Monday, July 30, 2007

Cheeky monkey in monkey pluggers

Well, well, well...Still not too much to say for myself. I'm definately living the low life lately.
This morning Jack & I went over to my friend Tricia's house for our Mum's & Bub's group. Jack had a fantastic time. They have swings, a slippery slide, a cubby house, chickens, painting, papercraft and a ride on Jeep (it's huge, like a car for kids, V cool)...everything a toddler loves. I got a couple of cute photos too. Here's Jack monkeying around on the rings.

And a gorgeous photo of Sofie sleeping, she looks like such a little angel with her beautiful little cupids bow lips and here dark eyelashes.

After that Jack and I went to Bunnings to exchange some paint and buy some plants. When I get around to it I have a piece of board I'm going to paint for the kitchen wall for a blackboard. On that Brothers & Sisters show in the mistress's house (I'm shocking with names) at the back of the kitchen they have a whole wall that's just chalkboard and I saw it in a house in the Country Living magazine as well. We thought of painting the little wall outside the kitchen but I decided it would just be too hard to try to explain to Jack that he was only allowed to draw on that particular wall so this board is going to go above the bench. I got a couple of plants today too. Now that our irrigation system is up and running and the garden is getting watered regularly it's starting to grow (surprise surprise) so I got a couple of plants to bush it up a bit. I got the most gorgeous tahitian gardenia. I never have any luck with gardenias but I'm really hoping this one will grow. I also got a tray of mondo grass for around the pot at our front entry.

Jack has a blister on the inside of his foot so when we were working in the garden this afternoon I put his pluggers/thongs on and I just couldn't resist taking a photo. They are so cute. Unfortunately they didn't stay on very well and every two seconds I had to stop whatever I was doing and go over to my crying child to re-adjust his thongs. I eventually gave up, grabbed the kid, left the plants in their pots and went inside.

Well that's it for another exciting day in our ever so exciting lives.

I'll just flash this award around though for everyone to see.
Thanks Sarah for nominating me and I'll nominate...
Michelle
Donna (now you're going to have to update your blog)
Debbie
Amanda
Dani (another one who needs to update her blog, although she is forgiven since she's a mother of 4)

Night

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Mini Album

Hiya,

Just dropping by to show off the mini album I did for the 3 Angels Scrapping cyber crop last night. They are based on sketches by Jan Hall.


Okay...bye
Aaaaarrrrghhhhh, toilet training...

I mean, don't get me wrong. I know TT is something that you have to do and I don't want to be changing nappies for decades but my gosh. Jack has just been moved up to the next group at daycare and they are more focused on TT in that group so we've sent jocks along and he used the toilet at daycare on Friday which is fantastic. He had been using the toilet at home for a few days a couple of months ago but then he didn't want to do it anymore so I didn't push it but now he's decided it's on again so he yesterday we had a couple of accidents and then he went back in a nappy which he later took off and then used the toilet...yaay...but today, he's just done a wee in his nappy then taken it off and tried to push god knows what, he tells me a wee, out whilst stitting on the toilet, then asks to have jocks on, then takes them off 2 times to go and sit on the toilet and do nothing and then insist on trying to put his jocks back on himself before finally whipping his jocks off once more and actually doing a wee on the toilet. So I've been up and down, up and down, up and down.
I'm feeling so freakin' tense lately. I think I need to go to a spa or something. I can't believe how much I yelled at Jack yesterday, mind you he was being a bit of a terror. And then last night I yelled at Owen. Grrrrrr...I just need to mellow out. It's just that eveything I do seems to get complicated in some way and takes forever to do and I just don't seem to have any time. It's very frustrating.
Anyhoo, I'll get over it!!
Here's a gorgeous photo of my little man being a ham for the camera.
And here's a LO I did last night for the cyber crop challenge over at 3 Angels Scrapping. It was a colour challenge and you had to use purple. The journalling reads...
"Jack, Your Grandma's hands will show you many of nature's wonderful things. She sees beauty in things that others walk straight past. And those same hands will always be outstretched to you to show you how loved you are."

Righteo, I'm outta here. Going to meet up with my family at the airport to say goodbye to my Auntie Fay who's heading back to Melbourne today.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Not much going on around here...

Well there's nothing going on around here but I just thought I'd better update my blog so I did a digi LO.

