth was playing up so I had thursday off work as *I* thought it was my wisdom tooth and I know dentists are partial to taking them out. So I went there and he says no, its the molar next to it. So he cleans it and fills it and then tells me that he doesn't think its the molar at all and it probably IS the wisdom tooth playing up. So I am on antibiotics to make the infection go away. I had to have a mouth x-ray as the tooth is still under the gum and I go back in a month. Fun. Not.

I picked the kids Santa photo up aswell. Isn't it just great?! That Santa is the best one going I reckon! The kids were great and not a whimper in sight!

Kate went to a birthday party today. It was a pool party and she had the best time! I had issues getting her out of the water! She has always been so scared of the water but with floatie and noodle in hand, she is quite confident!

On the topic of Kate, I spoke to her teacher during the week. I was a little worried that she wouldn't be ready academically for year 1. The Dept of Ed wants kids to read at a level of 7-8, Kate was only on level 5 in the second term. Her teacher tells me that she is now on level 17. I was stunned and shocked! I knew she was reading better but I didnt expect that! So on to year 1 we go!

And I got to see Kylie today. She came over and we went and checked out Spotlight. Cool. Always good to see you dude.

Well, thats about it in the week that was. Have got nothing planned for tomorrow as yet. Just bumming around probably.

Thankyou to all that stop by!

Have a safe week! Take care! :)

18.11.06

2006-11-18T09:29:00.000+11:00

Well the Memory Bugs Newsletter is out and this is my layout from it. We had the dark brown chocolate card and ribbon, 7G pp and red vellum to work with. Red vellum. I havent used vellum in a really long time. So for all the millions of people that read my blog *cough* I challenge you to pull out that old vellum stash and to use some!

Last weekend I went to spotlight to buy some black material to make a backdrop for some Christmas photos. I got the kids matching white tshirts for the shoot. My trouble with this is I take pretty ordinary photos. Oh well. Hopefully I will get 1 nice one. Its all I can hope for! LOL! :P

So I have a job interview on tuesday. I am excited about this. You see at the moment I work full time and I am losing my child minder so childcare costs are going from $280 per week to $380 per week. I cant justify working 40 hours for $175. Thats like $4.75 an hour. So the interview is at Armaguard and it is a 6pm start for the shift. I didnt want to work weekends as Steve and I would never see each other, so needless to say I have all my fingers, toes, legs, arms, etc, crossed.

Well when we weaned Luke of the dummies the other week, it only took him 2 days to forget about them. So we have commenced the dreaded toilet training. Today is day 3. Yesterday he had no accidents at all, oh except for the poo first thing in the morning. What a shame I was in the shower so Steve had to attend to that! LOL! ;) He is doing really well. I am glad I waited until he was ready. He was showing all the signs like hiding when he had to go etc.

I got the Remember When Newsletter today and it had this quote:
As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin. ~anonymous~
I thought it was just beautiful and wanted to share.

Anyway, thats it from me, my house is a mess so we are spending the better part of the day getting it back into order, just another reason why I cant work during the day. I miss the kids and the house is going to ruins! EEK!

Thanks for stopping by and take care!!! :)

11.11.06

2006-11-11T22:39:00.000+11:00

Remembrance Day. When I was young I was in the Australian Air League and we would participate in marches. Air League was fun. We learnt about planes and I learnt how to play a triangle in the band. I graduated to the cymbols. LOL.

I was driving home last night from athletics and I was thinking about Steve and man, I love that dude so much! I know, a little soppy, but it was like an epiphany. I didnt say anything to him last night. But I was woken by him this afternoon from my nanna nap (stayed up way to late chatting to Kylie!) and he had placed a bunch of roses on the bedside table and he and the kids ate half the box of chocolates that he also bought me. Its kinda funny to think that I was thinking so much of him last night and then he does that. We compliment each other. I guess that what soulmates do.

So I am supposed to be scrapping and doing a cybercrop over at www.memorybugs.com.au but I am thinking too much to be creative. Sometimes I think I think too much. Oh well.

Not much planned for tomorrow. Santa is going to Plumpton tomorrow so depending on the queue we may or may not get the kids Santa photo taken. Oh oh oh I bought a new set of Christmas lights today! I looove Christmas lights! These ones say Merry Christmas. Too cool.

Anyway, back to agonising over this layout that I am doing for SM. Oops. Secrets out. Take care and thanks for stopping by! :)

06.11.06

2006-11-06T21:35:00.000+11:00

Nothing much has been happening. Work today. I think it must be a full moon as all the loonies were out today. Not that you can see the moon behind our gorgeous glorious grey skies. Have I ever told you I love the rain? No? Well I do. I love the sound of it, the feel of it and the smell of it! I just love it! I really have to get Steve behind the camera I think. Just so I can do some layouts about ME for a change and about the things I love.

So I have decided to share some layouts that I have been doing. I have been very scrapblocked for weeks! I go to the garage and just look at my supplies and think 'oh this is all too hard'. And then I trawl the internet and just generally get bored over the whole scrapping ordeal. But I think I am getting my mojo back a little. 'Bout time and just in time for a project I have been asked to do. Very excited about this!

Ok, so this layout, Seal of Approval, wins the award for having the lamest, cheesiest title ever! Oh well. What else could you call it?! LOL! The photos were from our trip to Nambucca Heads last year. We went to Pet Porpoise Pool. Kate got to pat the seal and feed it a fish. I love that place! The show is awesome adn you get to pat the dolphins. I love dolphins. They are so graceful and beautiful. Growing up though, my favourite was the killer whales. Now that is a beautiful species!

I also managed this layout, Outtakes. I love it! I have had these photos for ages. We went to Nurragingy Reserve on Australia Day and Steve and the kids sat down and I thought 'wow, that would make a great photo!' Of course they couldn't sit still. Kate is sneezing, Luke is lying down, Steve is squinting. I just could not get *the* perfect photo. But you know what, life ain't perfect and I love living in my little imperfect life!

I was able aslo to whip up my Memory Bugs DT layout. I love it! I can't wait to be able to share it with you guys! You know, I love my little spot on the Memory Bugs DT, I have the best bosses who are so relaxed and nice. I hope to keep that spot for a while! ;)

So, with all that scrapping stuff, I have been having some late nights, so I think it is time for me to go to bed. I may even wake up early, 5.30 :O, and go for a run. Maybe. Yeah. Probably not. It is still supposed to be raining tomorrow. Oh well. Will give it a miss then.

Even though my mum doesn't visit here, I just want to give her a shoutout as she had a hip replacement last week. Not even 50 years of age. So thats what I have to look forward too. EEK! Get well Mum!

Thanks for stopping by and take care!

02.11.06

2006-11-02T20:08:00.000+11:00

So I have been MIA. Sorry about that. I have been buggered from work and we have had some hectic weekends. This last almost 3 weeks has gone so fast it is unbelievable!

So we went to the airshow and had a great time! This is Steve, Kate and Luke sitting in a helicopter. My favourite displays were the dancing helicopters - 2 helicopters in sync 'dancing' so close I thought they were going to crash! The F111's were awesome with their dump and burns. My other fav was the FA18's and their speed and agility. Awesome stuff.

So we went Trick or Treating on tuesday with the kids and SIL. Wow! The kids had the best time and did not want to go home!!! Cant blame them though, you dont get lollies everyday for dressing up and knocking on doors! It was so funny with some of the things they ended up with, like a packet of burger rings! I think because they looked cute, yes I am biased, that people wanted to give them something. We just did our small little block, but boy, did they score big time! LOL! So many treats! They are allowed 2 a day! We had a few people who came to our door but not many, so next year, I am going all out!

I am going to stick a pumpkin on our letterbox so people know to come to us! Seriously, if you didn't do it this year, do it next year! Your kids will enjoy it! Kate went as Hermione out of Harry Potter and Luke when as a yarrrr pirate!

I am such a mean mum! I took Luke's dummies off them the other night while he was asleep and cut the rubber off them! He has become so attached to them it wasn't funny! He would have one in his mouth and one in each hand. So they 'broke'. He was cranky to begin with but he is getting better now. It has only been 3 days so hopefully in a few more he wont even remember what a dummy was! The thing is, in just 3 short days, his speech has improved so much! I can actually understand him!

Besides that, not much else has been happening. Just work and house stuff. Boring. It must have been a full moon this week as all the loonies have been out in force at work! I am so over the place it isnt funny. I applied for a new job so we shall see how that goes. Not getting my hopes up, I just thought I would apply on a whim.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and take care!!! :)

15.10.06

2006-10-15T22:29:00.000+10:00

<------ Well this is me and my new do. I have racing stripes. LOL. Ok so I got me some foils and since I haven't even coloured my hair in like 10 years, this is unfamiliar territory for me! I quite like it actually. Makes me look all girly and stuff. Yep. I am chicking up. About time. Steve likes it and of course made some dirty remark...

So not much else happening here. Went to the shops today. Saw someone I hadn't seen since leaving school which freaked me out a little. Didn't talk to them though. Bought a new picnic rug as we are going to the airshow on saturday! Very cool and I am super excited even if they do predict something like another 20000 people showing up!

So I have been scrapping again! YAY! Mojo has made its return which I am most pleased about! It had to return sooner or later! I did another layout last night but blogger is refusing to cooperate so you can just look at me instead. Aren't my racing stripes cool? LOL!

So, some big news, I have lost weight! LOL! It's the new job! I am always on my feet and walking around and sometimes on my lunchbreak I will go for a walk around Winsdor. It's such a lovely place! Old houses, a river to walk along, old buildings, just beautiful. So I am happy with that. Who wouldn't be? LOL!

Hmmm I just realised I have a total thing against using apostrophies and if I don't Kath wont read my blog! I hope your leg is healing Kath! Sending you healing vibes! Bummer you have to miss out on paper crafts.

Ok so thats it from me and I know, its all totally random stuff but it is past my bedtime and school starts again tomorrow! Well not for you Kath! So we all have to be up and at 'em bright and early!

Thanks for stopping by!!! :)

11.10.06

2006-10-11T22:12:00.000+10:00

Ok so last week I was sick with a chest infection and a 24 hour virus thing which lasted longer than 24 hours! So last week has been shunted from my memory. LOL.

Havent been doing much otherwise. I signed up for a challenge over at www.scrapbooksandmore.com.au and it has to do with Elsie's 52 scrapbooking challenges. The first challenge was to use brown, orange and blue as a colour combo. So I scrapped this layout tonight. I was so super pumped to scrap because I havent properly in like a month, I even missed House tonight so I could scrap. I know. Somethings gotten into me.

