Finding her way in the Digiscrapping world..

It's late....

2009-09-27T22:56:00.003+10:00

Quite late....

But I just HAD to update my poor lonesome little blog.. poor lil thing has been so neglected :(

So much has gone on since my last post. But I will update with the latest, scariest, yet relieving (all at the same time!) news...

Two weeks ago today we were in a whirlwind. My oldest son had gone two doors up to ride his bike with his friend, on their property. He'd been gone an hour.. I was sitting on the lounge watching some TV and was JUST about dozing off (its always the way eh?).. and all of a sudden L-man comes in, all hunched over saying "I've hurt myself mum".. I knew from his face and his posture that he WAS hurting bad!

So I got him to tell me what had happened. He'd been riding his bike with his friend, and he hit this bump in the ground that he hadn't seen. The wheel went crazy, the bike went down and he went down with it, and the handlebar got him in the tummy. I said, ok, where are you hurt? And then he lifted his shirt... OUCH I said.. jumped up, guided him to the chair and said, stay there, and I'll get something to clean that up! He had a deep graze on his belly the size of a golf ball. I ran and grabbed some paper towel, moistened it up and ran back to him and went to dab gently to try and clean it up a bit to get a better look at it. He winced and yelped, so I stopped.

Then he went grey. I mean grey. He was talking slightly incoherant, and was on the verge of passing out. Said to hubby, I have to get him checked out. Hubby tried telling me that he'd be fine and to just give him a few to get over the near pass-out. Mama bear took over and TOLD hubby that I was taking him to the hospital to get it checked out. I did the right thing.

Raced him to our local rural hospital, and they immediately had him in the ER with my mum while I gave our information at the desk. When I got to his bed, the doctor looking him over told us he would be transferred to the large childrens hospital in the city. I was gobsmacked. They were putting cannulas in BOTH his arms.. they frightened me! I asked the doctor what was going on, and why all this was happening so fast. He informed me that he'd received a blunt force trauma to the abdomen and was at high risk for a ruptured spleen/liver/bowel. I went into disbelief mode and rang hubby straight away to tell him what was going on.

The transfer ambulance arrived 10 minutes later and we were on our way. Mum drove my car back home, where Keith would then jump in and meet us at the childrens hospital. They said the problem with kids is that they can hold their vitals for much much longer than an adult can, so while they appear fine on the outside, inside might be a totally different story.

Anyway.. almost an hour later we were at the childrens, being taken straight into ER. There was a hustle and bustle of activity and talk of a nasal-gastric tube being put in. I asked the reason for that, and was told that they needed to empty his stomach to prevent vomitting, which could make any possible internal injuries worse. Plus they needed to use the NG tube to administer the contrast for the CT he would be having. YIKERS!.. I was so amazed at how fast they were working, and at the same time amazed at how serious this was becoming!

Keith turned up about half an hour after we got there and we chatted and took turns in keeping Lachie comfortable. I had to leave the room when they finally did the NG tube.. I can handle most things, but I couldn't handle seeing that happen to my son. Keith stayed, and said he never EVER wants to see that in his life, with any of his kids. I felt bad for leaving :( But I didn't want to get Lachie further stressed out when he saw mama crying :( Not good. It took him a while to get used to the sensation of the tube, and he sneezed alot. The morphine they gave him made him throw up :(

Then they gave him the contrast. The nurse totally stuffed the dose up! Supposed to mix 10ml of contrast with 500ml of water. She mixed up 100ml of contrast with 400ml of water... over 10 TIMES the amount it should have been!! They got the CT scan done, and back to the ER. Doc came in and told us that he had a bruised stomach and liver, had a good sized haematoma on his liver, and had "slightly mashed" the abdominal muscle just above those two organs. They said he was a very VERY lucky little man, considering the force the handlebar got him.

Relief doesn't even TOUCH how I felt when I heard that! All the docs and nurses said it SHOULD have been much worse than that, and that someone was watching over him that day! We finally got admitted, and up to his room at 10.30pm. 6 1/2 hours in the ER was long enough!

They kept him in for 4 days total for observation. Had him Nil By Mouth for the first two days, had him on jelly and clear fluids early on the third day, and then gradually got his diet back to normal. They didn't want to introduce food too quickly incase his poor tummy couldn't handle it and started throwing up again, which would then send him backwards and undo all the healing to his poor tummy and liver. The overdose of contrast gave him a nasty case of the trots, which took a few days to get over. Poor darlin. I stayed with him the first two nights, and Keith stayed with him the 3rd night. On the 4th day, he was allowed home.. what a great day that was :D Was just so blessed and amazed at the miracle of him being so darn lucky ... and it sure makes you appreciate them that much more!

And here are some photos of my little trooper.. such a brave boy, who never complained once about anything!

Watching TV and tolerating that nasty NG tube

He ate all of his jelly once he was allowed to start fluids again!

Playing his DS on the couch that was my bed for two nights :)

Chilling out, talking to his mama for a while :)

Sitting by the big window in the hallway, watching the world go by

And the moment every mother cherishes when their child is hurt.. a big smile.. almost back to his normal self :)

So that is the first update of what has been going on in my otherwise normally boring life! I will try update again in the next few days with other goings-on.. but for the moment, I think that's the most important thing updated!

Life is good, and I have my boy where he belongs... at home with his family :)

We've been and come back, and wish we were still there!

2009-05-25T07:10:00.003+10:00

So we have been away on our vacation, and have been back for a week now. Wow, it was great! Apart from the windy days and the odd bit of rain here and there. We took a whopping 2000 photos while we were away, and most of them are keepers, which I'm amazed at! Once I resize and watermark them, I will post some of the really good ones to show. We really didn't get to go to many places because the weather was kind of ick, and the big jetty we normally go for a walk on was under repair, so that was out as well. But you can't help the weather right?

Hayden turns 3 in 6 days!!! WOW... it really has flown by, and I'm now trying to work out what to get my little man for his birthday. I definitely think some clothes are in order, as he's grown so much, and now that winter is approaching FAST, he needs some warmer clothes that actually fit him LOL Other than that we are thinking of another big truck for the yard/sandpit. He got a big John Deere truck for christmas and it got used every single day at Hervey Bay and it has begun the addiction to them, so we may look at getting him a digger. The one other thing I would think of is a big boy bike. He got a trike for christmas (which is now broken *SIGH*) and he likes to get on Becky's big girl bike and ride it, so that may be the trick! Who knows. Money is also the deciding factor in all of it as well, as this week is a HUGE week for bills coming out of the account, plus two car registrations.. sucks!! But will definitely be making him his own birthday cake, which I usually do each year. This year he will have a Wall.E cake picture to put on top, as he LOVES Eve out of that movie. I will post pics when I've made it :)

In other stuff going on, we've had ALOT of rain over the last week. I mean ALOT!!! We had some flash flooding, Sophie's highschool was closed at midday on the wednesday and when she got home I flew down to Lachie's school to get him. The weather was just crazy! We have had rain on and off the last few days, but nothing like it was last week. We apparently had the wettest May weather for 30 odd years.. but we do need the rain. Our state Premier announced that the drought was now over, but she should have said that BRISBANE drought was over, not Queensland. There are still alot of areas in Queensland that are in dire need of rain, and they are far from being drought free. So now the hope is that the rains build up and hit in other areas of QLD so that they may be on the way to their dams being even half full.

Another thing I wanted to mention was about Keith and I wanting to take our photography so much further. We are looking into doing some accredited courses to learn more, and start taking great photos most of the time. We are really serious about this and want to get to the stage where Keith can go full time with photography and give up the job he is currently doing. That is his ultimate dream. We now just need to work out how much this is going to cost us to get things rolling. I dread to think LOL

Anyway, that's it from me for now. I stupidly started a blog entry when it was almost time to get kids organised for school so I have to keep it short for now. Will be back when I have a bit more time to really go into things :)

14 days, and counting!!

2009-04-17T10:37:00.002+10:00

It's only 14 more days until we go away.. 2 weeks!! This time in two weeks, we'll be just starting to put the tent up and get it all organised so we can spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the beach :D Can you tell I'm excited? Well, if you can't tell, then I definitely am!!!! haha The last 12 months have flown by, and I can't believe we are almost there again! I feel like a kid in a candy store lol I just want to be up there, like, RIGHT NOW! Really, if you ever visit Australia (or Queensland, if you are already an aussie), take the time to visit Hervey Bay. It really is a little piece of magic. It's quiet, the water is calm.. the caravan park we stay at is immaculate, and while the washers and dryers are way overpriced, the bathroom block is kept so clean. You have to have a key to get into the bathrooms (unless someone doesn't shut the door properly and then ANYONE can get in *sigh*). Really.. I'll post ALOT of photos once we get home, and you'll know what I mean. I think it will be our holiday spot for the next 10 years or so. And once the kids are old enough and don't want to vacation with us anymore, we may still go, or may find somewhere else to go holidaying.

The easter break is nearly over.. its gone way fast. The kids got a visit from the easter bunny, and this year, they didn't get alot. I find that while they are excited to get the chocolate bunnies and eggs, they don't ever eat them all. So this year they got either a bunny or big egg, and then 5 smaller eggs, and they were happy as larry with that! So next year will be the same. I was constantly finding smashed up easter eggs all over the rugs, so maybe next year might even be just a big bunny and a toy.. maybe.. we'll see what happens :)

So my gall bladder pain seems to be under control lately. I'm not having to take pain relief anywhere near as often as I was. I'm still watching what I eat, but sometimes the naughty stuff does get through, and I find if I eat a little of it, every few days, I'm ok. But its when I'm having large doses of fatty food regularly, that's when I'm in trouble. So its good to know I can still treat myself every now and then, and as long as I keep it in moderation, its all good! Thank goodness for that!

We went for a drive last weekend up to O'Reillys in the Gold Coast hinterland. Mind you, we finally got there after the Navman (GPS)... GOT US LOST!!!!!!!!!! Yes, the Navman navigated us in the totally wrong way LOL So an hour later, we were on the right track, and by the time we got up the top of the mountain, we only had around an hour to look around before we had to head back down to pick Sophie up from work on time. Next time we are going to look at going to Binna Burra for the day, but we're not exactly sure what is there, and how to get there. We're also looking at going for a visit to the Darling Downs zoo one day (not sure when though).. one of my online friends went yesterday, and looking at her photos, it looks like a great little zoo! It's not huge like the city zoos, but that can be better in a way.. so we are finally trying to venture out a bit more and get the kids used to behaving in public LMAO. Really.. its the one reason we really don't go anywhere.. because they are just total handfuls (the smaller two, that is). Lachlan is getting wonderful at behaving while we are out and about now, but we just need to get hte younger two to start listening and doing what we ask them to do. It will make trips out alot more fun, and alot more worth it. I know they are still only young, but they DO need to listen.. its not safe sometimes.

But that's about it for now. I really can't think of anything else highly exciting going on. Off to facebook for a while, and then go tidy up the house.

So it is decided..

2009-04-09T18:46:00.003+10:00

I will be having my gall bladder removed. It will probably be in about 6 months time, but it will come out. I have one small (4.5mm) gallstone that is causing this on again-off again pain. My doctor said that even though there is only one, and its small, it is the small ones that can cause the most pain, because they can travel into the bile duct and block it off, causing enormous amounts of pain. So, for now, I just continue with the low-fat eating, and taking pain relief when needed. IF the pain becomes worse/unbearable, I am to go either straight to my doctor, or to the hospital emergency room. And if at that time the pain is bad enough to warrant it, they may take it out then. Who knows. All I can say is, I'm glad I have an answer, and will be relieved when it comes out and I am pain free. Like I have said, the pain isn't all the time, and while it is painful, its not "pass out" material just yet. I can't imagine it being much worse than it gets. But I have heard it gets quite excruciating. Fun!