I was playing around with the setting on my camera today and caught this snapshot of Jack. I really love the tonings in the photo, it has had just a little bit of a tweak.

Not so Blue kit by ksharonk, overlay by lemonaid lucy, chippie by i made this today, tag by fernlili, photo border by designing on the edge.

He was watching Wiggles this morning and was so cute. He loves to sing and is very dramatic, waving his arms around and doing all the motions. We're going to Dorothy's Dance Party in September so I think he'll really enjoy that.

I was tagged by Pauline the other week and then by Sarah as well so I thought I'd do that too...

Here's the deal:

1-post these rules

2-each person tagged must post 8 random(... hopefully interesting) facts about themselves

3-taggees should write a blogpost of these facts

4- at the end of the post 8 more bloggers are tagged and named and released back into the wild

5-go to their blog and leave a comment telling them they're tagged

1- I too have had my ears pierced a few times. I got them done at the local tatoo parlor when I was ten, which I remember cause it was so cool to go to the tatoo parlor but my brother dragged me home by my ears when I was a kid and they tore a bit(more dramatic than it sounds but you can tell). I have a second piercing alongside the originals. I used to have one slightly higher on one ear and right at the top on the other but they've closed over. I also used to have my nose pierced but that has closed over as well.

2 - I used to acually pierce peoples ears when I was a tea & tidy girl at a hairdressing salon. I had two memorable piecings, one poor little girl who the gun got stuck on and it took a couple of us ages to get it unstuck and then a teenager came in one Thursday night and got his ear done while his mates waited outside. After I'd done it he just sat there and I said, "That's it, all done." and he said in a small trembly voice, "Is it okay if I just sit here for a bit". Poor bugger.

3 - I had ALL the drugs when I had Jack, gas, pethadine and then an epidural...and then I felt guilty about it for months. I'm over it now though. I think the reason I felt so guilty was because I just LOVED that gas. I wish I had it on tap at home.

4 - I really enjoy cooking but don't really like making dinner. I don't know why.

5 - I am addicted to reality TV. Can't get enough of it, wish they had year round Big Brother and Amazing Race.

6 - I think Christmas ROCKS!!! It's my absolute favourite time of the year. I get that excited little fluttery chest just thinking about it and what catering I can do for it because I love Christmas food as well...truffles, glazed ham, cherries...YUM!!

7 - As Cat said on her 8, I love gossip. Even if I don't know the people involved I still love the gossip. There's a line I love in Steel Magnolias, "Well, you know what they say: if you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me!"

8 - I used to play the violin back when I was a kid. I sucked at it. In a catalogue the other day I saw a purple violin and it made me wish I still played, just so I could have a purple violin though.

As for tagging other people eveyone I know has probably been tagged already but if anyone drops by and wants me to tag them then consider yourself tagged.


Like I said, nothing happening interesting enough to blog about so I'm outta here.
Ciao

Monday, July 23, 2007

Tears today :(

Well I tells ya, I always used to carry a compact when I was pregnant. I'm a bit of a sooky la-la at the best of times but when I was pregnant I was an absolute cry baby so I always made sure I had a compact in my handbag for touch ups throughout the day...I should have left the damm thing in my handbag. I'm not pregnant but we've had stocktake all weekend because as I've mentioned in previous posts my boss is leaving and you always have the mandatory stocktake before hand so we've all been hard at work the last couple of days sorting through variances. It's a stressfull time in the office at the best of times and by the end of it all, which was today, there's normally been a few deep shaky breaths taken anyway but add to that the knowlege that the boss that you've worked for for in my case the last 4 years or so along with his gorgeous family is actually leaving town never to return again, well, lets just say it's a little hard to handle.

We get along pretty well for a workplace and I would consider most of the people I work with to be friends. When I worked full time before Jack was born, Simon and I worked pretty closely together and I used to say that it was just like working with my brother. He's a bit of a cheeky bugger and has been great to work for for all these years. I even got a phone call at 1ish in the morning when Sam, their first child was born. And I used to babysit for them when Simon and Kerryn went out occassionally. So they, Simon, Kerryn, Sam & Amber, will be very dearly missed. I wish them all the very best and I hope they settle in nicely in their new home in Wadongo.

You know how the old saying goes, never judge a book by it's cover, well I'm sure when you look at this photo of Simon you would think that he was pretty well off his face...well, he is.