Well, thats about it for me, I have to go to bed so I can get up on time as I have to go to the train station before work to buy tickets to the air show at Richmond RAAF base on the next weekend. I am so excited about this! I have never been to one and I always wanted to go! So, take care and thanks for stopping by!!! :)

30.09.06

2006-09-30T22:05:00.000+10:00

Nothing much happening here today. Went to the shops with the kids, minus DH as he wasnt well so he stayed home for a snooze. I wanted to buy them some summer sandals. While I was there I got the summer layby out with their PJ's and some clothes. Thats summer shopping finished. Cool. I also got myself a pair of causal slip on shoes, happy with that.

Going to a BBQ tomorrow with some people I used to work with - I am so looking forward to this. No concrete plans for monday though. DH wants to go to the new wildlife thing at Darling Harbour. We probably will if we get ready early enough as I suspect it will be quite busy.

Just thought I would share this photo of Luke taken on wednesday, yes my fabulous RDO day. We were eating lunch and he looked over and saw a little girl playing on the swings and looked at me, pointed and laughed and said 'silly bubba'. It was so cute and I had an idea for a layout so I had turned my camera on and got this gorgeous photo. I love it. He is so cute. And this was about the only time he stayed still and even that wasnt long enough for him to finish his roll!

So for my weekly athletics update. Cue the music.
1500m - 7.29min
400m - 1.27min
100m - 19 something - quads blew up at about 70m trying a new running technique LOL
200mH - 50.0sec
3km - 16.47min
Long jump - 2.76m - woefull lol
Discus - not sure had to throw and go to the start of the 3k

I had a great night and felt so comfortable in everything I did except the 100m, 200mH (could only JUST get over the darn things! LOL!) and the long jump. I had a great night socialising and just having fun. No friday night festivities next week though as DH is off to Bathurst for the car race. But lucky for me that we have an Allcomers meet on wednesday. So if anyone is interested in athletics and wants to try it out - all are welcome of all standards - I mean they let me have a go LOL - you should come on down to the Olympic Complex at Rooty Hill on this coming wednesday at 7pm to have a go.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

27.09.06

2006-09-27T19:15:00.000+10:00

RDO.
I have been looking forward to this day since I started back full time!
I walked Kate to school. Boy I really miss this. And, as usual, we got there right on the bell... oops!
Then me and Luke went to the shop to get some stuff for dinner, which was chow mein mince btw. Luke was so cute - as soon as I said that we were going to the shop he asked if I could "buy nana" and then "buy two nanas". So I obliged and for $4 I got 2 bananas...
Then on the way home, I thought since it was such a marvellous day, that I would take Luke to feed the ducks at Nurrgingy. He was so excited!
So we feed the ducks and walked around a little and ran down some hills and chased some birds and just generally had a great time. I even got a couple of nice photos... well nice enough for Luke who refuses to stay still and cooperate!!!

Then we went and played in the playground. Even I had a go of the swing and boy I felt dizzy! I cant believe I spent hours as a kid on the swings and now cant go for 5 minutes. Mate, I need to toughen up I think.

Afterwards we dropped into my sisters house as we have to wear a footy jersey to work on friday and being the non-football supporter that I am, I dont own one. Lucky for me I have connections! Thanks Fliss! LOL!

Then we came home and Steve was home so both me and Luke went for nanna naps. The sun really took it out of us today! Steve went and collected Kate from school. She is so excited - she has her disco tomorrow night! She already has it planned as to what she is wearing! Such a cutie!

Then dinner, dessert (low joule jelly with strawberries and low fat ice cream - no guilt here! LOL!) and now bed time for the kids and relax time for the parents!

I had the best day and cant wait till my next RDO! I think it might even be in the school holidays... sweet!

Thanks for stopping by and take care!!!!!!!!! :)

23.09.06

2006-09-24T00:02:00.000+10:00

Big A's last night and of course I am very sore today.
I almost didnt go as I camr home because my spikes arrived and I wanted to grab them to test them out at athletics. Luke was all excited when I got home and fell on his bum in the cactus bowl. Lucky he was wearing a nappy but he still got a few spikes in his leg. So we race him inside and pull out the visible spikes and give him a quick shower, not really sure what we were trying to acheive with the shower, but anyway... I had some drawing ointment (thanks Kylie's dad) so I put that on his leg and covered it with bandaids. This morning it looked good so I guess we got the spikes out and he didnt say it was sore once today.

So I was a bit bummed as I wasnt going, but then I remembered that we had javelin on and I really wanted to do that so I said to Steve that I was going. He didnt mind thank goodness.

So I get there about 7.30 for a 6pm start and all they had done was the 100m hurdles which I dont do anyway.

Now. For the exciting part. The Walk. Yup. Exciting huh?

I used to be a walker when I was at Little A's and I was ok at it too. I havent walked for 11 years. *Gulp* I had no idea what to expect, or if I could still do it for that matter!!!

Well apparently I can still do it and I was told that I havent lost my style so I was quite pleased about that. I ended up doing 8.57mins for the 1500m walk. I have to admit though that I was very dissapointed with that time as my best time was 6.56mins but then I gave myself a mental kick up the bum and realised that hey - that is actually quite a good time, especially for being unfit, out of training and not doing it in 11 years.

Hmmm I forgot to mention that I totally wrecked my throat and sinus and cant stop sneezing and my quads were so sore afterwards that when I attempted the 200m I ran about 10metres before stopping almost in tears because of how much pain I was in.

Good news though - I got a massage when I got home! Sweet!

So results (for Linda) are as follows:
1500m walk: 8.57mins
Shot put (4kg): 5.56m
Javelin: 15.87m

We didnt do too much today. Just bummed around with the kids, which in my opinion is a great day! I tidied up my scrapping area a little. Didnt scrap anything as in a really smart move... not... I decided to load The Sims onto my computer. Talk about a time sucker.

Well thats about it from me.
Have a good one and take care! :)

19.09.06

2006-09-19T20:47:00.000+10:00

Ok, so I promised photos in my last post and so I better deliver.

<----And so here is Katie.... goofy smile and all! Well, I have finished my FK ET entry! Everything, materials lists, packing, etc. Phew! Am I glad thats over! Except... now the wait begins!

And now here is cool dude Luke! -->

Well I sit here in the garage and I am actually listening to music and contemplating finishing my Memory Bugs DT layout, I know, a little late since the newsletter came out yesterday. Did you all get the newsletter? Seriously, the girls on the DT rock my socks and shoes! They are just awesome scrappers and I am so in awe of these girls talents! If you dont get it, you better sign up!

Work today, ugh. I have worked out why my nose runs constantly while I am at work. I know, it has only been 3 weeks, but I have worked it out! I feel so silly for not realising earlier... there is a really bad draft in the branch and because there is a small opening in the window at the teller counter the draft goes straight through it, and yup, straight into my eyes, which makes them run and which in turn makes my nose run. The manager has looked into fixing it, but as usual, everything costs money and stopping a draft is not something they are willing to spend money on. I feel sorry for the girls who dont wear glasses as it is probably worse for them!

I am hating working full time. I know I have to do this for the time being. But it sucks and I miss the kids. Which means I keep them up later so I can spend time with them. Only half an hour, not like 3 hours or anything, and they do go to bed at 7.30, but I am keeping them up nonetheless. I am sure they are enjoying the extra attention though.

Kate has just rocketed in her reading. Steve spoke to her teacher today and she has been put in the second highest reading group and is reading at level 8. I am so pleased with her and I cant believe how quickly everything is seeming to 'click' with her. I remember at the last parent-teacher interview, her teacher kept reminding us that she was the youngest in the class, etc, I think to make us feel better that she wasnt as good as the other kids. I am so proud of my Kate!

Thats probably enough babble for one night! LOL!
Thanks for stopping by!!! :)

17.09.06

2006-09-17T21:02:00.000+10:00

Well I had an awesome day! I went to Crop for a Cure at Campbelltown and I scrapped the day away with Sharryn and Kylie and we got to meet Kerrin Quall and even got some photos with her! I even got a layout done which will form part of my FK ET entry. Stoked I am finished that!

So yesterday we went to the shops and we bought a little wading pool for the kids and then they wanted goggles, and since they were only $2 each we obliged and bought them. I got a couple of the cutest photos ever! But I cant upload as they are on the other computer. Bugger. Will do next time though.

Speaking of which, I havent been taking many photos lately. I should. It gives me things to scrap. LOL!

So I ended up ordering a pair of spikes for athletics as it was too hard running on the dewey grass in my sneakers. I couldnt believe that Asics only had ONE type of womens spikes. I mean seriously! Lots of women run and need shoes just as much as men. Men had about 6 different types. Go figure.

Ok I have just finished watching Idol and I am a little dissapointed there is no 'evict' vote like in Big Brother or I would spend $100 getting rid of Lisa. I loved Mutto, Chris and Lavina. And since they are my top 3 all of them get a vote from me! I know I am sad! LOL! Shimmer is my favouritest song ever but Dean did not hit it. Fell clearly below standard for me. If I didnt know the song as well as I do I think it would have sounded fine but since I tend to listen to it over and over again as I scrap, I know it. And he didnt hit it. Oh well. And I think the judges were spot on tonight.

Ummm what else has happened in a day? Nothing much so thanks for stopping by and look after yourself!!! :0)

16.09.06

2006-09-16T08:07:00.000+10:00

I cant believe it has been over a week since my last post. WOW I cant believe we are already HALFWAY through september! Where did the time go?!?! Not much has been happening though.

Work is getting better, I am not longer exhausted everyday and I even tried to scrap a little on tuesday night. Layout wasnt coming together by 9.45pm so I gave up as I had to go to bed. But thats ok as tomorrow I am going to Crop for a Cure with Kylie and I do believe Sharryn is going too. I cant wait to meet Sharryn!!!

So I had Little A's last night, well Seniors but it is run at the same time. We got a new uniform too last night and we all looked mighty slick! Our old uniform was black with a strip of orange and white down the side. Now we are blue with silver and they even provided shorts and bike pants as we now fall into Rams Sporting Club or something like that. Last night we had long jump - man I suck at that - couldnt even jump 3 metres! LOL! 1500m run which I am so happy with my effort. 100m which is hilarious as I am crap at sprinting. 400m where I died in the end. Discus which was as fun as always except it hurt my arm. And the 3k run which I didnt do as I was buggered and couldnt be bothered. I havent been training or anything and think I really need to start! I had a blast but boy am I sore today!