So here's a pic of the little culprit.

The little dot that the arrow is pointing to is the little bugger. Just thought I'd share my insides with you all ;)

So the kids are now on easter holidays. They are off now until the 19th, and go back the 20th of April, unless they have a pupil free day on the monday (I never know when they are!). Then they are back at school for just under two weeks, and we go away for our yearly vacation! I CAN'T WAIT! I will share lots of photos of that when we get back, so beware LOL Photo overload. Now that I am learning more and more about our camera, I'm becoming alot more adventurous and excited to take different styles of photos. I can see me taking alot of bird photos ;) Seagulls and pelicans, and whatever else we may come across! Hopefully the dolphins will come out to play again, like they have the last two years, and I can grab some awesome pics of them. And of course, there will be photos of the fish we catch. And the kids playing on the beach. And the FIL and other half skiing. Oh WEEEEEEE.... now the excitement is REALLY building!

We're having lots of issues at the moment with Hayden coming in to our bed through the night. To begin with, it was the odd night, and then he'd go a few weeks before coming back in again. He kind of cycled with it, so it wasn't so bad. But now, it is EVERY NIGHT... I mean, usually 12.30am I am woken up to feel a little boy crawling at the end of our bed, working his way up the middle of Keith and I. We've learnt that if we put him back to bed, he keeps coming in. It's not too bad because he goes back to sleep straight away, but its really getting to become a bad habit with this boy. Three nights ago, Keith put him back to bed (fast asleep) 4 times in total. He ended up back in with me not long after Keith left for work. So it makes it a hard, restless night. He has moments where he reaches out to touch us, just for the comfort side of it, but he ends up touching all over my face, and if there is one thing I can't handle, its that. OMG It just annoys me LOL I know he means well, and that he's just searching for something familiar, but boy oh boy, stop it already! We've tried giving him a cuddle toy/blanket to go to bed with, but it doesn't work. Hopefully the two weeks away will get him out of the habit of crawling in with us, as we will be in the same room, but there will be NO room for him on the double blow up mattress with us LOL Just no way its gonna happen. He will be in a camping bunk right next to our mattress, so we can just take it in turns to lay on the side he'll be on, and reach out and get him back to sleep IN HIS OWN BED. Ugh. Really. He's nearly 3. It's got to stop.

Speaking of that. He's nearly 3. Where has the last 3 years gone? My baby is far from being a baby anymore :( I love them being babies, and to know that my last is way past that, is just so saddening. But at the same time, I AM looking forward to them being that little bit older, where we can look forward to sleeping in (all my kids end up being ones who sleep late of a morning lol).. so that's only a year or so away (IF Hayden decides that his bed is better than ours.. how are we going to make that happen?).

Anyway, I've rambled enough, and have run out of things to talk about (I have no life hehe).. so I will sign off again, until next time. I hope you are all well!

Surgery, my sister is home, and general waffle..

2009-04-04T07:56:00.004+10:00

On Tuesday, I picked my sister up!! She is home! WOOHOO! We had a BIG mix-up with flight details and all that, and ended up missing her getting off the plane, but after the mixup was cleared, we found her down at the baggage claim area, and boy, was it good to get a great big hug from her. I haven't seen her in a year, and while we kept in contact on the net, it just wasn't the same! I was hoping to get some pics of her and I at the airport, but after the schamozzle, all we wanted to do was get in the car and go home. Poor honey, I felt so bad. I still think she thought we weren't there :( But I've been having a great time catching up with her and having good chats of an evening when everyone has gone to bed :) I've SOOOOOO needed to just chat about anything and everything with someone, and who better than my sister right? :D

Now, about the surgery part.. I've been feeling quite sick for the last couple of weeks. I put off going to the docs because 1) I thought that it was just a recurrance of the tummy pains I used to get (but haven't experienced for a few years), and 2) because my two youngest are DREADFUL to take with me. They run around the surgery waiting room, and don't listen. But by Tuesday night I was in so much pain, that I asked Sophie to stay home, and asked my sister if she minded helping Sophie to watch the kids for me while I went and got looked at. They were both fine with that (thank goodness!), and off to the docs I went on Wednesday morning. Keith had stood on a big stone the night before and got a HUGE blood blister on the heel of his foot, and wasn't walking properly, so said he might come home early from work on the wednesday, so I thought that was ok, he'd be able to take over watching the kids. So I wait for about an hour, and finally get called in to see my doc. I was in there for about 2 minutes and my mobile rang (my doc was on the phone anyway, so he was ok with me answering my phone LOL), so I answered it, and it was Keith.. he was in the waiting room of the docs LOL I told him I wouldn't be too long. So with both my doc and I off our respective phones, he asks me what was happening, and I gave him a rundown of all my symptoms and tried to describe the pain the best I could. It isn't a pain that I have felt before, so I didn't quite know how to describe it. Kind of like a burning, slightly crampy feeling just under my ribcage. So he gets me to lay on the bed and has a poke and prod around my belly area. Most areas were ok, except for quite a tender spot around my liver area. Hmm.. it didn't feel too nice! So then he got me to breathe out, he placed his fingertips just under my right ribcage, and told me to breathe in deep. Well, I probably got to about 1/4 of that deep breath in, and I hit the wall, yelled out and tried to get away from his hand. IT HURT LIKE HELL! Omg.. it was awful! So he stopped the examination and told me I could hop down, so I did, and went and sat back in the chair next to his desk. He told me he thought it was more than likely my gall bladder that was the culprit, but wanted a blood test and ultrasound done to confirm. I had the blood test done straight away, and booked in my u/s for next Tuesday. I went back yesterday and the results of my blood test were clear, but I am slightly iron deficient (which isn't unusual for me!). He said we could rule out an infection of the gallbladder or liver, because my levels would be elevated if that was the cause. So he said to have the u/s done and come back with the results and go from there. He said he would be VERY surprised if it showed no gall stones. He said if the u/s comes back with even 2-3 gallstones, he will be immediately referring me to a surgeon to get the offending gall bladder removed. That surprised me because I thought they let it go until it was unbearable. But he said it would be much better to get it removed straight away, because it only gets worse, and it only gets much more painful, so remove it before it gets to that stage. So I will wait until Tuesday for the u/s to be done and go from there, but I'm fairly sure that's what is going on. YAY me.. yet one more health issue going on. Does it ever stop?

Keith and I went to the football last night. My sister offered to babysit for us while she is here, which was absolutely wonderful. Not a great game to go to (our team got beaten.. poor playing from our team). But it was nice to just get out of the house and be able to focus on something without the kids running amok. And it is currently 8.30am, Lachie went to work with Keith, and the other three are still off in dreamland! So I'm enjoying the peace and quiet before they wake up!! And it has given me a chance to update here and really concentrate on what I am writing (not that it probably shows haha).

So, are you a facebooker? I am. I love my facebook. I have caught up with soooooo many people from my childhood/school life that I probably would never have found without it. It's awesome! And a great way to keep in touch with family that is spread around all over the place! If you haven't facebooked yet, try it! I know you'll love it! Lots of fun things to do there. It's my #1 stop every day. The first place I visit, and I'm constantly checking what's going on :D

Digiscrapping. I haven't scrapped anything in about two months, and I just have no desire to. It's awful. I used to love scrapping pages, but I just don't have it in my anymore. It's sad really, but I guess its like most things.. when its gone its gone.. trying to push it will only make it more frustrating, and what's the point in that? One day I may get it back, but for now, I can't see that happening. Such is life!

Today is going to be a fairly quiet day I think (I HOPE!!). I'd love to get out in the car and take some piccies of random things, but I don't think that will happen. There was a photography meet this morning at Queensland Raceway to photograph bikes and practice panning, but with Keith working, I am NOT going to drag my kids along on my own. I'd never get any photos taken. I am yet to manage to get to a photo meet. It's not because I don't want to go, its just timing. And fuel money. And our gear isn't that flash (will be getting new lenses at tax time!).. but it really is just bad timing. They had a huge meet last weekend, but I couldn't make it because Sophie worked both saturday and sunday, and it was her birthday on the saturday as well. So I couldn't really venture too far at all :(. There will definitely be one meet that I will eventually get to!!! I swear on it LOL

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. I've run out of things to talk about, so until I update again, I hope all is well with you and your families :) Cheerio!!

Updated and usual ramblings..

2009-03-26T11:50:00.002+10:00

So I finally got around to get my playlist updated. I think it was about time to get rid of the christmas songs and put on some newer songs that I'm right into at the moment. First song on the list is Halo by Beyonce.. I don't know what it is about that song, but it gets to me. Its such a beautiful, touching song. And she has an amazing voice. Simply beautiful. Second is by an Aussie band called The Presets.. I like their funky sound. Then there are a few others that I currently like.. listen to them.. then you might know a little more of what I'm about.. I like to try to express who I am by my choices of music. As you can tell... alot of different sounds :)

Well, we've all had a round of colds. Mine is still ingering somewhat, and I woke up this morning with my right tonsil hurting. It's not so bad now, so I know that its not tonsilitis at least. Lachie is home sick with the flu. He can't stop coughing, and his nose is constantly running. Hayden is all snotty and its so gross .. Becky isn't too bad. Sophie always has a runny nose (allergies!), so its hard to tell if she still has this cold or its her allergies playing up. Keith's ok LOL

We did a little gardening on the weekend! Amazing ;) They had a local farmers market on two weeks ago and we bought some grevilleas and Callistamens.. trying to attract the birdlife to our yard :) Lets hope it works. There is a red one, reddy-pink one, and two white ones. Should be lovely when they grow big! One if them already has three flowers on it, and its just beautiful. Can't wait to see it covered in flowers! I'll get some pics of them all once they get a bit bigger and flower.

Getting right into the photography now. We bought some magnification filter lenses until we can afford the $600-700 for a proper macro lens, because I think that's the way I want to go at the moment. I love getting up close and taking pics of things you normally wouldn't see much detail in. So for now, the magnification filter lenses allow us to do that without spending that enormous price. Obviously not as good as a proper macro lens, but its good for now, and we're just learning :) We also invested in a cable release, and OMG, it was so worth the little we paid for it! I wish we'd got it way sooner! One of these days I'll get around to posting some of the photos I've been taking. It's good actually. Because even though I'm not actually going anywhere, I'm getting OUTSIDE of the house and into the yard and getting some nice fresh air.

My sister arrives back here on Tuesday!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!! She's been gone a year and even though she usually lives two states away here, I have missed her like CRAZY while she's been over in Canada. I'm so happy for her that she's had an opportunity for a fabulous life experience of living in another country for a year, but I want her back home :D She'll be staying with us for almost two weeks (I think??) before heading back to Melbourne. The three younger kids have NO idea that she's coming, and its going to be a huge surprise for them! I'm picking her up from the airport, and taking Sophie with me, which will be cool. Mum will watch the three younger ones for me and I just can't WAIT to see their reaction when she walks in the door! But knowing my kids, they'll run out to greet me anyway, so all the excitement will probably happen at the car LOL

Only about 5 weeks now until we take off on our yearly holiday to Hervey Bay. Oh you have no idea how much I need it. Really. I'm about at breaking point, and I need to just get away, sit on a beach every day for the two weeks, go fishing, go walking.. ahhhh.. I'm so glad we put that time aside two years ago to go. Its an addiction now. The place we go is so lovely and relaxing. I just am hoping against all hopes that Hayden doesn't do what he was doing last year and just running off in any direction and spending all my time chasing him. It's getting quite dangerous, and its putting me on edge a little. Thank goodness with the tent we can do the zips up so that they are way up the top and he can't undo them! That was one way we "contained" him in one place last year. Sounds awful, but it really was trying to chase him every 5 seconds. Never mind. They are only young once, and hopefully with every year, it gets a little easier.