And some unfortunate news today too. I went to feed Nemo(Jack's beautiful fish that I was splashing around photos of on here last week) last night and I noticed that he had a nasty looking fungus growing on his fins and tail so I was going to duck up to the pet shop today to pick up some fungal drops for him but unfortunately I got a message from Owen to say that he didn't make it. Poor beautiful Nemo died. So Owen got the tank down off the wall and had it in the sink to scoop poor Nemo out for a proper burial when Jack happened along and pointed to the tank in the sink quizzickly (sp?) pointing and saying, "Nemo?". "Nemo's just having a drink", says Daddy. "NO!" says Jack who has a bit of an OCD thing where everything has to be in it's place. So Daddy dutifully hung Nemo back on the wall in Jack's room and told Jack that Nemo was just having a sleep on his back...

So now should I buy another $7.50 siamese fighting fish or a $2 more resiliant gold fish to replace him and hope Jack dosn't notice?

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Happy Birthday Grandad Kev!!

It's my Grandad Kev's 83rd Birthday today and tomorrow. He has always celebrated it on both days because his birth certificate says the 23rd and his mother swore he was born on the 22 so he's tells us it's both days. We all went over for dinner tonight. It's so nice to see everyone. I'm a bit sick at the moment though so we didn't stay too late. Here's a photo of Grandad, Jack and some of his cousins/2nd cousins blowing out the candle.
And how good is my gorgeous husband? I'm working this week for stocktake so he's looking after Jack and today he and Jack made a delicious Choc-Mint Cheesecake and a yummy Pumpkin & Feta Slice to take to Grandad's. Here's Jack enjoying licking a beater.
Not much going on at the moment. Catch you later.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

OMG the Target toy sale was CRAZY!!

I can't believe how many people were at the Target toy sale today. The traffic to get in to the carpark was a block long. I wasn't going to go at first but after talking to my friend Michelle last night I decided I might go and have a look and there were people everywhere. I did well though. I knew exactly what I was looking for and luckily they were all at the front of the store. So I layby'd a activity table thingy, some Wiggles percussion instruments and one of the containers of fake food. I'm happy with that. I was so peeved about the Big W sale. The only thing I wanted was a swing set which sold out and the young guy I spoke to said that he had a list of things they could re-order and pulled out a list that only had about 20 items on it out of a 130 odd page catalogue. The Target sale is always the best organised and the way they set up their layby is fantastic. There were 3 decently full lines and it still only took about 15 minutes to get to the front. So well done Target!!

After the Target sale we went over to the library for the book reading which Jack is just NOT interested in anymore. He just ran around getting all the little stools and bringing them over to me. The activities they have after the book reading are always good. Today we made a birthday hat with sequins and stars and things. Jack wore his at Woolworths afterwards and he got lots of compliments. Also got lots of people calling him by name since I had written it in big letters on the front. That freaked him out a bit.

Speaking of Jack, Owen was saying that when he picked him up from daycare they other day the girls were saying how polite he is and that the other kids copy him and say please and thank you etc. It makes me feel so proud. He is a very polite little boy.

Our poor old dog Bella is doing it tough at the moment. About 9 years ago she was hit by a car and ended up with a dislocated shoulder and it gives her some problems from time to time but last night the poor thing could hardly walk. I feel so sorry for her. She seems a bit better today but it's still a bit cool today. Maybe I should try and get her some leg warmers.

I did a layout last night using the new Basic Grey Infuse range for one of my friends, Erica. This photo was taken by my friend Michelle at Jack's birthday party this year, later that night Erica gave birth to her beautiful daughter Hayley a month early. Hence the title, you never know what a day will bring.

Check out this beautifully sliced egg using my new egg slicer. Exciting stuff my blog isn't it. I was actually excited by this. I've been trying to get Jack to eat boiled eggs for ages with no success but he loved the sliced egg.

Well, I really should be cleaning the house, I don't feel like it but I'm working all weekend and I'm sure it will drive me crazy if I don't get it done. Bloody housework.
I'll leave you with a photo of one of our cats, Kitti-Mae, since Jack wouldn't let me take his photo in his birthday hat.

Bye!!

Monday, July 16, 2007

Scrappy TP!!