I am so proud of my little girl - she got her bronze award at school yesterday. This is the new behaviour/acheivement thing they have at their school. Go to bronze then silver then gold. She is so proud of herself too!

Well, thats about it from me!
Thanks for dropping by and take care everyone!!! :0)

Edited just for Linda....
long jump: 2.78m
discus: 15m odd
1500m: 7.27
400m: 1.44 (I know soo slow)
100m: 18.7 (LOL legs couldnt go any faster!)

07.09.06

2006-09-07T20:09:00.000+10:00

Happy birthday Fliss!!! (You old fart! LOL!)

Yes. I have been MIA. I have been checking my emails and thats it. No forums. No galleries. Nothing. Just... too... tired!!! I have been going to bed at 9.30 every night and my eyes hurt constantly and all I want to do is sleep. Now, I know this could be my anemia but I am mainly blaming work.

So, my new job. Well I am stressed to the max. I never used to get headaches, but I am getting used to them now. I am on my feet from 8.15 to 5.15 and I do not stop all day. I am tired and my legs ache.

I miss my time at home and I miss the kids. Yeah sure I see them but I miss the walking to and from school etc. But I have to admit, we are making use of our weekends. We go for picnics or go to the park. We hire movies and snuggle up and watch them. We are going to take the kids fishing soon too. I enjoy my weekends so much more now. We have so much fun.

Little A's started last week and I am such a dag and am competing in seniors. The other people are really nice and I have forgotten how much I enjoyed Little A's. I missed it. I missed the smell of the clover at the long jump pit, the strong lights shining down, the cold dewey grass, the smell of the canteen, the people, the familiarity. I am as slow as hell but I am enjoying it so much!

Well, thats it from me. My eyes are starting to water and since there is nothing on TV I might go to bed. But before I go, Jolene, I will get around to your tag when my head can think of something interesting and Kath, I hope your leg heals fast and well. I cant believe you broke it!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Take care!

21.08.06

2006-08-21T22:24:00.000+10:00

Well, I didnt make it to round 3 of the Effer Dares Last Scrapper Standing. Oh well. I think I wasnt "effer" enough iykwim. Here is the layout I did anyway:

Kate got to stay home today, she wasnt sick, she had lice, but she acted like she was sick all day! She moped around on the couch and seriously acted like she was sick. Whats with that?!?!

Today was another glorious day in Sydney so we walked up to the shop. I got the kids a cheese and bacon roll for lunch and got a spare in case one of them was super hungry. Turns out they werent and so guess who broke their low carb diet? Ummm yeah me. But on these bleeping shakes you really start to miss real food with real texture! I savoured every bite too! I have been going hard on this diet for 14 days now and I have lost 3 kilos. So starting again tomorrow for another week... or two...

I ran last week! Gosh it hurt the next day! Seriously I could barely walk!! But it was so exhilarating to be back out there and I realised that I really did miss it!

So it is day something-or-other of The Rhonna Farrer 21 Day Challenge but I thought it was a little boring and I didnt want to bore everyone. So if you are interested in her challenge, check out her blog!

Well tomorrow is my last day of being a part time worker. I am a little saddened by this as I really love spending the extra time with Luke and being able to help out at the school, but I know it will pay off in the long run.

Thats about it from me! Cheers and have a good one!!! :-)

18.08.06

2006-08-18T21:49:00.000+10:00

How cool! I just dod my first class over at the Scrappers Stash!!! I haven't got any feedback yet as everyone is still finishing their layout, but I hope I did ok...

Anyway, off for a run in the morning to stretch the ol' legs after 2 months... so not looking forward to the pain...

Nothing much else happening to be honest... quite boring actually...

16.08.06

2006-08-16T20:18:00.000+10:00

Now you all have to look at this post about the City to Surf 2007. Please if you would like to join some crazy scrappers as we work towards the C2S 07 to change our lifestyles and get fit, then please leave a comment or email me directly at bethroid@tpg.com.au and this will enable you to post on the blog so we can track our progress. C'mon - what have you got to lose? Join in!!!!!

Day 9 of the Rhonna Farrer 21 Day Challenge. Today is halfway on my diet. I am still going good but slightly thankful as I am now on the downhill run. I dont think I could do this diet long term... I miss food too much, but I think in short periods of 3 or 4 weeks at a time would work fine.

Well, no scrapping tonight as House is on - no crazy 1 hour challenges as I am really tired tonight and am feeling a little flat and uninspired.

Hmmm not really much else to add tonight. Have a great night and please check out the C2S post!
Cheers!!! :-)

15.08.06

2006-08-15T11:56:00.000+10:00

City to Surf Challenge

I know there are heaps of people who would love to do this but haven't for some reason or another. Well lets start a challenge. There are 52 weeks until the next one. HEAPS of time to get a little bit fit. Even if you don't want to run - you can always walk it! I am going to set up a group blog where we can post our progress towards our 14km goal! So who is in? I know Lusi is!!!
So please leave a comment to say that your in! (But you have to be registered to blogger even if you dont have a blog so you can post on your progress.)

Now, lets get out there and get fit and have fun and we will be the "City to Surf Scrappers"!!!

So who's in?

So today is day 8 of the Rhonna Farrer 21 Day challenge. I bought another box of Optislim yesterday so I will do this diet up to August 26th as we are going to Luna Park that day and I simply have to have a dagwood dog! LOL! So I have 10 days left! I am doing good and am not sick of salads yet... but ask me in another 10 days!

I ran around so much yesterday that today I have the sorest legs and even walking to the school was painful. I really felt like I was on my feet all day! Especially helping out with gross motor at the school - jumping rope for 45 minutes gets tiring!!!

I have finished making Hermione's robes for Kate to go as a witch to bookweek. I found a Barbie pattern and took the basic sketch and went from there. Its not perfect, but they do look good! She loves them too which is the main thing! She didn't want me to sew the hood on though as she wanted to wear a pointy hat! So I have the cardboard to make that.

Well thats about it for today. Have a good one and SIGN UP FOR THE C2S CHALLENGE!!! :-)

14.08.06

2006-08-14T10:25:00.000+10:00

Day 7 of the Rhonna Farrer 21 Day Challenge.

I weighed myself this morning. It has been a week since I started the OptiSlim diet. I have lost a smidgen over 2kgs. I feel great and my clothes fit so much better! Here I am thinking I had shrunk my new shirts in the dryer... but no... it was just the extra couple of kilos I was carrying. 2 weeks to go on this diet and I should be at goal weight.

Went for a walk this morning after dropping Kate off at school. The weather is just so beautiful!

Luke, of course, ran inside and asked to have Bugs Life put on. Its his new favourite at the moment. His life revolves around it! It is a cute movie so I can see the appeal!

Have to go to Spotlight today and buy some material as Kate has bookweek next week and they have to go as witches and wizards out of Harry Potter. So I have to make her a robe and a hat. I have no idea how I am going to do it, but I am sure it will turn out ok.

Have to get 3 photos printed off for the Effer's Last Scrapper Standing challenge.

Oh forgot to mention that I am going back to fulltime work in a couple of weeks. Still not sure how I feel about this. I am going back so we can save the extra money to buy a house in 6-9 months but I dont know if I am ready to go. Although, I dont really get much done on my days off like I had originally planned. I think after the first couple of weeks when we are all settled in to our new routine I will be fine about it. I am actually looking forward to it as I am taking a step down from what I do now. I love the role I am going back into so that will make my working day much happier!

Ok, thats it from me today! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!!! :-)

13.08.06

2006-08-13T19:48:00.000+10:00

Day 6 of the Rhonna Farrer 21 day Challenge!

How gorgeous was today?!?!?! We went to Lane Cove National Park. Stayed there for a while just bumming around and soaking up the sunshine. I love days like today! Just too beautiful to be inside!

I felt a twinge of sadness as I watched the C2S take off this morning and have decided that today is the last day. Tomorrow I amgoing to start running again - well try to. LOL! It has been 8 weeks.

Well thats about it from me for today! Have a great one and thanks for stopping by! :-)

12.08.06

2006-08-12T21:25:00.000+10:00

Ok so I have been MIA the last couple of days. Just didn't feel like getting on the computer or scrapping which was good because it made for some early nights which I so desperately needed!

Day 5 - well I want to keep in order - of the Rhonna Farrer 21 Day Challenge. To be honest, I havent been exercising. I have still been on Optislim and I have lost 1.5kgs which is great! Only 4.5kgs to go! I have surprised myself with this diet as the other times I have tried it I gave up after like 3 days on it! I am feeling great and not bored or excessively hungry, and surprisingly, not craving anything! I look at food and think 'that would be nice' but I dont crave it. Good-o! So I have 8 days left unless my chemist gets more in LOL!

I am not going in the City to Surf this year. I am a little dissapointed but also a little relieved. I have had a chest cough for the last week and I dont want it to develop into anything nastier by putting my lungs under stress. Also I havent run in like 7 weeks and I know it will hurt so I was a little scared of that! LOL! But goodluck to Angela and Tony!

I made it through to round 2 in the Effer Dare competition! How cool! Now I just have to think of a way to use 13 photos on one layout! EEP! I wonder if I have 13 photos on one subject.... oohhh oohh ooohh I just got a brainwave! Talk about a lightbulb moment! Watch this space LOL!

So thats about it from me!
Thanks for stopping by and take care!

09.08.06

2006-08-09T22:16:00.000+10:00

DAY 4 of the Rhonna Farrer 21 Day Challenge. So I am doing good. Well, better than I was. Still, I have to keep working at the exercise thing to make it a habit.

You know - I am really loving these quote! Seriously they are so inspirational! I think I may do a altered journal or something like that with them in. Not that I am into altered stuff much... I like Ali Edwards' life journals and stuff like that, but I dont think I could pull it off to look as 'cool' you know. Hmmm. Maybe I will..... probably I wont.......

So I signed up for this Last Scrapper Standing challenge over at the Effer Dare blog, and then in true Beth style, I promptly forgot about it. So I checked in last night and the first challenge had already been set and was due wednesday midnight. The challenge was to journal on the photo. So this is the layout I came up with. I was scared to write on the photo but I dont mind it now!

I went to do a 1 hour scrap challenge - challenged by none other than myself - and you know what - I couldnt scrap! Its not because I didnt have enough time. Its because of this layout. Because I love it so much, what I was doing, just wasnt comparing! Does this happen to other people too or am I just too harsh on myself?