And my "baby" girl Sophie turns 17 on Saturday! OMG, WTF??? It's totally bizarre. Next year she will be legally an adult. Able to drink legally, and also she must register to vote. WOW. No way. I remember her at Becky's age so clearly. The poor sweety has to work a 5 hour shift on her birthday :( And I have no idea what I am getting her. It's to the point where I either get her to pick what she wants, or I give her money, because I just know what I get her isn't going to be what she really wants LOL But at the same time, it makes me feel bad that she knows what she will be getting on her birthday. I have two days to get her something!!!! YIKES!!!

Ok, that's about it from me for now. If I think of anything else, I will update again. It's been lovely coming here and writing everything down. I must do that more often.

MIA and other ramblings...

2009-03-04T12:24:00.002+10:00

I know, I've been away from here for way too long. So many things going on. I've just got back online after a week without internet because the wireless router went to router heaven. Got one for a bargain yesterday, so here I am, back in action.

Bushfires have ravaged my homestate of Victoria for the last month now, and for the last two weeks, my brother and his wife and boys have been on emergency alert because its close to them. The fires have devastated so much of the land.. many houses and way too many lives have been lost and it is totally scary. So I'm continuing to hope and pray that these fires end and my brother and his family don't have to worry, with so many sleepless nights. I wish there was something I could do.

The kids have been back at school for a month now, and so far so good. Alot of sickness going around so both Lachie and Sophie have had the odd time off for that. Sophie is home again today (as well as yesterday) for an infected pimple on her face, and now she's choked up with a headcold.. lovely..

Other than that, nothing much else has been going on. Same old shit, just a different day really.

Hayden is now talking up a storm. Repeats everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) that we say. So we have to watch ourselves now ;)

I'm also trying to get right into photography at the moment, but I'm getting frustrated at the lack of lens choice, which can clearly make a huge difference in the results of my photos. One of these days we will be able to start upgrading and getting more in the way of decent equipment to work with.

Summer is officially over now.. I just wish the temperature would start coming down. It's been a horrible muggy summer this year, and I'm ready for it to be over with. I'm longing for the cool of winter. There is just something comforting about rugging up in layers of clothing, snuggling under the covers and keeping warm. Nice hot coffee or hot chocolate. Yummy roast dinners and casseroles. Mmm.. I love BBQing, but I love roasts and casseroles that much more. So come on, Mother Nature.. bring it on.

Also, its only two more months before we go away for our yearly trip to Hervey Bay. Ahh I'm looking forward to it, for sure. The fishing, the scenery.. watching the kids play on the beach every day. Just getting out of the house for two weeks. I'm so housebound that it is driving me nuts. I seem to have lost connection with 99.9% of my friends and without a house phone, I can't even call the few I do have left. I need to get out of the house and make some friends. Even online friendships don't seem to last that long anymore. I'm losing faith in alot of things, and being lonely is the worst feeling in the world.

But that's enough whining from me. 10-4, over and out.

Just a tad annoyed...

2009-01-24T23:05:00.004+10:00

Ok, this is going to be a ranty entry and I apologise in advance! Skip this post if you don't want to hear me going on about it ;)

Ok, so last night we asked the neighbours over for a little chit chat and a few drinks.. mum and dad came up and joined us (we were all sitting outside under the carport .. it had been a STINKING hot day.. it got close to midnight and mum and dad decided to head inside and go to bed. Mum was halfway through folding up one of the chairs and next thing I see she's falling backwards. She hit the concrete hard :( Real hard. Thankfully the neighbour is an ambo guy and knew exactly what to do. I got to mum and pulled the chair off her and helped remove the chair UNDER her, as well as a broom (don't ask me why that was out there).. seriously, the way mum looked I've never been so scared in my life. She was WHITE.. pure white and her mouth was in this weird position, her hands were twisted in near her body and omg.. but thankfully Mick roused her awake and asked her the memory questions (whats the date, where do you live etc etc).. she was kind of out of it, but could answer every question correctly (thank god!).. after about half an hour, he sat her up and got me to make her a honey sandwich, and she ate half of that. She started to perk up, but we decided it would be best to take her to the local hospital to get checked out. She has Type 2 diabetes and has just lost a whole heap of weight, which is fantastic! Her blood sugar and everything else was fine, and after about half an hour of observation, we came home (THANK YOU Mick and Violet for that too!! I'd had way too much to drink to drive her there!).. So it was nearly 2am by the time we got home. I pretty much went straight to bed.

Now for the rant. I got woken by the kids at about 7.30am.. so I'd had about 5 1/2 hours sleep. No problem. Keith got up about an hour after me. So he'd had about 7 hours sleep. A little later I went and laid on the bed and contemplated having a sleep. Keith came in and "jokingly" told me I better not be sleeping.. so of course, that put the guilts into me and I got off the bed and started doing things around the house. Later in the day we get a call from his sister wanting to know whether we wanted to go for a swim at her house because it was so hot. So we accepted. Sophie had to be at work by 5.30pm, so we organised that I would take the kids over to his sisters and he'd stay and take Sophie to work and meet me there later. Ok.. no problem. Then I remembered at about 4.30pm that I'd forgotten to take my medication with me (yes, I'm on MORE medication now *sigh*), so I decided to call Keith to get him to bring it for me. Sophie answers the phone and when I ask where dad is.. he's asleep! Grrrr.. so anyway, he meets me at his sisters and the kids show off their new swimming abilities with their new floaties (I'll post photos in the next post).. we get home and sitting around for a while, and he gets the poo's with me because I didn't hear him on two occasions. So he stomps off to bed. Meanwhile, I'm having to wait up until midnight to go pick Sophie up from work. Nice. Thanks for the help there love. Ughhh... I'm trying to keep myself awake and its not working too well. Hopefully the aircon in the car will wake me up enough to get me through it. I just thought it would have been nice for him to offer to go get her seeing as he'd already caught up on some sleep this afternoon. So, I'm not really happy right now. And that's putting it mildly! It's just totally taken for granted that I'll stay up and I'll be fine.

Men... wtf is up with them??????

P.S. A sidenote about my mum. She went to the docs this morning to let him know about last night, and he said its what is called "sinking"... it was a stinking hot day, she's lost alot of weight, she was dehydrated and had skipped a meal. Not a good combination at all! Basically after sitting for a while, the blood had pooled in her legs, and when she stood up, it didn't circulate to her brain like it should have, so out she went. Honestly, I never want to ever see that again! It was terrifying!

Counting down...

2009-01-16T21:59:00.000+10:00

to the return of school! I can't believe how fast these summer holidays have gone! Sophie has been off for just over 6 weeks, and Lachie has been off for just over 4! They have just under two weeks left.. its going to go so fast and it will be back into the good old school routine for another year! Sophie's last year! Yikes! And its the last year I have my Becka-Bleweeze at home with me :( Now THAT has gone too fast.. way too fast for my liking! I got most of the school book shopping done yesterday, and Kmart were having awesome sales on everything! I got most of Lachie's books, pencils etc, PLUS a new backpack and Volley shoes for $50! Then picked up a few more things at Big W and now I just have a few things left on the list to get :D YAY! But now to cover the books.. the one part I do NOT like haha.. Sophie paid for her own supplies this year! How strange that was! But she got all the stuff she needs and got to choose what she wanted, instead of it having to be budgeted! Her last year of school... what a special time!

I had to go get an u/s done on my thyroid on monday because it seems I'm developing a bit of a goiter.. ughh! I went to the docs yesterday and all is ok.. I have a few nodules on each lobe, and that's from my silly habit of stopping and starting the medication. Pfft.. my own fault! So now its a blood test in March to check my levels.

Scrap Orchard is having a sort of 365 photography project.. set out in weeks.. you take a picture a day with a theme and when the week is done, you do a layout of the photos you took! So you are pretty much guaranteed 52 layouts for the year! hehe.. I finally finished my layout for week 1 last night, and I'm going to work on week 2 today, and take week 3, day 1's photo. oh boy LOL But I'm thoroughly loving it and its getting me using my camera and twiddling with all its settings and learning exactly what works great with certain settings. So much fun!

So its FRIDAY!! The start of the weekend!! YAY! I love weekends :D Although they do go too fast. But its still great to spend a couple of days with Keith home.

Hot Cross Buns!!!! Can you believe that less than one week into the new year, Woolworths and Coles were selling HOT CROSS BUNS???? What the heck!! It's not easter until March/April! AND there are easter eggs on the shelves! No way.. that's just insanely absurd.. let us get over christmas first! I'm going to try and make some hot cross buns this year.. I think this type of warm weather would be ideal for rising dough! I've made them once or twice.. once in school and they turned out great! And once at home a few years back but they ended up a bit too dry.. I like soft HCB's :D So if I do that, I'll share piccies of my final results.. good or bad LOL Actually, that might be my project over the weekend.. Keith LOVES his hot cross buns (I bought two packs of 8 yesterday, and there is half a packet left LOL) He isn't a fan of the white cross on top, but that's okay.. that's just a decoration that I can leave out ;) Off to find a good hot cross bun recipe!

I'll update again when I've got more to share! Hopefully a little freebie.. maybe ;)

It's 2009!

2009-01-06T22:00:00.006+10:00

OMG! Where in the heck did 2008 go? Did I blink and miss it? It seems like so many things happened in 2008, but now it feels like there just wasn't enough time for those things to have happened.. crazy weird how fast time is going by these days! I mean, we are already almost a week into 2009, and it feels like it was just yesterday we were seeing the new year in! BOO to time flying lol

One of the things I am not looking forward to in 9 days time, is marking 1 whole year since we said goodbye to our much loved, and hugely missed doggy Zoe. I can't believe this time one year ago we were gearing ourselves up for the inevitable. I miss her each and every day. Every time I go out the backyard, I wish every single time that I could see her just walk up to us for another reassuring pat and cuddle. I never thought I'd miss an animal as much as I miss her. 1 whole, long, sad, lonely year without our Zoe. We love you and miss you girl. See you on the rainbow bridge my sweet girl!

(A beautiful tribute made for me by a sweet loving friend in the days after)

Ok, enough sadness. Tonight I took my oldest three to the movies! It was cheap tuesday (if you call $9 a ticket cheap!! I even had to pay that for Becky!!).. anyway, we went and saw Bedtime Stories starring Adam Sandler.. omg SO FUNNY!! If you go see it, you will crack up laughing at Bugsy the Guinea Pig.. omg too funny.. as soon as Becky saw Bugsy, she was in fits of laughter! It was great! I think I had to tell her once in the entire film to sit back in her seat.. and when we got home she was soooo excited to tell daddy all about it! I'm very proud of how my kids behaved! I expected Sophie to, but the younger two made me so very very proud! Chest busting moment :D

In other news, I'm now on Ashalee Wall's CT!! WOOT! Very exciting! She's a funny, lively character and I just know she's going to be so much fun to work with! I'll let you know more about that when I know more myself :)

Sophie's part time job is going great! She's picking up lots of good hours, and is enjoying the flow of cash. She was approached by her manager the other day who told her that he wanted to teach her to work on drive through, because she has the potential to really move up! Isn't that just fantastic? But a funny thing she told me the other day when I picked her up was that she worked drive through her whole shift, and earlier in the morning, she found someone at the drive through window... on a motorized wheelchair-scooter! All he wanted was a burger, and it sounded so cute! LOL On another side note, Sophie (the day before) was being taught how to cook the fries, and while she was loading the fries into the basket, her arm slipped and hit the basket next to her which had just finished frying some fries :( She has a yucky burn on her arm now, and when she went in today to get her next set of shifts, the manager told her they needed to document the burn for health and safety reasons. Here's a couple of pics of the burn.. ouchies!