Can you beleive this? I bought this new toilet paper design today and it's so gorgeous. Just like co-ordinating scrap papers(there's another patten in there too). I might have to see if I can use it in a layout :P Edited to change the photo because the other one was driving me crazyI met up with my Mum's & Bub's group at the local shopping centre today for a coffee and a bit of a play in the playroom which Jack just loved. I love watching him laugh. It makes my heart dance. He's adorable...not so adorable when he's screaming down the post office while you're waiting in line...but adorable non the less.

After that we had a bit of a browse around the centre and then went to check out St Vinnie's. I got a couple of bargains. A couple of little cups and saucers to make into pin cushions(note the background for the photo, the new BG Infuse range just waiting to be used)...


And an egg slicer, I've always wanted one but you know how it is, you pick them up and then decide against it, I mean who really needs an egg slicer...but it was only 50cents.

Jack screamed Vinnie's down as well while we were standing in line and then I spotted a Foxtwood Tails melamine divided plate and asked Jack if he wanted it. Hell yes!! It was instant shut-up, customers even commmented. Bloody 2 year olds.

And just so everyone knows, the Scrappy Days web chat is up and running so if you're looking for somewhere scrappy to hang out on the net come and check it out and you just have to see the header, it was made by Ngaire Bartlam. It ROCKS!!

Oh and check this out, too cool.

The newest member of our family...

We got a new fish!! I was at Crazy Clark's yesterday and they had these cool wall mountable little fish half globes and I thought it would be perfect for Jack's room so off we trot to the pet shop and got ourselves a siamese fighter fish and then I had to take it with me to do the grocery shopping. It's so pretty. It's name currently is Nemo but I think I might find something a bit more original for him/her. Of course I had to go through all my scrap paper looking for a backdrop to make fishy stand out.
How good is my life...look at what I had for lunch today. I sort of have an obsession with prawn sandwiches. They bring back memories of my childhood and being at the beach house and we used to have freshly trawled prawns on the freshest white bread from the bakery. Yuuuuummmmyyyyy. Just with a little bit of lemon juice and salt & pepper.
And then this afternoon for afternoon tea, Jack and I made some cupcakes. It took absolutely ages to make them. Jack insisted on sifting the flour, making a mess and trying to stick his fingers in everything. They turned out nicely though, I split the mix and made a variety of flavours, coconut, very vanilla, double choc on double choc and mocha. They were quite tasty too. I used the same cake recipe from my lime feast the other week, it makes a great textured cake.
We went to my boss's farewell party last night. It was a really good night. I had 6 fire engines and they didn't even effect me, I couldn't beleive it. I never drink and thought that I'd probably fall over after one drink but nope. I'll be very sad to see my boss go. I'm going to miss seeing their kids grow up. It's been great working with him. Oh, and then he rang me this morning to find out the number for the queensland health helpline because their son had slammed their 19month old daughters finger in a door and they think it might be broken. Poor little Amber.

And finally some photos from this afternoon's walk. I made Owen come too. Jack was running around like crazy. I got a few good shots too. I'll probably have to clone out Jack's snot before I print some of them though. Pauline, I'll do your tag tomorrow, I'm off to bed for now.
Edited to add in last nights LO.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

A new DT layout!!

Well I had a FAB night last night at Scrappy Days. Such great conversation and it's so nice to have some time out for myself and to do some casual browsing in the store without having to try and juggle Jack at the same time. And I did a layout, just one, it's for the DT for this month and the paper I've used is by Crate Paper and I can't beleive it hasn't been more popular. It's a great colour. It's hard to tell in the photo but the cut outs are raised.




Owen said that Jack said to him last night, "I love shopping". How cute is that? He's just like his Mummy cause I love shopping too.

On Wednesday I went out to the backyard and our outdoor speakers were on. I have no idea how long they've been switched on but they're hooked up to our normal TV so everything we watched would be piped out to our backyard. It can't have been too bad or I'm sure someone would have let us know but I normally have the TV up pretty load when I'm making dinner.

Anyhoo, better fullfill my childs wishes and go shopping. :P I'm going to find decent smileys for here too.


Thursday, July 12, 2007

Sorry I've been so slack

I see I've had heaps of people dropping by, although only a couple of comments. I just havn't done anything really interesting to blog about, plus Owen's taken over my laptop so whereas before I would be typing in between making dinner now I have to pry the computer out of his hands or use his computer which is in the cold cold laundry(that's where I am right now). Although his computer is great for looking at photos cause he's got this huge flash monitor.