Ok, I guess thats it from me for tonight.Take it easy and thanks for dropping by! :-)

08.08.06

2006-08-08T21:09:00.000+10:00

Day 3 of the Rhonna Farrer 21 Day Challenge. The quote for today is so fitting!!! Didn't go for a walk today - unless you count walking around the shop and up to the school - but I have some exercises I am going to do for toning. Its all good.

Nothing much else has been happening. I live quite a boring life. LOL. Seriously, that's it from me tonight! Have a good one! :-)

07.08.06

2006-08-07T11:02:00.000+10:00

Today is my day 2 of the Rhonna Farrer 21 Day Challenge! My habit is exercise and I have also thrown in losing weight as an extra incentive.
This morning I went to the shop and they had a special on OptiSlim so I bought myself some to kickstart my weight loss and exercise program. After that I went for a walk around the block. It was hard going with the stroller, 2 boxes of OptiSlim and tonights stuff for dinner! But it was all good and now I feel so invigorated!

Today's quote is true. I was worried about exercising again because I thought it would hurt and I would be sore and tired. But now that I have got out there and walked - I feel silly because it wasn't all that bad afterall!!!

Well, its another crazy weather day here today! It doesn't know if it wants to be sunny or rainy! I hope sunny as I have to help out with gross motor at school this afternoon!

Well.... thats about all from me for today. I have some housework I have to do and I want to do that this morning as I want to start a roast when we get home from the school.

Oh and another thing - Kath has a blog!!!!
Take care and thanks for stopping by!!!!!!! :-)

Edited to add.....
Does anyone else find this photo really scary?!
Luke is looking at her thinking "I'm gonna get you with this plastic shovel!"
LOL! Sorry. Just had to share!

06.08.06

2006-08-06T22:05:00.000+10:00

So I read this book - The Big Picture by Stacy Julian. Am now thinking about changing the way I keep my layouts. Stacy has albums called All About Us, The People we Love, The places we Go and The things we Do etc. I think I like this idea better as I like to tell a story with my layouts, not just showcase a nice photo, although I like to do that too! So at the moment I have a chronological family album but I think I will start to approach my layouts differently from now on.

Another scrapping thing I love is challenges and dares. I love them and get ideas straight away, I just tend to never get around to completing them on time! So Rhonna Farrer has this 21 Day Challenge and first off you choose a habit to make or one that you need to break. Everyday a new quote is released and in a journal/diary type thing you write about it. It is great and very motivational. I think I might start it again - I started but didnt get past day 2....

I am going to start - again.

My habit is exercise. Since becoming anemic I haven't exercised. I am too tired and to be honest I have been using it as an excuse not to exercise. So since i havent run in 7 weeks, I have managed to put on 2 kilos and my clothes are getting tight again so I am going to pull my finger out and get back out there, even if its just walking, anything is better than nothing.

So thats it - this is day 1 and since it is 10.30pm, I think I may put that Pilates video on because I aint going outside now to go for a walk!

And before I go and do some pilates, I might share 2 layouts I did at the retreat!

Also I just want to thank everyone for dropping by my blog! I didnt mean to be such a sad sack in my last post but I really needed to tell someone and I knew Steve would look at me like I had grown an extra head if I blurted all that out to him!

Also, the kids are sick. Steve is sick. I am unscathed. I sometimes like the fact that I work with the public because I dont seem to pick up as many bugs!

Speaking of bugs... yes... Kate had nits... again! But we caught it before she got majorly infested. Its my fault because we had been using a tea tree oil solution and it ran out and I every time I go to the shop I forget to buy more. Definately getting some tomorrow as it stops the nit being able to lay eggs in the hair strand so for all you school mums - buy a spray bottle and fill with tea tree oil and dilute with water and spray the hair every day. I do it in the morning as Kate has wild hair so it helps with putting it into a style aswell.

Speaking of Kate's wild hair... I really have to get some photos of her to scrap. Ok. Comfession time. I scrap Luke more. Its because Kate has the wildest hair and well, it just doesnt photograph well. But after reading The Big Picture, I know that this is her trait and it should be embraced. Wild hair photos and all.... LOL.

Anyway, I think I have babbled on enough and I really have to go do some pilates...
Thanks for dropping by!!! :-)

03.08.06

2006-08-03T21:51:00.000+10:00

Mr H. comes into work about once a week. Mr H. makes me want to cry. He is the sweetest man. He is 88 this year and last year he lost his wife of 62 years to cancer. For months he would come into work and we would say "Hi Mr H. How are you today?" and he would reply "I am so lonely" with tears in his eyes. After a couple of months he started saying "I am alright thanks" and that relieved us a little as he was so saddened by the passing of his best friend.

A while ago I was driving out to a friends house and I was driving down the main street and here is Mr H. walking with his cane and limp down the street. I cried. He looked so sad and lonely and it made me upset to think that one day I might be that person walking down the street. That I will lose my best friend after 62 years.

He came into work today and he wasn't feeling the best and he told me he was going to go pay a bill then go to the station to catch a taxi home. He walks everywhere you see. I knew he lived close so I offered to take him home to which he accepted my offer.

I got him home and he invited me to come inside and have a look at his house, which I obliged. He showed me around the house, the loungeroom, kitchen, backyard, bedrooms, and even the bathroom! He showed me the photos on the walls and the books on the shelves. When he offered me a cup of tea I had to decline as I had to get back to work.

When I was leaving he said "I only felt 25% today but you dropping me home has made me feel 100%."

So now I sit here and cry and reflect on this mans loneliness without his wife and I hope that I get to go before Steve as I wouldn't be able to cope, I wouldn't be able to function. I know it is years and years away but I feel so much for Mr H. I guess he is lucky that he has a great son who visits him twice a week, but nothing could replace the hole in his heart of his best friend's passing.

Sorry, just had to get it off my chest and tell someone.

But on a happy note - Happy 4th Wedding Annaversary to my sister and her husband!!! :-)

01.08.06

2006-08-01T20:23:00.000+10:00

I know Steve doesn't read my blog but this post is going to be all about him.
I take my man for granted. I know I do. I just want to say how much I really do appreciate him. You see I got an email about some of my scrapping stuff and it had to be at the pulishers by this friday.

I had one piece I had to redo as Webster started to eat it. So he went to work late so I could duck out to the LSS to get a new one. AND he came home early so I could personally drop it off as it was too big to post.

He is such a thoughtful and caring person and he really made my day! Well, he makes my day everyday, but it was just extra special today.

Love you Stevie!!!

31.07.06

2006-07-31T21:59:00.000+10:00

The retreat was awesome!!! I had the best time with Linda, Barb and Leanne!!!!! I got heaps done too - 8 layouts - just have the journalling to finish off and then I can share some of them - I am keeping 1 maybe 2 for my FK ET entry.

Strictly Scrapbooking now has a forum and gallery up and running as well as a great shop with some awesome prices!!

I have been tagged by the fabulous Sharryn and fabulous Jolene!!! Here goes....

Four Jobs I’ve Had:
1) McDonalds
2) Woolworths
3) Westpac Bank
4) No 4th job yet....

Four Movies I Can Watch Over And Over:
1) Forrest Gump
2) Braveheart
3) Grease
4) Harry Potter

Four TV Shows I Love To Watch:
1) House
2) The Simpsons
3) Australian Idol - cant wait for it to start this week!
4) NCIS

Four Important things to me:
1) My family
2) My health
3) My happiness
4) My friends

Four Tunes That Play In My Head:
1) Shimmer
2) Savin' me
3) Far Away
4) Postman Pat - the old version

Four Favorite Food Dishes:
1) Potato bake
2) Chicken snitzel
3) Seafood cocktail
4) Chicken caesar salad

Four Websites I Visit Daily:
1) Memory Bugs
2) The Scrappers Stash
3) Strictly Scrapbooking
4) Two Peas

Four Scrap company’s I like:
1) Heidi Swapp
2) We R Memory Keepers
3) 7 Gypsies
4) Collections

Four Favorite Colors:
1) Blue
2) Green
3) Orange - at the moment anyway
4) Pink

Four bloggers to tag:
1) Sam
2) Alanna
3) Kylie
4) Melanie

Thats about it from me!!!
Thanks for stopping by!!!!! :-)

28.07.06

2006-07-28T10:41:00.000+10:00

RETREAT STARTS TONIGHT!!! WOOT!!! I am so excited!!!!
I am all packed and ready to go!
I just have to go to the shop and by food supplies for the family for the weekend!
I had a bunch to write about but in all my excitement I have forgotten. Oh well.

I have decided to have a crack at the For Keeps Everyday Moments comp. If I finish I will enter. If I dont I will end up with some beautiful layouts. I have done one so far.

<----- So here is my first layout. LOL Luke is the funniest kid! He has realised he can roll his tongue! So cute! I tell you though, it was hard using those ribbon buckles!!!

I am loving the colour orange at the moment so expect to see more photos of luke in that orange shirt! LOL! Just to use up my orange paper stores!

I got my number for the City to Surf the other day. 19980. Cool. Take out a 9 and its my year of birth! LOL! Very excited but I havent run in 6 weeks so I think I might take the camera and just soak up the atmosphere of running in a race with 60,000 other people. Or I might try and run and see how I go. Or I could always dress up. That gorilla suit is sounding good Kath! Either way, work has a tent at the end with food, drinks and apparently massages. Sweet.

So I better get going.
Thanks for stopping by and I will report early next week with a full report of the retreat! :-)

24.07.06

2006-07-24T12:43:00.000+10:00

Only 4 more sleeps until the Superstore Retreat!!!! How exciting!!! I cant wait!!!

Luke's forehead healed really well. It is still scabby but its all good. Then this morning as he was watching me wash up he fell of a chair and hit the back of his head and now has a egg there. No split this time thank goodness!

Its wet and cold here so poor Luke must be so bored! We cant go outside and play on the swings. All we can do is play blocks but that gets a little boring after a while. We have watched Nemo which Luke has really enjoyed and we shared a cup of soup. I think I may pull out the pencils and colour in for a while. I doubt gross motor will be on at the school today - last term I only went about 3 times to help out as it was cancelled all the other times! Oh well.

Not much scrapping has been happening here of late. Here is a DT layout I did for Memory Bugs using We R Memory Keepers papers. I love that stuff!

So much so that I was really naughty and bought the entire Boho Chic line from Linda's new shop. By entire I mean entire! Ribbons, tags, alphabet, goodie box and 2 of each paper! Talk about a splurge! LOL! I dont do it often and it is just divine!