The nicely shaped burn!!!

The worst part of the burn that has blistered and popped.. poor honey!!

SO that's about it from my neck of the woods... I can't think of much else to blog about. Apart from summer.. what a stinker this one is!! We've been very lucky the last two years to have had very mild summers.. this one is sure making up for it.. horrible, hot, muggy days. Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I despise summer with a passion, and that winter is my kind of weather. So I'm now counting down to the end of this horrible season... just under 2 months left! WOOT! Every day is one day closer to winter, and one day less that I have to suffer the heat haha..

Anyway, I digress... I'm off to see if I can get a layout done.. if it doesn't work, I think I'm going to go tuck myself into bed and snore the night away :) CIAO my friends!!

Oh what a night...

2008-12-22T06:06:00.003+10:00

Late December back in 2008.. hahaha really.. love that song!

Anyway, I'm back from the night away, and OMG what fun it was! We got there around 2.30pm and settled into our room. Everyone else started turning up, so we all migrated to one area near the pool and started drinking. I was drinking American Honey, and that stuff is just TOO easy to drink! And it sneaks up on you! I had three drinks and felt just fine.. no affects at all, then all of a sudden I got all giggly and was totally loving the company. There were 9 of us all up, and only 3 were ladies hahaha.. so funny! But it really was a great little get together. Most of us have known each other for over 10 years (if not more!!!!) so it was very easy to get the conversation rolling. One of the wives I haven't seen in quite a few years, but she's so easy going and SO DARN FUNNY that I was in stitches before long. Dinner was soooooo good! For entree I had a Caesar Salad with cajun squid rings on top. I haven't had such beautifully cooked squid in my life! It just melted in your mouth. Then main was a 300g Sirloin steak. That was heavenly. And of course, the conversations that started at dinner, I'm surprised I actually ate anything! Halfway through dinner, I was laughing so hard at this other wifes chatter, that I was hiding my face behind my napkin because I had tears rolling down my face. I'd share the joke, but its a long story, and I think its one of those "You had to be there" moments. So after dinner we sat there having another drink or two and then decided to go 5 minutes up the road to a bar. 4 of us walked up there, and the rest drove in 1 car (OMG I can't believe they drove after drinking!!) So we had a little flutter on the pokies. I (as usually) didn't win anything at all, but one of the girls won $90 on one machine, and the other won $200! Then the boss shouted us two rounds of shooters (Cowboys! won't put in the full name as it may offend some LOL).. SOOOOO good.. I could have drunk those all night. So then we got back to the motel around 10.30pm and by that time I wasn't up for anymore drinking, and Keith and I had to be up early to go do the last of our christmas shopping (which still wasn't completed.. I have to go back to the shops this morning to finish it up.. ughh!).. Breakfast was at 8am and my family can attest for me that I NEVER get a hangover.. well, yesterday morning I wouldn't say I was hungover, but I was feeling quite seedy and bacon and eggs for breakfast just wasn't going down so well.. but I managed to eat it and surprisingly felt much better after. I think it was the fried tomato that did the trick! So then we went shopping and got 95% of it done. I just have to get two more things and I'm all done! Then its wrapping and assembling.. joy oh joy! haha.. Seriously, I'm SO looking forward to christmas morning!!! Keep an eye out here for pics, because I'm not sure I'll update again until after christmas :)

But anyway, that's my novel for now. If I don't update again before christmas day, I hope you ALL have a wonderful day with the ones you love. I know of a few that will be missing their husbands due to deployment, and my heart breaks for them! Keep safe, and I'll be back soon xx

Santa's almost here..

2008-12-19T22:21:00.003+10:00

So, 6 more sleeps until Santa. Boy my kids are getting all hyped up about it, and I'm excited for them :D

Not much happening in the scrapping department. It's starting to get a bit too hot to sit at the puter for any great length of time. My computer is in a dead corner of the house that gets no breeze, and when we get 95F+ weather, its AWFUL! I have got a few things done late at night when it has cooled off enough, but I'm just having trouble getting motivated. Bahhh.. oh the joys of summer. Have I told you before that I HATE summer? Ick with a capital I.

Sophie is doing great with her new part time job! She has to work next week on the 26th, 27th and 28th.. the bummer is, the 28th is my birthday, and she works an 8 hour shift that day.. WAHH.. But we might go have dinner at her work and wait around for her to finish :D Plus she'll get good pay for working on the 26th.. a public holiday! She's in heaven earning her own money now! We went shopping last night and she bought herself some new clothes. At first she asked ME if she could use some of her money to buy herself some clothes.. I said "Uhh honey.. that money is yours! You don't need my permission to spend it on something you want!" What a sweetie she is. She got some really nice clothes!

I, just this very minute, was watching my 2yo watching the end of a Spongebob episode.. he's definitely picking things up off the 10yo! He is sitting there, nodding his head to the music and playing air guitar, just like Lachie does hahaha.. omg.. way too cute!

Anyway, I digress! So I went and had a chat with Santa last night and told him what the kids wanted, and so hopefully he will be bringing them everything they want! ;) I have to revisit Santa on sunday just to double check with him about it, and then it will be just sitting back and waiting for the jolly old man on thursday morning!

Tomorrow night is Keiths work christmas party. It's an overnight thing like last year. We get there just after lunch, start drinking and talking until its time for dinner, we go eat, then drink some more, go to sleep, wake up in the morning and get going.. it was heaps of fun last year, so hopefully it will be this year too! There are only going to be two ladies there.. me and another wifey, so should prove interesting! It's only a small company, but still haha.. two women and probably 8 males? What in the world is the conversation going to be like?

That's about it from me for now. I'm not being overly exciting lately, and I'm tired, so not thinking of everything I wanted to write. Have a good one folks!

It's officially Silly Season!

2008-12-02T13:04:00.003+10:00

And boy it must have started early for me! I'm back with not one, but TWO more freebies! My good friend Patti (Scrappinmint) and I put our heads together and decided to put together a christmas freebie kit! Two parts with two different names, but with the same colour theme, so all pieces should work in together! Aren't we just rockin??

So here we go! Grab it, use it, and send me links to the layouts you create with these awesome freebies! Seriously, it can't get any better than this :D

Here is my part of the freebie kit.. its called Christmas Joy and comes in 5 downloads to keep the file size down!

Download the Alphas

Download Elements 1

Download Elements 2

Download Paper Pack 1

Download Paper Pack 2

And if you are looking for Patti's freebie, go look here!!!

We hope you enjoy our designs and once again, please don't hesitate to show us what you do with it! :D Cheers!!!!

Finally, i'm back! With a freebie! :D

2008-12-01T10:54:00.004+10:00

I know, I know.. I'm a few days later than I promised, but we had a very busy weekend and I just kind of forgot to update with the freebie! I'm here with it now though... but, you'll have to wait a little while I do more updating bwahaha..

So we picked Lachie up on friday afternoon... I searched the bus frantically looking for him and I couldn't see him at all! I started panicking thinking he'd been left behind, or had so much fun that he snuck back off the bus before they left camp haha But finally I saw him amongst all the other kids, and being as short as he is, it wasn't overly easy to find him! LOL I gave him the biggest hug and kiss and then walked back to where Keith was with the little ones. Lachie straight away gave Becky and Hayden big hugs, and then hugged Keith.. and then... he talked... all.the.way.home.. I'm not kidding.. he just didn't stop lol In the end I had to tell him that he didn't have to tell us everything in one go.. that there were plenty of days to talk to us about camp :) So he's back at school again today, and has two weeks left until the end of the school year (Sophie's holidays started last Friday)... it will be nice not to have to take him to and from school every day LOL

Ok, FREEBIE TIME!!! I just love what I came up with, and hope someone else can use it too! It was inspired by all the crazy stormy weather we've been having lately (which I LOVE by the way!), and this was alot of fun! (And thank you Patti for suggesting the umbrella! LOL Yes, another mention! ;))

So without further ado, here it is! Enjoy and please let me know where you post any layouts made with it, so that I can leave you love :D

Download Papers

Download Elements

Download Alpha

Not long now!

2008-11-28T11:25:00.002+10:00

And I get to go pick up my boy! I sure hope he had a great time... no phone calls, so I'm guessing that he's had a blast! Ahhhh I can't wait to scoop my boy up and give him enough cuddles and kisses to make up for the last 4 nights that I haven't been able to love on him :D I'm sure he's going to talk our ears off on the way home! 3 hours and counting :D

And keep an eye on my blog.. either later tonight, or tomorrow (hopefully!) I'm going to have another little freebie on my blog :D I'm in a designing mood lately, and while I'm still realllllllly new at it, I'm having a blast, and quite pleased with what I'm coming up with! This new freebie was influenced by our recent weather, and I'm loving how its coming together so far :D

Like I said, keep an eye out!!!

Oh, and if you hop on over to Scrap Orchard, they are having a MASSIVE sale this weekend! Farmers Market where you will find hundreds of kits and all sorts of goodies for only $1.. yes, a measly $1!! And their December Mystery Mega is out, so make sure you grab that one too for only $3... after a week it goes up to $10... so grab it while its hot! Seriously, its so worth the dollars!

Here Kitty Kitty!!

2008-11-26T21:28:00.004+10:00

So I'm BACK! LOL Only one day since my last entry, and oh my gosh, I'm here again.. what in the world is wrong with me? LOL

Here's what's wrong.. I have a freebie for you! Thanks to my awesome friend Patti, who gave me the inspiration to do this, I made a small little freebie kit called Here Kitty Kitty! Obviously, I'm getting a new kitty soon, so Patti suggested I make a kit to do with cats, and wah-lah.. here it is! I hope someone can find some use for it, and if you like it, let me know where you've put your layouts, so I can leave you some love :)

Download the Elements

Download the Papers

Enjoy!! I'd really love to see some layouts using my very first freebie! :D
Peace xx

Boy on Camp and 1 week to go!

2008-11-25T21:20:00.004+10:00

So my oldest boy went on his very first school camp on monday. He doesn't come home until friday, and I miss him already! It was so cute. We got to his school at 7.40am for a scheduled 8.15am departure. Lots of people already there. Stood in line, checked in his medication and handed in his pocket money, and then went and got his gear on the bus. We stood around waiting and waiting. L-man was getting quite anxious and slightly impatient to get going! But I think he was nervous too, because he kept putting his arms around me and cuddling into me. It was so sweet. How many 10 year old boys will hug their mum like that in front of his peers? Not too many! So then the time came to load the kids into the bus (2 buses... a boy bus and girl bus.. huh? LOL).. he had already reserved a seat for him and his friend Jakie. He gave me another big hug and kiss and told me he loved me. I got my phone out and called Keith and handed the phone to Lachie to say bye to him. So funny... acting all male with his dad LOL.. he got on the bus and it was another 10 minutes before they took off. I stood where he could see me, and he just waved and waved, and then blew me the sweetest kiss.. I blew one back and mouthed "I LOVE YOU" and he nodded and smiled a big huge smile. Man, that kid is awesome. Gives us a run for our money, but he is nothing but awesome. So sweet, loving, caring, sensitive.. According to their itinerary, they are off to Australia Zoo (Steve Irwins zoo), and I know he's going to love that. A real animal lover that boy. I think it was the one thing he was really pumped about with camp. They will be doing other activities like body boarding, circus skills, fishing, orienteering... lots of great things to keep him busy and occupied! I just worry about him at bedtime. That he will have enough time to think about us at home and get homesick. I'm sure that's probably not happening, but I know him, and I'm sure there's a little homesickness going on to some level, at some point of each day. I just can't wait for him to come home and tell me ALL about his fun times! Unfortunately they weren't allowed to take cameras, so I can't show off his photos.. apparently at the end of camp, the teachers (who took their cameras!) will burn their photos onto disk and sell them to the parents for $5.. a bit of a rip off considering the camp cost $280, and I'm not going to pay that at the risk of my son only being in 2-3 of those photos! Unless of course they are going to make disks of each child.. I hope that's the case! I don't want a disk full of other peoples kids! LOL KWIM??