Here's a couple of my favourite photos from our Sunday afternoon walk with Mum...
PP by Angie Briggs and Tracey Collins, note paper by Tracey Collins, stamp from Sunstream Designs, frame by Katie Pertiet and stitching by Natalie.

Jack's been a bit sick the poor little guy. Temps, coughing, runny nose, the usual plus he's drooling like crazy so I'm not sure whether he's getting molars through as well. He's been a champ about it though and he's even had a nap during the day and been asleep at night by about 8.30 which is VERY unusual for our little night owl.

Went out to Hogs Breath with the girls from work on Monday night for our monthly dinner date. It was a really nice night. Lots and laughs, great conversation, delicious dinner and devine cocktails. I was never really a fan of their steaks but they seem to have grown on me. I was soooooo full by the end of dinner but I still ordered (and ate most of) their chocolate mud cake. Damm...it was mighty fine.
I decided at the last minute to enter the Scrapbooking Memories Master competition. Originally I had decided to do it and was all gung ho and did one task straight away and then it kind of fell by the wayside and I sort of thought, why bother. Anyhoo, I decided you gotta be in it to win it hey and so I did the mini album, single page LO and double page LO all in two days. I was up until 3am one night even and then things just never fall in to place and it took forever to photograph it all and compile it and I didn't make it to the mail box before 5pm and so even though I sent it espress post I don't think it's going to make it in time. Which will SUCK but that's what I get for procastinating I guess. I'm really pleased with the mini album it looks cute. I don't honestly think I have a chance but you never know.
We did a bit of pottering about in the yard this afternoon. Owen was setting up the last of the sprinklers for our pots and Jack and I were collecting rocks, sitting on the retaining wall, and picking limes. I got a few cute photos but Jack's nose is pretty crusty in some of them. This one is my favourite.

I'm off to work tomorrow and then going to a little crop tomorrow night at Scrappy Days. On Saturday night we have my boss's farewell party and apparently our new boss is going to be there so that will be interesting.

That's it from me for now, off to do some digi scrapping and surfing.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Limes, layouts and our lad!! :)

Well, we've had this poor ignored lime tree for a few years. It started it's life in a pot and was transplanted a couple of years ago to a garden bed, which was then destroyed but this poor little lime just kept bringing itself back to life and you should see it now. It's glorious and is such a prolific bearer of fruit. I feel a bit bad actually enjoying the limes considering the treatment the poor tree has received but anyhoo, we enjoy them. It's produced more limes than we can handle so I decided to hang a basket of them out the front for the neighbours (we live in a small dead end street) along with a few recipes. We still had quite a few left over so I decided that we'd have a lime inspired dinner with my Mum and Owen's Dad as guests. It was all really delicious. We had Malibu Prawns for entree, Coconut and Lime Fish Fillets with Mustard Lime Mayonaise followed by Coconut and Lime Sorbet and a Coconut Cream Cake with Lemon & Lime Filling (I took photos in case I wanted to scrap any of the recipes). So thank you little lime tree. We've now hooked it up with our irrigation system and given it a bit of mulch and bought it a companion dwarf lemon tree so I hope it will be happy.
On the scrap front I'll quickly show the cards I did for the Scrappy Days Design Team (check out the new header on their site made by Ngaire Bartlem, very cool!!) and a layout I did the other night at a crop. I'm not normally a card maker but I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. I used just about every scrap of one sheet of 12 x 12 and made the envelope card, bookmark, tag and mini card so that's pretty good hey.

And lastly a photo of Jack the lad. He's sooooo cute but so damm dummy obsessed at the moment. Owen was trying to get some good photos of him but he just wouldn't let that dummy go and then when he got it back he was trying to get it back in his mouth so quickly that he missed. He's such a cutie and so sweet and adorable. I sneezed yesterday and he said "Oh, excuse you Mummy". It was so adorable.
Righteo I'm off to bed, gotta work tomorrow.
Oh, but before I go, how much of a bitch is that Michelle on Big Brother. Grrrrrr, she makes my blood boil. I'm even going to vote this week (which is probably why BB put her in in the first place)
Anyhoo...

Ciao

Memory Journal

 So I decided to start a memory journal this year inspired by the amazing Heidi Swapp.  She is so talented, I just love her style.  I'm ...