Scenic Route is having a DT search and I was considering entering as you only had to email the entry off. I have a few sheets of the papers so I thought I would see what I could come up with. So far, not so much. I did one layout this week and while it is ok, it is not DT worthy! Back to the drawing board.....

Anyway, thats about it thats happening in my life at the moment. Not much really.

Thanks for stopping by!!! Happy scrapping! :D

16.07.06

2006-07-16T08:27:00.000+10:00

Where to start? What a big week!

I think I will start with yesterday... backwards.... Last night we were all in the loungeroom doing stuff, and Luke toddled off down into the back end of the house and I heard a scream and crying but it was muffled, I still jumped up as the scream sounded different to ususal, I run down the hall and Luke was crying and coming out of Kate's room. I scoop him up and look at his head and there is blood pouring down his forehead! I scream (not yell, I think I was in shock) for Steve and he comes running and sees Luke and grabs a facewasher to wipe the blood away to see the damage. Luke split his forehead, about 1.5cms long! So we race him to the medical centre and he is seen straight away. They taped it together and the doctor thinks it will heal well with a minimal scar. As I was there I realised it was about this time in Kate's life when she was jumping on the bed at the sitters house and fell off onto the bedside table and cut under her eye. So we stopped at McDonalds on the way home for chocolate sundaes as it was after 8pm. YUM!

<-----I did a layout about Kate ages ago as everyone always comments on the cute 'dimple' under her eye. I will have to do one on Luke too, but first I really have to get some batteries for my camera!

So previous to the dramas of last night, I wanted to go over to The Warehouse to get a dymo labeler as I seem to have killed mine, my Masters double layout didnt help that... So when I rock up to the centre where it is near, I see it. The sign. SPOTLIGHT NOW OPEN! Woohoo!!! So I went in to have a look and boy, have they changed the ShopSmart Outlet Centre at Mt Driutt as now Spotlight takes up half the floorspace! But I think it was be really good for the centre! It really cleaned it up. Well OMG!!!! It was the tidest, cleanest Spotlight I have ever been in!!! It was fabulous to be able to walk around and have everything in the right spots!!! I was in spotlight heaven! So I was a tad naughty and bought some AC paper which was gorgeous. When I went to pay for it and realised it was on special at 99c I of course had to go back and buy some more as it is $1.79 usually. So went to the Warehouse and well, they didnt have a dymo labeler so I am still labeless.

It was Steve's 30th birthday!!! He accepted it well and didnt comment once on feeling 'old' or anything! He was so spoilt!! He received a electric razor, a book on Tobruk (he is a war book fanatic) and a box of chocolates which of course the kids all ate! Then we decided to go out for a drive. Why is it that we always end up at shops?!? Anyway, we went to Domayne and we got a new monitor, a very thin one, lcd maybe? dunno, but its 19inches and its huge and bright and he loves it, and thank goodness for interest free at $950!

I also built my SM Masters BTP project, all by myself. You have no idea how proud I am of doing it all myself. Its a big wooden frame with 6 layouts on it. I cant wait to show it off!!! I knew it turned out ok because I had to hang it above the bed to take some photos of it, and Steve said 'we can leave it there, I am quite surprised it didnt turn out as hideaous as I thought it would. It looks nice.' Nice one. I am happy with my single layout and my double is growing on me, and my monogram looked ok. So I sent my entry off express mail on wednesday. Fingers crossed it arrived ok!

So I finished reading the last Harry Potter book, well until the new one is realeased anyway, and I was forgetting what had happened in the early books, so instead of reading them again, I just got the movies out! So in the last week I have watched all 4 movies. I really liked the first 2 as they were very similar to the books, but the last 2 werent and I kept going 'that didnt happen'! I probably annoyed Steve but oh well.

As for my sleepiness, I have been feeling better so I guess the iron tablets are kicking in! YAY! I still tire quickly and early on in the day but I am feeling much better than I did 2 weeks ago!

Linda's shop Strictly Scrapbooking is NOW OPEN FOR BUSINESS!!!!!!!!!! Go and check it out!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

07.07.06

2006-07-07T22:44:00.000+10:00

Newsflash - I know whats wrong with me!!! I am anemic, yes, my iron levels are loooooow. So I am on iron tablets and no donating blood for at least 6 months. Bummer. SOmeone could do with my precious O-. Not to worry. I just wish I wasnt still tired all the time.

So, my friend, Linda, is opening a online scrapbooking store, Strictly Scrapbooking!!! WOOHOO!!! I am so excited for her!!! It is not open for business until next Friday, but bookmark it now and have a browse around and be ready next friday to order some goodies! Dont everyone go and buy out all the Rob and Bob clips before I finish my 10 layouts in my scrap to shop challenge!

Scrap speaking.... I got another acceptance - this one for FK! It is my old Kiss layout! Very surprised but very happy as I love that layout! I just love the body language!

So I am still doing this silly SM Masters entry. I have to cut up the wood to make my BTP item and then I have to do 6 very simple layouts for my BTP item. Finish my double - which I am not liking but anyway... and do my single layout journalling. Its due next friday. *gulp*

So... Steve's parents went back to New Zealand today. They were here for a week. I had a really good week and it was a sad day today.

Hmmm. I think thats all....
Thanks for stopping by! :)

26.06.06

2006-06-26T22:43:00.000+10:00

So I went to Canberra last weekend for The Bugs Super Sunday! I had a ball! I went with Kath and Kylie and we stayed overnight at Moi's house! What a blast! We went out to dinner with Fran and Rach to a Turkish restaurant. I was a little worried as I was unsure if I would like it. All I can say is I am going to see if there is one near here because it was delish! Rach and Fran are just so nice! So scrapping wise I got bugger all done but that wasnt really the point in going! ;)

So I started a 21 day challenge over at embellished.com.au . What it is, a quote is posted and you have to scrap about it. Day 1 was: Follow your dreams, transform your life. Well I got all scrap happy and did this layout in about 30 minutes with 3 msn conversations going! LOL! Multi-tasking!

Anyway, I must turn in for the night as I am so tired lately! I just want to sleep! Before anyone asks, no I am not expecting! :P
Take care and happy scrapping!

15.06.06

2006-06-15T23:06:00.000+10:00

Ok ok ok!!!! I will update!
Thank goodness the illness that gripped our family in the previous post didnt last for long! I dont think I could have handled any more whinging!!! So happy little campers here!

Well I was chosen to be on the design team for Memory Bugs again. I am very happy about this! Especially since I now get to work with Carole Janson and Mardi Winen and Yvette Adams and Jolene Pienaar! Such wonderfully talented ladies!!! So if I ever own a scrapping store I am NOT going to have a DT - the decision would be too hard!!!

Still been running. Not as much as I want/should be doing but I am getting into my groove again so its all good. I have a photo of me running here.

Moi, you shall be seeing me very shortly and for that I am so very excited!!!

Nothing much else to speak of really. Life around this neck of the woods dont change much. So I shall leave it here with a recent (well couple of weeks old) layout that I love.

Thanks for stopping by and take care!!!

30.05.06

2006-05-30T21:53:00.000+10:00

Nothing much to say as nothing much has been happening around here.
Just thought I would update since Kylie called me a bludger. :P
DH and kids were sick on the weekend with vomiting/gastro. I didnt get it, but have been feeling queasy for the last 2 days. Hopefully I will be better after a good nights sleep.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by and take care!

14.05.06

2006-05-14T22:25:00.000+10:00

I had the best Mother's Day today!

I slept in till 9.30am.
Got woken up to the smells of bacon and eggs.
Went to LSS to get DT pack, but it was closed. Oh well.Then after Luke woke up from his nap, we went to the park opposite the RAAF base out at Windsor. The kids had a blast!
As we were making our way back to the car, Kate and I was having a race on the scooters. I stopped to change legs and I didnt realise I stopped on a crack. I went to take off and the scooter stayed motionless. I however didn't. I went A over T and took a tumble! I was so embarrassed as some people saw me and called out for me to do it again! *dies* But it was really funny and I did have a good ol' laugh at my own expense.
Note to self - dont ride the scooter in public.... just in case.....

So when we got home I took off for a 10km run and was stoked as I went under 1 hour - I did it in 59.07mins. First goal reached! Yay!

<---- Dont you just love the colours of Autumn??

I have been very slack of late blog hopping. Hopefully I will get around to it soon and say hi to you all!

Thanks for stopping by!!
Take care! :)

08.05.06

2006-05-08T11:02:00.000+10:00

Same ol' same ol' happening in my life at the moment. Sorry I havent updated but I didnt think it was 'blogworthy'. LOL!!!

So I have volunteered to be a parent helper at Kate's school for the gross motor skills. I will be taking Luke with me so I hope he is good... I hope... Today is the first day and I am really looking forward to it and so is Kate!

My SIL Sharon had a baby last thursday - little Brayden - he is very cute! Why do babies make people clucky?!?! I mean they stay awake all night and vomit and poo and yet we still love them and want them and when other people have them you want more....

Still running. Going well. I bought a pair of decent (and by decent I mean expensive) running shoes so I guess there is no turning back now.... until I wear this pair out anyway! LOL! ;)

Over at Memory Bugs we have been discussing 'other' things to scrap other than the usual, my usual is Kate and Luke. So we have started a challenge to scrap a layout/s about a week or day in your life. You know, the everyday stuff. The things that go really unnoticed and unappreciated. I can hear the washing machine as I type.....

So bloggers - why not do your own layout about a week/day in your life? It will be good to look back on and reminisce about the washing.... LOL!

So thats all from me today,
Take care and happy scrapping!
Beth

01.05.06

2006-05-01T18:51:00.000+10:00

Ok I will elaborate on the previous post!
Nickelback were just awesome! You know when you go and see a band and they have the music really really loud so you cant hear the lyrics? Yeah? Well the music was really loud and they rocked the house down, but you could hear every word perfectly! They sound identical to the released soundtracks, the only difference was the music was rockier but it sounded awesome! AWESOME!!!! Even if we were in the 2nd row from the roof - it made for uninterrupted viewing!! LOL!
I had the best time and I sung along to almost every song - there were only 2 I werent familiar with. So yeah, it was AWESOME! Have I said that already? LOL!
If they tour Australia again - I am there! And I will sneak my camera in next time! :P They have heaps of fireworks too!
:D :D :D :D :D

30.04.06

2006-04-30T09:15:00.000+10:00

NICKELBACK ROCKS!!!
Thats all.