And now its 1 week until we pick up my still unnamed kitty.. I'm having real trouble finding a name that I like.. I thought of Suki.. I'm liking that one alot.. Lachie wants to call her marmalade which I am liking as well... I guess I'll just see what personality she has and go from there :)

It's only 4 more weeks until christmas *GULP*.. I have bought one thing so far.. how bad is that? I'm hoping that I can get the whole lot done soon. I hate the last minute rush of christmas shopping. It stresses me and bothers me and while I love to actually buy all the fun things, its the mad rush of people, the crowds, the pushing and shoving.. the almost empty shelves.. crazy!! I keep telling myself that each year I will start the shopping mid-year, but I never do. Silly silly me. Next year.. I promise ;)

Anyway, that's about it for now. Nothing much else going on! Will update after my boy gets back from camp, unless something else pops up in the meantime! xx

Time to blog I think!

2008-11-17T11:49:00.005+10:00

Ok, so I figured it was about time to update with some bloggity goodness, seeing as it has been a week more longer since I last updated! Not a huge lot going on in this house, but I've been scrapping a bit, and really happy with the way they are turning out :) There are so many new cool kits and bits n bobs being released at Scrap Orchard, and its hard not to grab them all and create with them! Here are my latest layouts!

This one is of my two boys cooling off last week after a stinking hot day. H wasn't sure at first of being hosed off, but then got the hang of it, grabbed the hose and started turning it on everyone LOL I used Amanda Heimanns "Coconut Tree" kit for the LO

This one is of my oldest girl reading on the couch. The lighting was just perfect, and seemed to "spotlight" on her. The kit is an applecart challenge freebie at Scrap Orchard.. made by Irene Alexeeva :)

This one is of B-meister blowing bubbles in the backyard :) She loves blowing bubbles!! The kit I used for this layout is called Sweet Orchard, and is a collaboration kit between the designers of Scrap Orchard and Sweet Shoppe

This one is of my sweet H-man.. also used the Sweet Orchard kit for this one.. its such a great kit to use!!

And lastly, this is my very latest layout, called "3 Weeks Old".. and yes, this is my soon-to-be kitty cat!! She hasn't got a name yet, but I'm getting ALOT of helpful suggestions from a couple of sites I go to :D The kit used for this layout is called Fiesty, and is from Ziggle Designs at Scrap Orchard.

And just a little note about the Sweet Orchard Kit.. if you purchase $10 or more in products from the SO store, you get Sweet Orchard for FREE!!! Can you believe that??? And spend $20 or more, and you get not only Sweet Orchard for free, but you also get a fab Quick Page Album as well.. for FREE!!! What an absolute bargain!

So you may have also noticed that I have added a music player :D I selected quite a few different styles of music, but all of them being my favourites!

And as I mentioned, we are getting a KITTY!!! After we sadly had to give away our last kitty when I was pregnant with H, hubby said I was never getting another cat. WELL.. friends of ours have a litter of kittens they are trying to find homes for.. well, hubby made the mistake of telling me about it.. and well.. I kind of won ;) I reassured him that he will have absolutely NO responsibility for the cat, it will be my responsibility. In return, he has to take over looking after the dog! I just hope the poor thing doesn't starve, as its been quite a long time since he's fed her. Thank god I remember right? LOL But now its going to be his job. I wonder how often I'll have to remind him before he does it automatically? Hahah.. So yeah, I'm VERY excited about getting another kitty! I wish we hadn't had to get rid of our last one, but circumstances just didn't work out with her :( I miss her even now! So I'm sure in 3 weeks time, I will have alot of kitty stories to tell LOL She's only 3 weeks old at the moment, so we won't be able to get her for another 3 weeks.. but that's ok! It gives me time to prepare!

Well, that's enough news for the moment.. I'm just about to cook myself up some fries for lunch.. nom nom. After yesterdays STINKING hot day, we had a big storm and its still raining today, so its MUCH cooler, so I feel like something warm to eat :D

I promise I'll try to update more often!
Cya later alligators!

Selective Colouring Tutorial

2008-11-05T21:16:00.002+10:00

My sister asked me how to do selective colouring, so I decided the best way would be to do a mini-tutorial with some pics to show how to do it :) Seeing as she will be using PSP, this tutorial is going to be for PSP..Hope its easy enough Sue!

SELECTIVE COLOURING

1) Choose the picture you want to recolour and open it in PSP

2) Make a copy of your image (Edit - Copy, and then Edit - Copy - Paste - As a new image)

3) Convert your copy into greyscale

4) Now copy the greyscale image, click on the original picture, and paste the greyscale onto that one (Edit - Paste - As a New Layer). In the Layers box on the right, you should now see two layers (Background and Raster 1).

5) Select the eraser tool from the toolbar on the left hand column (it looks like a pencil with an eraser on the end). Adjust the size of the eraser as needed for the areas you are going to erase, and for the fiddly little areas, zoom right in for good definition. It should start to look something like this :-

6) Once you have the areas you want colour to show erased, you can then merge the two layers together like so :-

7) Save your new image as a jpg, and you are done!

Here is the original image I started with...

And this was the final product.. very effective, and a great way to make parts of your picture pop!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

2008-10-28T14:18:00.003+10:00

Ok, here is one recipe I HAVE to post, because I have lost my recipe book that has it, and I've also misplaced the copy my mum gave me, so I'm going to write it from HER page that she saved. It truly is THE best spaghetti and meatballs I've ever had, and my kids lap them up, and always ask for more meatballs! Tasty!!!!!

Ingredients (serves 4):

Sauce:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 small brown onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 tbsp tomato paste

400g can diced or crushed tomatoes

2 cups beef stock

300g dried spaghetti pasta

Parmesan cheese, finely grated, and small basil leaves, to serve (optional)

Meatballs:

500g premium beef mince

1 small brown onion, grated

1 carrot, peeled and finely grated

1/4 cup flat-leaf (continental) parsley, finely chopped

3/4 cup fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs

125g feta cheese, finely crumbled

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup plain flour

1) Make meatballs:

Combine mince, onion, carrot, parsley, breadcrumbs, feta, egg and salt and pepper in bowl. Mix well. Using clean hands, roll heaped tablespoons of mixture into balls. Roll formed balls in the plain flour to coat well.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a non-stick frypan over medium-high heat. Cook meatballs, in batches, for 2 minutes, or until browned. Transfer to a plate. Wash and dry frying pan.

Add remaining oil to pan and heat over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until onion is soft. Add tomato paste. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Add tomatoes and stock to pan. Bring to the boil. Reduce head to medium-low. Simmer for 15 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. Add meatballs to pan. Spoon over sauce to coat. Cover. Cook for 15 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.

Meanwhile, cook spaghetti in a large saucepan of boiling salted water, following packet directions, until tender. Drain. Arrange spaghetti in warm serving bowls. Spoon over meatballs and sauce. Top with parmesan and basil leaves (optional).

ENJOY!!! Wonderful served with hot crusty garlic bread. Any leftovers can be used to make yummy meatball subs!

Let me know if you try this, and its a great way to get one or two veggies into the kids without them knowing (although I don't have too much problem with my kids eating veggies!). I PROMISE that you won't regret making it. Fiddly making the meatballs, but totally worth the effort!!

New layouts :)

2008-10-28T07:26:00.004+10:00

Ok, I found out I can post the layouts with the new kit!! So here they are! They are made with a kit called "Happy" by MellowButterfly (aka Michelle Batton), which will be available at the end of the week at www.mellowbutterfly.com. It was really fun to work with, and I love the patterned papers!

This layout I called "Happiness is". It's a picture I took of my mum and dad on my dad's 70th :) I love how it turned out!

And this one I titled (obviously!) "Sand Pit Fun".... its of my Booster girl playing in the sandpit :) Love that alpha! It's called "Tag! You're it!" also by MellowButterfly!

That's it for now! A short and sweet post! Love ya's!!

Where does the weekend go??

2008-10-26T21:32:00.002+10:00

Seriously, it feels like it was only JUST friday afternoon, and here we are at 9.32pm on sunday night! Back to the school routine for another 5 days!

Not a great deal going on. Sophie had a dose of conjunctivitis which she kindly shared with Becky and I. Ughhh.. and I'm taking the drops very sparingly because they seem to upset my tummy :( Yes, I know.. eyedrops upsetting my tummy? Well I have found that they travel through my sinuses and run down the back of my throat (gag!) and they end up in my tummy and I get bad pains all day :( So today has been tummy pains and a headache that just wouldn't go away! Fun fun!

What else... oh... we're HOPING to be able to buy tickets to see Pink!!! Tickets go on sale this friday (31st), so we may not have the money this fortnight (BOO-HOO).. I tell ya, if I had the tendencies, she'd be the one I'd switch sides for.. hahaha.. *cough*... She's touring in June of next year, and if her tickets are around the same price as last years, then they are a very decent price! But its still having that $$ there to actually buy the tickets. Darnit LOL I've heard her concerts are really REALLY worth seeing. And of course, Keith has the hots for her big time, so he'd LOVE to see her in concert. He has his laptop desktop background with Pink pictures.. he changes the picture every few days HAHAHA... But yeah, we'll see how the almighty $$ goes and go from there. Hopefully she'll announce more concert dates like she did last year.

Hayden is still awake.. might be for another hour or two because, despite our best efforts to stop it happening, he fell asleep on the lounge at 3pm and slept until 4.30pm. Ughh.. always on a school night. Friday night and saturday night he went to bed around 8-9pm.. normal time! But yeah, not tonight. And tonight I am actually tired enough to go to bed right now! Always the way LMAO

I have some more layouts done. Two are done with a new kit from the designer I'm CT for (Mellow Butterfly aka Michelle Batton). But I'm still not sure if I can post previews and the layouts yet :) As soon as I know, they'll be going up here! It's a really cute kit, and was really easy and fun to use!

Interest rates are dropping!! WOOT!! So far they have dropped a total of just over 1.25% and are expected to drop a further 1-2% over the next few months.. I cant begin to explain how much easier it will be! With the current drops (total of just over 1%), our repayments have dropped $60 a fortnight so far.. so with a further 1-2%.. wow!! It's not a HUGE difference, but when you are struggling, every cent makes a difference! I just wish they would start dropping the price of fuel! And groceries! LOL But now I think I'm just wishful thinking ;)

But that's about it for now. Not a heck of a lot happening. I'll update again when I find out when I can post these new layouts :D Ciao for now!!

The Birthday Girl!

2008-10-20T20:39:00.001+10:00

Ok, here are the promised pictures of the Boosters 4th birthday! Lots of photos so hold on tight, and enjoy the show :D

Birthday Eve

2008-10-20T00:19:00.007+10:00

Well, technically, it is now my little Becka Bleweeze's 4th birthday, but I haven't gone to bed yet, so its still not until she wakes up hehehe

So, here is the last look at my girl before she is no longer 3!!

I really can't believe she is 4 already! It honestly only seems like a few months ago that she was this tiny itty-bitty baby in my arms, all fresh and new. Wow. The year after next, she starts school. NO WAY!! I can't really believe it. But how different our lives have been since she entered out world. Such a livewire, with a spunky personality and with beautiful manners to boot. She can't make me any more prouder than I already am to be her mum. Love you Becka Bleweeze! I will add birthday pics tomorrow or the day after :)

AND, in other birthday news, my dad turned 70 on October 14th! What a fantastic milestone. In 2001, he suffered from very bad peritonitis and was lucky to have lived through that. Then at the beginning of January 2007, he suffered two strokes within a 3 day time frame. That was devistating to all of us, and we are so so lucky that he made it through that as well! We love you dad, and we are sure lucky to have you as our dad :) XOXO

CHRISTMAS!!! It's only 10 weeks away (as the lovely announcer at Big W kindly reminded me of when I was doing birthday shopping for B). OMG! I love christmas, but I hate the leadup. The panic, the stress... oh lord lol I'm fairly sure christmas will be ok this year (thanks to a very generous government!!), but by the time I'm able to do the shopping, I know most things will be almost impossible to find :( I hate that. I swear every year that I am going to start doing the christmas shopping in June-July, but do I ever do it? No.. my biggest fear of shopping that early is that my kids taste in toys will change. You know how it goes. One minute it may be Dora, the next its Fifi and the Flowertots.. and then lo and behold, it changes yet again! So yeah, it does make it harder to start early, but by golly, I'm going to definitely try next year. I hate the stress of it all!

But anyway, I guess I better head to bed and get some kind of sleep before the birthday girl rushes in at sparrows fart and wakes me up with excited yells about it being her birthday LOL God love her, I can't wait :) Tomorrow morning is cake baking and gift wrapping (no, I still have not got the wrapping paper!!), and then a little later will be decorating the cake!

So I will update tomorrow or tuesday with lots of piccies :D Ciao!

Lotsa happenings!

2008-10-08T20:32:00.003+10:00

Lachie got his school picture back yesterday!! Here's my handsome boy

Aint he just the cutest darn thing? Can't believe he's 10 already... they surely do grow too fast!

And tomorrow, I'm getting Becky and Hayden haircuts! So be on the lookout for pictures of them with their new hairdo's! Warning.. Becky is getting a much shorter cut. She is adamant! It will probably be a cute little just-above-the-shoulders cut! I'm terrified of doing it, but I think she needs a good cut. She's only really had trims since she was born, so she's got alot of dry baby hair there, and when you wash her hair.. it looks like straw!

Sophie won a lollipop in school today LOL In drama they had to do a fashion parade with whatever costumes were in the drama wardrobe, so she dressed up as a grumpy old man. The deputy principal was a guest judge at the "fashion parade", and Sophie got honourable mention from her over her performance! I wish I had video'd her telling me about it LOL She did this little old man action of waving a closed fist near her head and it looked hilarious! I really need to get some pictures of that girl!

Oh, and while I remember.

2008-10-06T14:27:00.001+10:00

Rebecca wants her hair cut. She wants it just like daddy.. I don't think so hunny.. even though you say you want to look like a boy. Not in this lifetime LOL

Just a few beautiful pics of my kids to share

2008-10-06T14:14:00.004+10:00

And you'll probably see them on layouts eventually. But I can't help but share them. I can't seem to get Sophie to let me take her pic, so I will try and get some of her soon and post those.

Venting ahead...just to warn you all.

2008-10-06T11:42:00.004+10:00

I need to get all this out, so bare with me. It was bound to all just rise to the surface, it was just a matter of when.

Lachie. It all stems back to my poor little troubled boy. And his poor troubled mum and dad. I'm trying my best to do everything to get him on the right track with his Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Auditory Processing Disorder. And just awaiting an appointment for his evaluation by the educational psychologist. It's a battle every.single.day to get him to do the things he needs to do. Brushing his teeth, putting clean socks on (yes, he would wear the same pair for a month if we didn't badger him about it). Trying to encourage him to answer in a way that WE understand what he means.

So it comes down to feeling alone. I know there are many parents out there having the same issues. But I truly do feel all alone. While Keith listens to everything I tell him about Lachie's appointments, he never goes to any of them, and he never researches anything about ADHD or APD. Now with the possibility of Dyslexia on top of it, it really does at times feel like one huge burden on my shoulders alone.

I'm tired of people thinking that he is just a spoilt little kid who gets his own way. I'm tired of the way people talk to him like he's a pain in the ass. I'm tired of defending my boy when he is such a wonderful sweet loving child. No, he doesn't like to share. What 10yo boy does. But he loves his family, he loves his siblings with all his heart. I sit here sometimes and cry, wondering how he must perceive life with everyone looking down on him so often. Yes, I am at fault too. I never denied that at all. I do yell at him too often. I really try hard not to. Sometimes its just the way it goes. The frustration is something I just can't describe. It's like this. You have a team. Everyone is supposed to input on that team. But you are the one being loaded up with all of the assignments and homework, and you have to come up with all the answers and compute it all in your head, while the rest of the team sits back and watches you do their share of the work. I understand that Keith works. But honestly, his appointments are only every 6 months, with the rare appointment in between. How hard could it be to take one day off every 6 months and share in this. Take some of the load off my shoulders.

I just need a break. I was just talking to my sister Sue on MSN and I said that to her. And that prompted this post. Because I really feel like I am about to break down in a big way. But I can't. Lachie needs at least one person working with him. And that is me. His mum. His rock. His constant in life that will ALWAYS be there for him. Such a handsome little boy, but oh so troubled.

Today I had to speak to his teacher about his doc apt over the holiday and hand in the assignment he was given extra time to do. I told her how we had even tried bribing to get him to do his work/assignments, and how it had only worked one or two times. She then said "Well, I don't know if I would think he has a genuine attention disorder then, because if he could finish it with a bribe, then he CAN do it." This is the same teacher who ALL year has told me that something just isn't right, that its not normal for a child his age to have such a lack of attention and concentration. And now all of a sudden she thinks that he doesn't have the problem? I'm lost. The one person who seemed to understand me and be on my side now seems like she is backtracking and saying something different now.

I worry about his schooling. I worry how he is going to function in adult life. I hope his communication opens up and enables him long lasting friendships and relationships. That he doesn't feel like he is a failure all his life. And the only way for that to happen is for other people to listen, cooperate and most of all, UNDERSTAND! I am getting quite upset at the fact that when I need to talk about it, its like an annoyance. I know that nobody (as far as I know) that reads my blog feels that way, but there are people in my every day life that just seem to want to brush it under the carpet or make other excuses for it. That is just how I feel. Maybe its just because I'm feeling so alone on it. How do I get through this without losing my mind? How do I get my boy to do the things he needs to do without repeating myself 50 times in a 5 minute time frame.

I feel so boxed in at home. I've lost all motivation to do educational things with my two little ones. I should be reading to them, drawing with them (which i do, just not often enough). I should be building blocks with them and playing dollies and cars and all the things that little people like to do. But just can't find the imagination in me to do it. And that makes me feel like a failure.

Keith and I haven't had time to ourselves since his work Christmas party almost 1 year ago. No one seems to want to mind the kids just for a few hours just so Keith and I can go catch a movie or go out to dinner. It makes me sad. He works his butt off bringing in the money, I work my butt off raising the kids and keeping house.. one night is all I'd want, every couple of months, just so Keith and I can keep in touch with who we are. Yes, we are parents, but we are also lost in that as well. We don't have time for each other and it really does reflect on how we treat each other and the kids. The only person who ever offered, and always said yes if I asked, bless her beautiful heart, is my sister Sue. And I thank her for the times she was able to do that for us. I really do.

I don't know where else I am going with this, but I had to get a lot out, and I hope I didn't repeat myself too much with things. My shoulders don't feel so weighed down, my heart doesn't feel so heavy now that I have written it down and got it out. I needed that. And if you got this far, THANK YOU, you are a true friend and I love you for it xoxo.

Long time, no blog!

2008-10-02T15:20:00.006+10:00

It's been nearly a MONTH since I last blogged.. eeek.. but here I am, with the promise I made to myself still (mostly) intact of blogging regularly!

So, what's the go in the Barlow/Druery household? We've had a busy-ish month. Nothing amazingly exciting. Doctor appointments for the kids, school holidays and scrapping.

We will start with Lachie's latest appointments. He saw his paediatrician two weeks ago, and he had mentioned at the previous appointment a month earlier that he was concerned about Lachie's growth (or lack of) and wanted me to bring in his baby book with his growth records in it. Luckily I still have it, and took that in. He said that while he wouldn't expect Lachie to be tall (I am only 5' 2" and Keith is an average 5' 9"), he is still quite small for his age and ordered a blood test to rule out thyroid or celiac issues. He also wanted an xray to check his bone maturity to see if there was an issue there. So back to the paediatrician yesterday (Talk about bleeding us dry moneywise! But what can you do??). All of his blood tests came back perfect, so nothing to worry about there. The bone maturity xray came back in his favour!! He is 10 years old, with the bone age of a 9 year old! So he actually has wonderful bone maturity, and that is also a GOOD thing, because it will give him extra time to grow! Dr Brown said that he will probably hit puberty a little later than most boys, but that is where the extra growth will come into play. So, he's not going to be a giant, but he should grow to a good average height! I mean, his height doesn't bother us one little bit. But in "general", it will make it easier for him in the long run, without the teasing about how little he is. I'm just waiting for that big spurt he's going to have soon. I just know he'll shoot up :) So then I also mentioned a concern I have had after doing some reading up about his ADHD and Auditory Processing Disorder and finding that a common link to these two disorders is Dyslexia! And then after reading up about that, ALOT of the symptoms are so him its not funny. His paediatrician can't diagnose dyslexia. He has to be evaluated by an Educational Psychologist. It's going to be expensive to get done, but there is no price on my childs wellbeing and education! If getting a positive diagnosis on dyslexia gets him where he needs to be, I don't care what we have to spend to get him there. They often say a mothers gut instinct never fails.. and I believe it. I suspected the ADHD well before he was diagnosed officially with it. It was just waiting to get all the testing done and being referred to the paediatrician. He's on a new medication, which I'm not sure is working for him. We're going to give it another month and if it is showing no overly positive signs of working, then we will trial another medication. There is one rare side effect of the next medication that I'm not keen on at all. It IS rare, but can happen (obviously), and that is negative, dark thoughts. His paediatrician has said that if we do try him on this med, and he shows ANY sign of negative thoughts, he is to be stopped on it immediately. This doctor is wonderful and really takes the time to listen and talk things through.

I have to help Lachie get his school project finished in time for school on monday. He has to do a project on an Australian Bushranger, and has total free creative license to do what he wants with the project! He has decided he wants to do a Bushranger Boardgame, and have spaces that say things like "Caught robbing a bank in "so and so".. move back 3 spaces" and "Evaded police.. move forward 2 spaces". In the middle will be a stack of "Fact Cards", and when someone lands on a fact card spot, they get to pick up a card and learn an interesting fact on the bushranger. HOPEFULLY it will turn out the way we have it in our minds. It's just working out how to decorate the board and put it all together to look awesome. And I need to put some crackers up Lachie's bum to get him motivated to help!