24.04.06

2006-04-24T18:44:00.000+10:00

Me and the kids went visting Kath today and her gorgeous little girl Georgia. We had such a great day!!! Georgia is just the sweetest little thing you have ever seen! Luke was of course his normal self, getting into everything and not doing what he was told.... *rolls eyes*

So Kath inspired me to go home and drag out my old cooking magazines. So I dragged the kids to the supermarket to get some stuff for dinner. Tonight we had a rice and chicken curry with some naan bread. It was very yum and even Steve liked it!!!

Ugh Luke bit Kate tonight, really bad, so much so that he broke the skin. I was so cranky I had to put him in his cot until I calmed down! I just dont get his behaviour... I think I need to get a copy of the Super Nanny!

Anyway, I have an assignment to finish so I better do the rounds and then go and do it!
See you all and take care! :)

18.04.06

2006-04-18T21:27:00.000+10:00

One of those days....
I did a big long post but it was just me whinging about my day, so I deleted it.
<---Here is a photo I took instead.

16.04.06

2006-04-16T22:28:00.000+10:00

I hope the Easter Bunny was kind to everyone! I know he was in my house!!!

Luke woke up at 5.45 and we tried to get him back to sleep with a bottle. Didn't work. At just after 6 I thought I would get out of bed before Kate woke up to put the eggs in the front yard. Just as I stood up, Kate came out of her room. So I made her hop into bed with Steve while I went and put the eggs out. We had a frost and it was so cold I dressed the kids in warmer clothes before they could go outside.

Well they had an absolute ball and Luke picked up the first egg and started munching on it straight away!!! Not only did the kids have fun, but so did I. I loved watching the excitement on their faces!

So then they were on a sugar high for the rest of the day! Gosh they went crazy!!! Oh well, you only do this once a year!

Happy Easter Everyone!!! :) :)

15.04.06

2006-04-15T18:51:00.000+10:00

So does everyone know that bread has a 5 day shelf life? Like so today is the 15th which means if you buy bread and its date is the 20th then it is all good, which means if your bread says the 21st then it is even better! LOL!

So I went to XC today and I beat the 60 year old lady except she was wearing shoes today as it was a concrete path course - they must have slowed her down! Seriously though, I ran really well and I was battling with another girl for the last 1.5kms. The race was 4km and I did 20.53mins. Sweet!

<----- So I did this layout yesterday and I am kinda in love with it! LOL! I had to use those silly looking Heidi butterfly tags as a main accent. Seriously had no idea what to do with them and the BG paper they gave me because one piece had rockets on it! Cmon - rockets and butterfly tags just DONT GO!!!!! I used some of those new Heidi alphabet masks and well umm alpha stamps would have been easier... but I guess you get to make them all line up easier - unlike my effort! ROFLOL!!!

Yeah so I got a really nice surprise yesterday! I got home and the new Scrapbooking Memories had arrived and I had a layout in it!!! Woohoo!!!! Which of course made me sit down and submit almost everything in the hope of feeling that buzz again!! LOL! Lets hope something gets picked up!!!

Right now, in two weeks time, I will be at the Nickleback concert! WOOHOO!!! So excited!!!!!

Take care and thanks for stopping by!!!! :) :) :)

13.04.06

2006-04-13T22:15:00.000+10:00

<----So this is the layout using the super (un)cool Wiggles paper and die-cuts! I know, it is very simple but seriously?!?!? Oh and Kath - I do dodgy scans too.... sometimes! LMAO!! :P

I can't believe that it is Easter already! This year is flying! What is it with public holidays that makes people think they cant survive ONE day with the shops closed?!?!

You know I was thinking the other day about going in to watch the ANZAC Day parade. I was talking to Steve about it, because what if all the Returned Soldiers die - will there still be a march? Who will carry on with the ANZAC tradition? Anyway, I think we will go because I haven't ever been to watch it. When I did Air League growing up I marched in it every year, but I have never actually watched it. I think this year will be the year.

So I am super excited because I am going to my FIRST scrapbooking retreat!!!! WAHOO!!!! Its for Scrapbook Superstore and its in July! I am bunking with Linda! YAY! I am so very excited!!!!!! I better start photoshopping my photos and getting them printed out!!!

What a very bizarre and random post?!?!!?

Thanks for reading!!! :) :) :)

10.04.06

2006-04-10T18:47:00.000+10:00

OMG - 2 posts in 2 days! What's gotten into me?!?! LOL!

I just thought I would share some photos! The first one is of my new bedroom suite we got the other week.

I am just so totally in love with it! It makes me want to go to bed at a decent hour! LOL!

The funny thing is that now I have a nice suite, I have to keep resisting the urge to go and buy new linen! Quite frankly, my linen cupboard is choccas with linen, so I dont want more, I just want more sophisticated stuff iykwim! LOL!!!

<------ And here is a photo of Luke playing his guitar! He is such a cutie! I have to do a layout for my LSS using some really ummm uncool Wiggles paper, so luckily Luke is the hugest Wiggles fan and I was able to get a few good shots of him today in his Wiggles shirt!

And here is a photo of Kate! ---->

I kept Kate home from school today as she has a cold and was coughing really badly. Her first day off school.... oh well... she wouldn't have been able to concentrate all day anyway! They drove me crazy all day but luckily both are in bed. Yes before 6.30pm. LOL! I told you they drove me crazy!

Anyway, I better get back to this layout I am doing for TSS.
But before I go, I would just like to thank everyone for their supportive comments about my running! I know it must be boring to read, but I really really love and appreciate your comments! Thankyou!!!
See you around!!! Take care!!!

09.04.06

2006-04-09T08:09:00.000+10:00

Ok so that silly quiz was supposed to say that my blog should be BLUE! I really should look at my post before I go blog hopping... but anyway...

So we pull up to the park for cross country and the NSW Racewalking Club were there! Talk about a trip down memory lane!!! I don't know how many winters I spent competing in their comp as a kid!!!

Ok so the race was 3km and I had that nagging "you can't come last" thought in my head so for fit people 3km is a sprint.... not for me! So when they said "go" everyone sprinted so I had to run fast (for me) to keep up with the tail of the pack. Well I finally get to 1km and think 'bugger is that all I have done' as I am starting to feel it from running the first km in 4.45. So at this point I started to pick up a few people which felt good! Then coming back to the 2km mark Steve and the kids were there clapping and cheering for me! Then Luke wanted me so he starts running after me calling out "mum mum mum" and gets heartbroken when I keep on running! So cute! LOL! So with 1km to go the front runners were finishing. I did 2 km in about 9.50 so a 5.05min km.
Then I really really started to feel the pain in my chest from simply running too hard at the start. I really wanted to stop and catch my breath but I thought 'stop being a whimp and hurry and finish'. So I did the last km slower at about 5.25 but I finished to more cheers and claps from Steve and the kids.
I didnt feel much pain in my legs as I was running but as soon as I stop both calves got massive cramps and they are still tender today only because it was about 2/3rds grass.
The card I was given said 62nd and it took about 15m 15s which I was super happy with! I didnt come last - there were about 70 people in the race.
My next goal is to beat the 60+ year old lady who ran barefoot!

Sorry, very long winded but I am so proud of myself! I ran faster than I thought I could at the moment, next time I just have to run a little smarter!

Then afterwards we went over to my sisters as they just got a new pool table. My other BIL also came over so we had pizza and played pool while the kids all played together so it was really a great night!!

But now I think I am coming down with the flu! I have been sneezing heaps and my eyes are watering! :(

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!!!! :) :)

07.04.06

2006-04-07T20:40:00.000+10:00

Yeah so I was doing the blog rounds when I saw a link on Nic's site for a quiz and I found other cool quizzes there!

So I did some and some of the answers were so off the mark it wasnt funny but then I did this one:

Your Blog Should Be Blue

Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere.You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant.From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

And it was true!! Freaky!!! LOL!!! :P

Yeah so I signed up to Blacktown City Athletics Club and got myself a singlet that obviously wasnt designed with the female body in mind. It cuts in at the boobs and flashes my bra off! Oh well I will just have to wear a different singlet underneath. I am starting in a comp tomorrow - the West Metro Cross Country - and I am a little nervous and excited! Steve said if I come last he will wait for me in the car. So supportive..........

I have been feeling really good since I am getting fitter - not so tired at the end of the night so hopefully I will be around more and get some scrapping done!

Life is all good at the moment. Luke is getting to be such a little boy now! He is growing out of being a baby and really growing up! It's scary because I dont think we are going to have any more babies, but kind of like a relief aswell as we can do more things together as a family as no naps are involved!

A lady at work today told me a story which I thought was really sad. Some mental imagary I wont lose in a hurry. 3 years ago her son was walking on the roadside at night. He was bending down doing something. A car with 2 drunk people in it thought it would be funny to run over a kangaroo. The 'kangaroo' was no kangaroo. It was a man. He was hit at 180km/h and was thrown into a tree. When the drunks came back to finish off the kangaroo they realised it was a man and pulled him out of the tree, puncturing his lung on a branch in the process. He was lucky to survive and now has no use of an arm and a leg on one side of his body. He is single and has two boys, 16 and 13, and they do the house work etc. Such great kids but such sad circumstances. Anyway, just wanted to share and get it off my chest and tell you all that its not cool to drink and drive, no matter how sober you think you are.

And with that I will leave you all tonight!
Have a good one and thanks for dropping by!!!!

02.04.06

2006-04-02T19:41:00.000+10:00

ahh look at that - 2, 4, 6..... 8 who do we appreciate?!? BETH!!! LOL!!!

Ok so not much happening here in the last week.
Boring normal stuff. I really think I need to get out more so I have something interesting to talk about on here.

Still running. Finding it so much easier to drag my butt out and go for a run as it doesnt feel like I am going to collapse anymore running up that darn hill! The new training program is going great! I have given up chocolate too until after the City to Surf! So far it has been 3 days.... only about another 100 to go! Eek!

I found that our little suburb has a dirt track out the back. Went for a ride on it this afternoon and am trying to con Steve into going for a ride out there. He used to love riding and hopefully he might get back into it.... and off the computer a little! (hint hint)

Went to Kid-About playland today and the kids (and Steve), as always, had a great time!
Anyway, just dribbling on here so I better go as we are going to watch a movie - 40 year old Virgin - looks funny so I hope it is!

Thanks for stopping by!!!!!!!!!!!

27.03.06

2006-03-27T21:08:00.000+11:00

So this week I have been so absorbed watching the Commonwealth Games. I have made a vow that next time the games, either Olympic or COmmonwealth, are in Australia, I AM THERE! As a spectator of course! LOL! :P

So were you all watching? Ok so here is where I lay claim to one of the athletes......
Did you all watch the 3000m Mens Steeplechase last friday night (24th)? Well the guy who came 4th, Martin Dent was my very first boyfriend! He dumped me and made me cry for 2 days but I was 13 so I have since got over it but it doesnt stop me from claiming some fame! ROFLMAO!!!!