In scrappy news, I'm now a part of Mellow Butterfly's CT (Michelle Batton)! I'm only very new, and it is a little daunting, because everyone else seems to know each other quite well. I'm sure I'll get to know them well over time, but darn sometimes my shyness gets in the way!

SO I can now reveal one of the layouts I have done using Mellow Butterfly products! I have one more, but that one has to wait until tomorrow :)

This layout was made with Michelle Batton's portion of the Autumn Harvest Collab (Part 2) available exclusively at FaithSisters.com .. it also consists of elements from Autumn Whisper by Pineapple Plantation Designs.

I have also done a few more personal layouts as well.

This is probably one of my absolute favourites at the moment. Its of my youngest daughter at 7 months old. The kit used is "Happy" by Ziggle Designs at Scrap Orchard. It was alot of fun to work with! The template is by Designs By Sine, also at Scrap Orchard :)

This is ANOTHER of my all time favourites at the moment. It was a template challenge done at Scrap Orchard (where else?? LOL) and the template is again by Designs by Sine. The kit I used for this layout was "Boy oh Boy".. a collab kit by Polka Dot Plum and Matahati Designs, found (AGAIN!!).. at Scrap Orchard. The journalling tab is a blog freebie from Lindsay Jane Designs.

Again, using "Boy oh Boy", is this layout of my youngest, who decided that sitting on the dog would be a fun thing to do.. Jaffa had other thoughts on that idea, and promptly tipped him off her back LOL He wasn't hurt, and if you looked at the layout closer, you can actually see he is laughing! The wordart is from Elegant Wordart by Bethany.

So there you go, I think that has me all caught up at the moment. I will be back tomorrow to show off my other layout with Mellow Butterfly products!

Please, quarantine us!

2008-09-08T17:09:00.002+10:00

Ok, so its monday afternoon and we made it through a busy weekend. Keith took Sophie and Lachie to the football on friday night (a very last minute decision!) and the Bronco's won, which made it totally worth that last minute decision lol... saturday he was going to go fishing, but the weather was still very windy, and the guy he was going with was sick with flu, so they called it off. And yesterday we were supposed to go to Keiths brothers for a fathers day BBQ, but none of us ended up going because of the conjunctivitis/cold/flu epidemic that is washing all over this house.

So Becky, Hayden and I are taking drops for the pink eye. Lachie fell sick on saturday afternoon and spent all day yesterday on the couch, and for those who know him, he IS sick when he doesn't move from the one spot all day! He stayed home from school today and is again on the lounge sniffling, and watching a movie. Then yesterday Hayden started with this real horrid cough.. it may be croup, but it sounded worse than that! He came in to our room at 11pm last night and because I was worried and his cough sounded so horrible, I just popped him right into our bed and we fell asleep for a while. Then he woke me up with this horrible croaky crying, and when I touched his forehead he was burning up real bad. So I took off his socks, as well as his long sleeve shirt and left him in a very light cotton all in one. Gave him some Nurofen and tried to go back to sleep.. nope, he wasn't having any of that. So I ended up sitting up with him from 12.30am to just after 4am. He is still coughing and veryyyy croaky today, but his cough has broken, so it looks like he's on the other side of cold mountain :)

In other news, I got myself a 500GB EHD for $124.. BARGAIN! My computer is now running alot smoother, and I haven't even transferred everything yet! I also got myself PSE6 (YIPPEEEE!!!) but I'm having a bit of a time trying to learn how to use it lol I'm such a PSP girl, but I want the results PSE can give. So it will be time and alot of learning and tutorials :)

THEN!!! On saturday, Keith, the kids and myself went shopping with a few ideas in mind. We had talked about getting a new big TV, but the prices were a bit much. Then we went to the Good Guys and found our TV. OMG... seriously, its heaven on a stick! A 42 inch plasma.. at a rock bottom awesomely insane price! Mum and dad are in the process of saving to get themselves a new TV as theirs went kaput a week or so ago, and we've sold them on this one! We've lent them our "old" TV until they get their new one, because they were watching everything on a tiny little tv, and it was hurting dad's eyes. They very much appreciated us letting them use ours!

So now I just have to get some motivation up to scrap some pages.. I'm ITCHING to do some more layouts, but I just either have no inspiration, or I have no time. I might try tonight if everyone lets me have an hour or two to myself. Probably after the little ones go to bed!

So hopefully my next post will be about my new super dooper PSE6 layouts! LOL

Random rambles...

2008-09-04T10:53:00.002+10:00

So I went to the docs yesterday, and I have bronchitis which I am now taking antibiotics for. The two little ones developed mild conjunctivitis, so got drops for them. And low and behold, I wake up at 2am this morning with one of my eyes glued almost shut... ughhh... so I'm taking the drops now too. And OMG, its awful! I can taste the drops at the back of my nose.. its like the liquid is going from my eyes and dripping into the back of my nose.. it tastes disgusting and I'm gagging every now and then at the taste of it LOL Ah, the joys of being a mum and catching what your kids get ;) That's ok, they like to share lol

We're supposed to be getting a pretty big storm today, with lots of rain and wind. It's already windy, and it started raining this morning walking out the front door to take Lachie to school. We need the rain! And it will be a good test of how well putting the gravel down on the driveway worked at stopping the mudpit that usually happens when we get a good amount of rain.

Lachie is having school photos done today. You have to return the form and money on the day of photos or they don't get photos at all. So I had to quickly run to the supermarket this morning before I dropped him off at school to get the cash out to pay for them. They better be good! $36!!! But if they are anything like last years, I will be well and truly satisfied :) I will have to scan one when I get them back! He really does take a nice school picture :D

Keiths got an almost full weekend ahead. Friday night he wants to go to the Broncos game. Its their last homegame and he hasn't been to one game all season. Then saturday, the guy two doors up has asked if he wants to go out fishing that afternoon/evening. And sunday we are supposed to be going to his brothers in the afternoon for a BBQ for fathers day. I won't be going to his brothers, with me and the kids having conjunctivitis. I wouldn't want to pass it on to their kids. So I've told him, he can do two out of the three things, because I am NOT going to spend three afternoon/evenings alone with all these kids! LOL So he can either do football/fishing, fishing/BBQ or football/BBQ LOL choices choices.. he told me he couldn't just choose two, and I told him that hey, 2 outta 3 aint bad ;) So I dunno. He may not even end up going fishing if the weather stays like this. Although saturday is still three days away. But still, you just never know. I would love to go fishing too, but have noone to watch the kids for 4-5 hours. Oh well.. we'll go out one weekend through the day when we can take the kids with us :) It's a bit more hectic and we can't fully put all our attention on fishing, but the kids love going out on the boat, and they've been cooped up in this house for long enough and deserve a day out!

On other news, I'm just days away from getting myself an External Harddrive for my computer! It's getting quite bogged down with graphics and photos and games and music, so once I clear that out, it should run alot smoother and faster. I also want to get my proper antivirus back, because I'm suspecting AVG isn't catching absolutely everything, even though they say it will. AND, I am hoping I can stretch it to buy myself Photoshop Elements 6... People rave about it, and it does sound (eventually!) easier to use than Paint Shop Pro. I will have to check out the price and see how much its going for. I think PSE7 has just been released very recently, so they will have hopefully reduced the price of PSE6 by a good amount. We'll just have to wait and see :)

I also have to remind myself that I need to take our two DVD players back to The Good Guys to get replaced. Ok, I only paid $50 each for them back in April, but we've had them just over 4 months and both of them have malfunctioned with the exact same error message. So back to the store it is, and they better replace them, or I want a full refund. My kids thrive on being able to watch their DVD's and its driving them crazy without a working DVD player in the house! Thankfully we have a VCR to fall back on, but its just not the same for them. None of the recent movies are on VCR, and they are dying to watch Ratatouille! So maybe over the weekend I will go take them back and then while I'm out price the EHD's and PSE6 :)

That's about it for my random rambles. I haven't managed any more layouts since my blue tongued lizard layout, so will hopefully find an hour or two to play around today. The kids will be staying inside all day with the weather as rotten as it is!

With that, I'll log off with this...

Random Thought of the Day: Can't they make eyedrops taste like strawberry??

Spring has Sprung!

2008-09-02T18:44:00.004+10:00

I just wish it would show here and we'd all stop being sick with colds! I'm halfway through my 4th cold in just over a month and I am well and truly OVER it. I'm off to the docs tomorrow and hopefully will get some antibiotics to get rid of this icky chest infection that doesn't want to budge! My sinus is clogged too, and I just want to be able to smell and taste things properly! I also need to get my ears checked out too because I think one of them has a nasty buildup of old wax. TMI, I know LOL But that's me!

So I have applied recently to two Creative Team calls. I heard back from one today which was the second one I applied for, and unfortunately didn't make the team, but she was very graceful with saying no, and for that, I'm very appreciative! I'm yet to hear from the first designer I did an application with, and to be honest, I don't think I'm going to get a reply. I know I didn't make it. But it would be nice to get a definite no in writing. Such is life! I'm not worried at all. If I make a CT, great! But if I don't, I'm still going to have a blast scrapping anyway :) I don't need to be on a team to enjoy what I'm doing!

Speaking of scrapping, I have a few more layouts that I have done recently. I've been in a bit of a dive lately with coming up with layouts, but every now and then it works out lol

I did this for a challenge at Scrap Orchard. It was a wordart challenge, and I had alot of fun with this one. I luckily had Ellie Lash's kit "Lickety Split" and it worked perfectly with the wordart! The only thing I was missing was icecream.. so I went and bought the kids some icecream and cones, and then went snap happy taking pics of them eating them LOL

Honestly, I can't remember if this one was done for a challenge or not, but I used some wordart I found on Bethany's site. Her link is on the right hand side ;) I'd taken some pics of my son playing at the end of the driveway after Keith washed our car. A couple of hours later, checked Bethany's site, and that was her wordart freebie of the day! How coincidental! I just couldn't resist making this layout.

This is one I decided to do at the last minute one night. I'm quite pleased with this one, and it really reflects my thoughts at that very moment. It was made using the collab kit "Summer Lovin" by Ellie Lash and Pineapple Plantation Designs. Great kit with work with for lots of different themes.