So, what else has been happening in the bethroid world? Not much!
I applied for some new jobs. Fingers crossed!

Went to my sister-in-law's baby shower on the weekend and now I am undecided about if I want more babies..... Steve informed me that he didnt want any.... Dont worry thats his sense of humor, otherwise, too bad so sad! LOL!

Eh, nothing much else....
Take care and thanks for stopping by!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

19.03.06

2006-03-19T22:37:00.000+11:00

Nothing much happening here....

Kate went away for the weekend with my sister and BIL to their friends farm. By the sounds of it she had an awesome time! She just loves animals so she would have been in her element! I can't wait till tomorrow to talk to her about it!

I got a new bedroom suite yesterday! Its just so gorgeous!!! I am so in love with it! It is all timber and my room smells like wood but I love the smell so its all good. On the bed topic, I shrunk my quilt. Grrr! Note to self - dont wash wool quilt! I had to buy Kate a new one because we shrunk hers by washing it... you would have thought we had learned our lesson.... apparently not!

I scrapped this weekened! Woohoo! I did a layout for The Superstore and since silly blogger is being silly with photos - here is a link:

My layout titled Beth! LOL!

Just finished my CJ so it can be sent onto the first person for The Scrappers Stash. My topic is: My To-Do List.

My 5 things are:

run a marathon
Bungee jump
Hot air balloon ride
Learn how to snow ski
Shower in a waterfall

Now, bloggers, whats on the top of your to-do list???

Okies, thats about all from me as I have to get up early for a run. Yeah I am still running. The C2S is looking good! So is that 10k in June - my first mini goal.

Ok I am seriously going now! LOL!
Thanks for stopping by!!!!!

13.03.06

2006-03-13T20:59:00.000+11:00

Kate turned the big 5 yesterday! I cant believe my baby girl is 5!!! She had a great day!

Firstly she opened her present which was a My Little Pony hot air balloon set and 2 MLP DVD's.

Then at 12 oclock we went to Cooper's birthday party. Cooper is in her class at school and his birthday was last thursday. His party was so much fun!

The kids (and some parents) had tractor rides, which was really a ride-on lawn mower with a trailor attached and some hay in it!
There were 2 jumping castles, but that was because the first one they put up wasn't what they ordered, so they left it there and then put the other one up aswell.
The kids all had a splash around in the pool. Since Kate she was standing on the steps and missed her footing and fell in and she was flailing around so I just layed down and grabbed her and pulled her to the surface and out of the pool. After that she just splashed around in the spa with some other kids who couldn't swim. Definately going to be putting her into swimming lessons asap!
So some more party fun with the pinata and face painting and then we went at 4oclock. Those 4 hours went very very fast! All the kids had the best time!

Then in the evening Fliss, Jus, Wendy, Pete, Shaz and Shaun all came over for Kate and Shaz's birthday and we had a BBQ. Great night.

Which brings me to today.
I was at the shop this morning picking up some more cough lollies for poor sick Steve when I thought I would check out if they had some choc-vanilla swirls yogo - which of course they didnt and I turned around and there was Catherine. I trained with Catherine for years with walking! She lives like around the corner! I was so excited to run into her! She is still walking and it got me thinking about if I should start walking again, or just keep up with the running. Hmmmm. Undecided. I might have a go at walking tomorrow morning and you just never never know.........

Oh and I just found out that Jane Saville is going to be the flag bearer for the Commonwealth Games. She is an asset to athletics. She has been around for so long and always at the top level of participation. Well done Jane and I hope you bring home the gold medal! I am so excited about the Comm Games - only 2 more sleeps until it starts!!!

Ok so I better go as I have a CJ here to do wich I should have done ages ago. Oops. I also have 2 DT layouts to do. Argh! So much for my time management skills!!!!!

Oh and I just want to say how proud I am of myself tonight. I crumbed some chicken for dinner, and it is the first time I havent left half the coating burnt to the bottom of the pan! My cooking skills are improving! Yay me! LOL!

Take care and thanks for stopping by!

06.02.06

2006-03-06T11:54:00.000+11:00

First off - I would just like to say a huge big THANKYOU for coming and reading my dribble and even posting comments! You are all truely special! Also thankyou very much for your congratulations on the DT spot! One thing though - Sam - whats you blog addy so I can add you to my list like I was supposed to do a month ago???

So yes - I did have a slight hangover! I was supposed to do 4 reps at 1.5km - did about 1km when I thought I was going to vomit so I went home and Steve sent me for a nap - which lasted 3 hours.......

Fran - I say that ALL the time!!!! Its all fun and games till someone loses an eye! I love it!!! C'mon everyone - what are some other sayings? (I feel a layout coming on! LOL!)

Ok so sunday was all planned - we were going to go to the shops and then off to the park. So we got ready. I was doing Kate's hair and yep, you guessed it - nits! Ewww! So off to the chemist we go and then spent the next couple of hours delousing! All's good. I think. I hope.

So Steve decided we needed to wash all the clean clothes that were ready for folding - oh only about 5 loads and all the towels and bedding - by bedding he also meant quilts. So I am still washing today and everything is going through the dryer (cant wait for the electricity bill!) because he read on the net that dry heat tumble drying for 20 minutes kills any lice. Let's hope it does the trick!

Today I took Luke to playgroup. Why oh why do I have a feral child!?!?!? I am more tired chasing after him than after one of my runs! Fair dinkum! But there was a really sweet moment when one of the other little boys - around Luke's age I think - was sitting in his stroller ready to go and Luke went over and gave him a cuddle and a kiss. Awwww. The other poor boy cried though so his mum gave Luke a cuddle instead.

Oh here is the layout I did for Vicky who won the cybercrop prize of me doing a layout for her over at TSS. I wish it was mine to keep because I would definately sub it!! Even with the 3 year old daggy star shaped eyelets!!! :P

So thats about it from me today.
Take it easy and if you cant be good, be good at it!

03.03.06

2006-03-03T21:29:00.000+11:00

So I am a little tipsy so I thought I would post an entry! :)
Well I had a day off work today. I was very *cough* sick.

So I cant believe it has already been 12 weeks since my last blood donation. Thats right kiddies - I donated my precious O- blood last night and just reminding all that can - please go and donate! It really isnt as bad as you think!!!

No work tomorrow - woohoo! I hate working saturdays - but at double time and only 4 hours I find it hard to say no - but tomorrow I am not rostered on so I am going to drag Steve and the kids to the park - I think Western Sydney Regional Park as it has a cool flying fox!

So I have just finished off 4 Ruski's and am losing feeling in my nose - the drunk test for me.... lol and I am in good spirits! I have just planned a layout so all it needs is to be trimmed to perfection and stuck down. It was for a cybercrop prize for TSS - imagine receiving my page as a prize - roflmfao!!!!! Well I hope Vicky likes it - to be honest - I am liking it! LOL - that could be the alcohol talking though!

You have no idea how many times I have used backspace in this post - fair dinkum!

A HUGE shoutout to Sharryn for getting a publication acceptance for SC!!! Woohoo! The first of many I am sure!

Linda - cmon girl I am sure you lead a jam-packed full of action life - so update your blog! LOL!

Anyway - very excited - I went to Superstore today and spoke to the lady who looks after the DT and well I am just super pumped and excited!!! LOL! So much so it inspired me to scrap! Oh and I went to Harvey Norman to have some photos developed and was a happy chicken because they now do 5x7 prints and have reduced the price on 6x8's!! WOOHOO! Happy camper here!

Seriously it doesnt take much to get me happy and excited! LMAO!

I might go now.....
sorry if the links dont work and I am going to try and format some colour into this baby so hopefully that works! LOL!

I had something else to say but have forgotten - oh well must have been a lie - lmao - who else's mum says that?!?! LOL!!!!

Oh I remember now - I am just sitting here listening to Nickleback and James Blunt - could life get any better?!?!? Love it!!!

Smiles and take care!!!!!!!
And thanks for stopping by my blog!

BYE!!!

28.02.06

2006-02-28T15:17:00.000+11:00

EEK! The last day of Februaury!!!! I can't believe tomorrow is not only the beginning of March but is also the beginning of AUTUMN!!!!!

So I know, another post so soon to the last one...... well its because I have some great news! I applied for a Guest design team member at a store a couple of weeks ago and I was kicking myself at the time because you had to give them 2 double layouts for consideration but on both of them I used a 8x10 photo so I thought I had screwed up my chances because 8x10's are not always practical and cheap... but apparently not!!! Thats right!!!! I have been selected for 6 months to be a guest designer for The Scrapbook Superstore at Penrith! YIPPEE!!!

Started cleaning up Kate's room - is it just my daughter or are most 5 year old room's messy? I only cleaned it 2 weeks ago but within 3 days it looks like a tip again!?!?! Drives me crazy. I wanted to move the furniture around but it was too hard so I have left it until Steve gets home from work.

Nothing much else today, me and Luke bummed around in the backyard playing.
Tonight we are having chicken Strog but am undecided if we will have it with fettucine or rice. Hmmmm tough decisions........

Got up at 5.45am to go for a run and tomorrow will be 5.30am as it is my long slow run on wednesdays.

So thats about all for now.... just had to share my happy news! LOL!
Take care!!!!!!

ps. did you notice my autumn colours? LOL!!!

27.02.06

2006-02-27T13:36:00.000+11:00

Where the ##### did the last week go?!?!?!?!?!
I cannot believe that another week has already passed! This year is just going way to fast for my liking!

So I have been keeping up with my running and I have even set myself up a new blog - the Site of the running Pain - and it holds all the boring running stuff - somewhere to keep track of my progress.

So I was studying last night when I came across this quote on concrete "it is a willing material when fresh, fragile when still young, stubborn when old, lacking always in tensile strength."
It doesn't mean anything to most but I really liked it..... yeah so anyway..... lol

Havent scrapped all week - so I think that makes two weeks now with no scrapping. I am sure I will get back into it sooner or later....

Went to Ikea yesterday - love that store! Steve wanted to get some new glasses as we had a mishmash of glasses. So I threw out all the old cups and now we have some nice new ones. They are only small in size which is ok as it will limit the amount of soft drink consumption - well thats the plan anyway!

Today I took Luke to playgroup. There were only 3 other kids there but he had a great time anyway! Then I put him straight to bed at 11am and he has only just woke up now! I guess it wore him out!!! Definately will keep going to this!

Before I go I just want to say..........
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOI!!!!!!!!!!
Hope you have a great one!

Take care and keep smiling everyone!

I was watching Futurama tonight.....

2006-02-21T20:14:00.000+11:00

And Hermes said "I was never cut out to be a beaurocrat, I am only anal 78.63% of the time" and I have to admit Moi, I thought of you! LOL! Sorry!

Ok so not much else happening except Steve will be home soon - he went away overnight for work, but gee I missed him! I think we tend to take each other for granted alot of the time. I suppose its lucky for us we dont fight! I have missed him and I am reserving a big cuddle just for him.

On the topic of reserving - I am going to the Nickleback concert!!!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!! They would have to be my favouritest band and I am really excited!!!

Ok, another diary entry!
Hidden Treasures
We may feel we know our friends pretty well - their annoying habits as well as their good points but we should avoid taking their personalities for granted. There are always new areas to explore, even in the oldest of friendships. Spend some quality time with a good friend, share some secrets, and deepen the bond between you.

And speak of the devil.... Steve is home! YAY!

A week already?!?!?

2006-02-20T18:58:00.000+11:00

I can't believe that it has almost been a week since my last entry! Yes, I did fall off the face of the earth! LOL! No, seriously, I have been tired after my runs and trying to limit computer time.

So the running is going good. With every day I train, I feel stronger and fitter. I have decided that I am not going to stop with the C2S - in fact I am going to return to competitive athletics - assuming I am good enough! LOL!

Anyway, not much else happening here - certainly no scrapping!!!

So for a diary entry:
Cherish Intimacy
Love really is the answer. Happiness research confirms that nothing's more life-enhancing than cultivating intimate relationships - with a partner and with close friends. The other side of cherishing your nearest and dearest is being cherished in return. True intamacy is a conversation. It begins with connecting to your deepest self, then reaching out to embrace others.

Aawwww Valentine's Day

2006-02-14T20:41:00.000+11:00

So I am not very romantic and so I dont 'get' Valentine's Day.
But for all those hopeless romantics out there - I hope you had a wonderful day!

Kylie came over yesterday to give me my birthday present! Thanks Kylie! Whats better than spending time with a friend and getting some yummy scrapbooking supplies?!?!

Ok so I started studying last night. Hydraulics II. Looks interesting enough - yeah if you like pipes?!?! And have ordered my textbooks for Concrete Structures. Another riveting installment to my uni career. But with each subject I do - the closer to fullfilling my career dreams.

Walked/ran again tonight. 3 nights in a row. I am really enjoying myself. I so can't wait for the day where I just start running and dont feel like I could collapse at any second! I will get there!

SO I think it is time for another diary entry......
The Gift if the Heart
The commercial extravaganza of Valentine's Day can distract us from its true symbolic meaning. As an antidote, celebrate your love for all of your family and friends this week. Whenever you are reminded of Valentine's Day, send loving thoughts to someone dear to you, and say a prayer of thanks for them in your heart.

And before I go - Congratulations to Sandi and Fran for the news of their increasing families!!!!
Keep smiling and thanks for stopping by!!!

12.02.06

2006-02-12T21:42:00.000+11:00

We had a great day today!
First off I took the kids to Kid-about playland where I met up with my sister who was looking after our nephew and niece.
Afterwards we went to McDonalds and the kids played some more there.
Then we came home and I went and scrapped and did a DT layout thats not due till April! LOL! Knowing me I will do another closer to the time!
Then I went for a 5.2km walk/run. I felt really good afterwards but boy I wish my face didn't go so red when I exercise!!! It's kind of embarrassing!!! LOL!!!
And now I am relaxing watching the Winter Olympics! How good are the Olympics?!?! I love them!

Yeah so thats about all from me for today!
Thanks for stopping by!!!! :)

City 2 Surf

2006-02-11T23:46:00.000+11:00

OK so I dont know if I ever said what my 2006 goal is.
It is to run - the entire way - in the City 2 Surf.
I started training a couple of weeks ago and promptly gave up - I am so unfit and out of shape and it was all just too hard.
So I have done research tonight and found a really cool site that has a 20 week training program which will be perfect since I have about 25 weeks till the big race.

So thats about all from me tonight. I was just really happy I found a site that had some decent info on it and thought I would share!

Jealousy

2006-02-10T08:59:00.000+11:00

I have to admit, being on holidays the last two weeks and going to the school everyday I was getting quite jealous of the SAHMs who are able to drop off and pick their kids up and here I am about to go back to full time work. So I decided to not go with the new job and just stay being part time at the bank. So I am feeling quite relieved and happy now! :)

I tell you, since all the stuff went down last week, I am spending about half the amount of time I used to on the computer and I am doing more housework, reading and scrapping!!! It's great!!!

Take care & keep smiling!!! :)

The future.....

2006-02-08T19:33:00.000+11:00

.....are our children.

Kate started kindergarten last week.

She was so cute with the bag she can't carry and the clothes that are too big!

But she was such a little trooper - just walked off like she had been doing this for years!

She came home with 3 stickers for 'doing what I was told'.

She is so very excited about school! She loves going and it is hard to get her to sleep at night with her excitement!

Lets see if in another 10 years she still feels the same way!! LOL!

Thanks for commenting on my blog! :)

2006-02-06T16:04:00.000+11:00

beths posts were only being monitored from the time she got a warning for
allowing a suspended member to use her login details, and as she didn't post
after this no messages were sent to the moderators of which I am one. And Beth
knows this all to well.

Actually Caroline - I *know* that I posted about 7 or 8 comments before I thought it was too much of a joke to even bother proceeding with my membership, if after all the time I spent there, this was how I was going to be treated.

So yes I do *know* that my comments were being moderated when they didnt post onto the forum straight away and instead I got a message saying my "comment will be sent to moderators for approval".

Defamation is such a tricky law. So tricky that one of the main defences is what you said was true.

And since you actually confirm my story that I was being moderated then it is obvious that what I said was true. So sorry, you defamation theory doesn't hold here......

Thanks everyone else for your kind words and support! :)

These boots are

2006-02-05T16:46:00.000+11:00

made for walking...... and thats just what they'll do......

So I left the place which was never named in any persons blog comments.

You see my comments in the forum were being moderated. Every time I wanted to post a comment - the comment was sent through to the moderators for approval.

So considering I had never made any nasty comments in the forum previously I could not understand this treatment.

So I left.

Censorship

2006-02-03T22:41:00.000+11:00

I have to get this off my chest.
If you feel you wont like what I have to say then STOP.
Do not go further.

THIS IS MY BLOG AND I WILL DARN WELL USE IT HOW I SEE FIT!!!

I REFUSE TO HAVE SOMEONE DICTATE TO ME WHAT I CAN PUT ON MY BLOG!!!

REMEMBER - OPINIONS ARE LIKE ARSEHOLES.....

EVERYONE'S GOT ONE.

Dear diary..... 01.02

2006-02-01T19:39:00.000+11:00

Another passage from my "mind body and spirit" diary because nothing much else happened here today - except I am *still* sick!

Feel Fit
How many times have you started the new year full of resolutions only to scuttle them before the month is out?
This year your biggest boost to well-being won't be what you add to your fitness regime but what you take away - whether that's a worry, sugar or a self-defeating attitude.
Focus on one small change a week, and soon you'll be on your way to a healthy body and a positive outlook.

Stay true and happy! :) :)

Oh this and that.....

2006-01-31T21:33:00.000+11:00

First off I just want to say "HI FLISS!" incase you are reading! ;)

Secondly I bought myself a diary aaagggeeesss ago and I came across it in my *cough* filing box. So I thought since we are almost one month through the diary I better start using it! LOL!
It is titled 'mind, body & spirit' and I held high hopes for it when I first got it.
So I am going to share a passage a week out of it!
But I have a few to catch up on first... lol!

Dec 26 - Jan 1
Welcome the dawn
Even in winter (definately a northern hemisphere publication!), dawn is a special time, an awakening to new possibilities. Take a few minutes for yourself each day as the dawn is breaking - you could perform a short meditation, do some simple stretching exercises, or just spend a little while planning your day. You will feel better prepared for whatever lies ahead.

Hmmmm. Deep. I will do all that from the insides of my eyelids me thinks!

Yeah so I got my uni books today! YAY! I am doing Hydraulics II and Concrete Structures. I am super pumped but I am sure it will wear off.....

Hmmm nothing much else been happening - especially excercise! Blergh! I have a cold thanks to dearest Luke so I havent been doing anything!

Went to the school today to pick up the last things for Kate for school. Lucky I went as I was going to take her tomorrow - on advice from her teacher - but ummmmm kindy's dont start until thursday! We would have looked a bit silly turning up a day early! LOL!!!!!

<------ I did a new layout. This is my favourite photo from our wedding and the photographer didnt take it. BIL did! Good eh? Yeah so it looks sooooo much nice IRL but you get that. The journalling is the poem 'Marriage is a journey' which was one of our readings in our ceremony.

In marriage walk the path together
side by side whenever possible
remember to hold each other when it is cold
if the air becomes too close
make a little space so each can breathe
when the path is narrow choose one to go first
always be willing to follow dont be afraid to lead
trust your partner trust yourself
for marriage is a journey that leads to great love.

Okies - thats all from me tonight! Off to peruse my uni stuff!!!!
Keep smiling! :)

The story of B&S

2006-01-30T23:08:00.000+11:00

As per Moi's challenge, this is the story of Beth & Stephen.....

I was working at Woolworths at the time when Steve and I first met.
I was a checkout operator and he was a 2IC grocery manager.
I had a crush on Steve for about a year. I liked the way he walked.
During this time I was carrying some excess weight thanks to stopping athletics so I just kept my feelings to myself.
So I lost the weight and felt really good about myself so I got myself some new skirts for work - I guess a little too short - but I was young and carefree and was skinny again so I was flaunting it! LOL!
Well Steve asked me out. At the time I had a boyfriend soI told him no.
He asked me out again but I still had said boyfriend.
Said boyfriend went away for a week and didn't invite me. Hmph!
So I went to work and I was clocking in when Steve walked into the lunchroom.
I said "Hi Stephen. What are you doing tonight?" He said "Nothing." I said "Well do you want to go out then?"

I could not believe the words coming out of my mouth!!! I had never ever asked anyone out!!!!!!

So we went out to the drive-ins. A week later I dumped said boyfriend and we have been together ever since!