And this was a challenge I completed today at Scrap Orchard called "Applecart Challenge".. you are given a free minikit (you have to be registered and logged in to nab it), and then you have to use every single piece of the kit in your layout. I decided to use one of Sines templates (and this one is a freebie on her blog!). The photos are of a blue tongued lizard that my dog nearly had for lunch yesterday. We rescued it and later released it in the gully in our backyard. He was so big and fat and healthy! Though he was missing the bottom half of one of his back legs, but it didn't seem to be bothering him!. How weird that the blue of his tongue and the green of the grass match the colours of the kit! I'm really happy with how this one turned out :D

Not a great deal else has been happening. Keiths pay didn't go in today so he didn't go to work because he didn't have enough fuel to get there and back. Lachie stayed home because I didn't have enough fuel to get him to and from school, and Sophie stayed home because she missed the bus.. AGAIN! Honestly, that bus driver needs to be more organised and get to the bus stop at a regular time, instead of at least half hour differences in times each day. One day Sophie left at 7.55am to walk to the end of our street (not that far!) and the bus had already been. The next day, she was still waiting at the bus stop at 8.30am as I drove past to take Lachie to school, and the bus turned up just at that time. Its ridiculous. She is missing more days than I like because of missing the bus, and with the cost of fuel the way it is, I can't afford to be driving her to school because of that. I need to get onto the bus company and complain. She has also put a job application for a fast food store that will be opening near her school soon. If she gets through to an interview, it will be this friday, but so far she hasn't heard anything. I really hope she gets something soon because she is desperate to get a part time job and earn her own money. Poor honey. She's just getting so down about being rejected time after time. I keep telling her that the right job will come along at the right time :) She just needs to be a little more confident in herself!
Oh another note, we were watching "Bridge to Terabithia" today and Becky was absolutely enthralled with it. I'm about to give a spoiler if you haven't seen the movie and wish to, so skip if you don't want to know!... anyway, the storyline ends up with the little girl dying and her friend is beside himself after losing his best friend. About 5 minutes later Becky turns to me most upset and said "I'm killed mummy".. I said "No you aren't honey, you are just fine".. to wish she replied "No mummy, I am KILLED!" and burst into tears. I told her to come give me big cuddles, but she buried herself face down into the couch and started sobbing. I picked her up (she protested so much to that), but I just grabbed her and held her on my lap and comforted her. She sobbed for a solid 10 minutes and it brought tears to my eyes as I realise that my little 3yo angel may finally understand the impact of death. I honestly didn't think it would affect her like that (because they don't actually show the girl die), otherwise I would never have let her watch it (Sue, you can attest to the fact that I don't let my kids watch things that will disturb or upset them!). 3 just seems too young to have any realisation of what death means. But she has a very intelligent little mind, this one.. just like her big sister. She understands far too much for her age, but its not something that I can avoid either. She just soaks in anything and everything around her. I love her so much :)
Anyway, I've rambled enough! Its SPRING! It's already starting to warm up, and we've moved from being rugged up, to wearing shorts and short-sleeved tops. The electric blanket hasn't been on for about a week now, and there have been a couple of days where we've had a fan or two going through the day. They are predicting a big storm season for us this summer, so I think we need to spend time cleaning up the yard, because they are saying they will be BIG. WOOT! Bring it on! As long as we don't lose our house (TOUCH WOOD!), I'll be sitting on my back verandah watching everything :)

Where does time go??

2008-08-23T16:31:00.004+10:00

Honestly, it doesn't feel like it has been 9 days since my last post. It feels like it was only a few days ago! Never mind! With all of these kids to keep up with, time flies lol

So I wanted to show off some photos I took today of my three youngest showing off the gorgeous gifts they received from my sister Sue, who is currently in Banff, living it up and enjoying life :) These are the awesome gifts she sent them!

This is Hayden showing off the gorgeous shirt Aunty Sue sent as a late birthday present.. he loves it!

Hamming it up for the camera... can you tell I take heaps of him and he's totally comfortable showing off? LOL

Becky decided to give him a hug, so I took a picture.. how cute are these two?? I'm totally loving how close they are!

This is Becky showing off her Tinkerbell nail set that Aunty Sue sent "Just because".. she didn't want Becky feeling left out and wondering why Lachlan and Hayden got a present but not her. Isn't she just the best aunty there is?

I got her to hold it a little closer to the camera so you could see it better.. it has two clear nail varnishes, a tinkerbell nail file and some little stickers!

And lastly, the birthday boy wearing his gift, a fantastic bearprint shirt from Banff, Canada. He loves that his aunty sue sent it all the way from the other side of the world.

And one more becuase I wanted him to SMILE in the photo LOL

Well that's about it for the moment. I have a few more layouts to post, but I need to leave that for either tomorrow or early in the week, because right now I have to get two little children out of the bath, dry and dress them, and then make hot dogs for dinner!

A better night tonight!

2008-08-14T20:43:00.002+10:00

Yes, she went to bed quite well tonight. Apart from the time she started crying. When we asked what was wrong, she said "I hurt myself". I asked her how she hurt herself "I hurt myself by singing!"... ok.. wtf? hahaha... so I said "You'll be fine honey.. go to sleep now :)" to which I got back from her "But I hurt myself very badly mum!" LOL She milks it for all she's got huh! So I went in and gave her a kiss to make it better, and she fell asleep about 10 minutes later without another peep! We think she's having bad dreams, because she came in to us again last night. I let her sleep with us for about an hour before I got sandwiched between her and Keith and couldn't move! So I woke Keith up and asked him to put her back to bed (because I couldn't move! LOL). So he got up, put her back to bed and I hear a little voice over the baby monitor say "Thank you daddy".. awww.. see?? She IS a sweet little thing! I think she was just WAYYY overtired last night.

So yesterday I had a headache that literally lasted from the moment I woke up to when I got to bed. Panadol took the edge off but didn't take it away. Not sure what was up with that! And then today I've quickly come down with my second cold in a month. YAY... not! Becky and Hayden came down with it first, so I'll blame them for snotting all over me ;)..

It's nearly the weekend... a step closer to Fresh Fruit Friday.. I can't wait to see what the designers release this week! Hopefully I will have a little bit of spare change to get myself something.. I haven't been able to treat myself for a few weeks now, and its driving me insane LOL There are some things there that I'm dying to get, but they will have to wait :)

No scrapping today. I might try tonight, but not sure if my head is going to cooperate with this cold. I think as soon as Hayden is asleep (god knows when that is going to be, after he fell asleep on my bed this afternoon for an hour!), I'll be going straight to bed myself. I hate being sick!

Next week is a busy week for us. Tuesday is Lachie's 10th birthday (OMG!), and then the day after, Keith gets his tax done, and Sophie has a Panic! At the Disco concert to go to (which i have to drive the other side of town to get her there!). Lachie is also supposed to have a paediatricians appt that day, but I'm going to postpone it, because I just don't know where I'm going to find the extra $130 for the visit. Ughhh.. but he really needs to go, because this will be the second time I've had to delay his visit. We'll see how things go.

That's about it from me. I'm going to go browse the Orchard for a bit and then try and get Hayden to bed.. toodle-pip!!

Oh dear, where did my sweet girl go??

2008-08-13T21:22:00.003+10:00

I should start off by saying that yes, Becky IS still a sweet little thing who melts my heart every single day. Tonight tested that! She had a rough night last night, and ended up in bed with us for around half an hour because she got scared "by a ghost". After half an hour, she decided she wanted to go back to her bed, so all was good. Apparently she then woke up when Keith was getting ready to leave for work at 4.30am. She must have gone back to sleep after he left, because she was asleep when I got up at 7am. She didn't end up waking up until around 9am.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, she was sitting at the table this evening around 7.30pm and her eyes were literally red rimmed from being so tired. So we gave her until 7.45pm and then told her it was bedtime. Well, did the dramatics start! She threw a mini tantrum and begged us to let her stay up and watch Toy Story 2. We told her no, it was time for bed. The next HOUR (!!!) consisted of screaming fits and she wound herself up so much that she couldn't talk between sobs. At one stage when she asked if she could watch some TV and Keith said no, she actually lashed out and tried to grab at his face!! It stunned both Keith and I, and she got a stern talking to and told to settle down and that it was time for bed. She wasn't having any of it. Lachie went to bed at 8.30pm (his usual bedtime) and as soon as he walked into their bedroom, she started yelling "MUMMMMM.. Lachlan won't be quiettttt".. I let her do that twice before I went in and told her to stop it and go to sleep. I walked away and she started up at Lachie again. In the end I had to go in and pop her on the bottom because her behaviour was getting totally out of hand at that point. She finally went to sleep at 9.15pm. 1 1/2 hours after we initially put her to bed. She honestly was so wound up, and we didn't want to cave and bring her out because that was just going to reward the tantrum. Oh lord, she really is a livewire this one. I love her more than anything, but her tantrums really are starting to get the better of me lately! I don't know what to do with it all. Maybe I need parenting classes??? *SIGH*
Anyway, enough about that. Its been quite a while since I have posted, and I want to add some of my recent layouts to show off. I think I'm definitely getting better, little by little. I'm by no means talented at it, but I'm happy with what I'm accomplishing, 3 months into it :)

Here goes....
This one is one of my total favourites. One afternoon we were all downstairs playing, and Becky was jumping on the trampoline. She had some static going on, so I grabbed the camera and took some pictures of her hair raising fun. I honestly couldn't stop laughing, and don't know how I managed to get these photos LOL

I decided to do a simple but hopefully effective layout of Jaffa. I really like how it turned out!

This one was a spur of the moment layout that I did last night that reflected my feelings at that very moment about being 35. The journalling basically says how I'm dreading all the wrinkles that are happening so suddenly these days, but that I'm now realising that with each new line, it means I've had one more chance to laugh and smile with my 4 kids :) I like how it turned out :)

This was for a wordart challenge, and as soon as I read the wordart, I knew what I was going to be doing with it. It really is amazing when you put Sophies, Becky's and my photos together when we were at the same age.

And lastly, this was for the Applecart Challenge at Scrap Orchard.. I am really very happy with how it came together, and I'm so in love with the pictures of Becky brushing her teeth..

So that's it for the time being. I think I've exhausted myself with my novel about Becky and her meltdown! I'll be back soon with more of life and scrapping, because there is ALWAYS something going on at the Orchard :D

Just trying something out here :)

2008-08-06T14:09:00.005+10:00

Trying to see if I can link my photobucket pics to here :) Here goes!

FINGERS CROSSED!!

Make It Snappy!!!

2008-07-26T20:21:00.009+10:00

So we had a TOTALLY rocking day in the Orchard today. They did their first ever speed scrap and it was SO MUCH FUN! What happens with a speed scrap is they give you so many instructions in the first hour (eg. how many papers to use, how many elements etc), then in the second hour, you have to finalise your layout and post it! This is what I came up with:

It was so much fun being limited on time.. it was very challenging, but exhilirating at the same time! Then they had a TreeHouse chat after where they played games and gave out some WAY cool prizes! Everyone that participated got some awesome freebies from Ziggle Designs, Pineapple Plantation Designs and Polka Dot Plum! They say they are going to do another one soon... can't wait!!

In the meantime, here are a couple more layouts that I have done... both for challenges :)

This one was for Wordart Wednesday #7... Bethany just rocks at wordart, and it can be really inspirational in coming up with a layout.. The journalling reads "Our day at the park ended in tears because you insisted on taking your shoes off and you got prickles in your feet".. my poor honey, she cried. I just thought the photo was appropriate for the wordart :) Also the kit I used was Dulcet by Ellie Lash :)

And I apologise.. this one wasn't for a challenge.. I'd just purchased Kami's "No Prince Required" (Ziggle Designs) kit and was dying to do a layout with it. I came up with this gorgeous, yet hilarious photo of my 3yo daughter when she was 18 months old. This photo was actually taken in a food court at a shopping centre when I was about 37 weeks pregnant with our youngest! Honestly, that was her way of saying "SHHH"... she'd put her finger up her nose and go "SHHHHHHH" LOL What a ham!

There are a few more challenges going on in the Orchard, and I'll put up those layouts once I've done them :)

Giving away my 2yo.. free to a good home! ;)

2008-07-24T00:18:00.003+10:00

Seriously, his broken sleep habits are driving me crazy! Last night I got to bed at 11.30pm, only to have him wake me up at 1am by climbing over us in bed. By 1.30am it was very clear that he just wasn't going to go back to sleep, so I got up with him and waited for him to go back to sleep.. and waited.. and waited.. the little stinker ended up not falling back to sleep until 5.30am! So I jumped at the chance to grab a nap. Sophie and Lachie ended up with a bonus day off school because I slept until nearly 9am, which is when said rascal decided it was time to get up for the day.

So then today, he fell asleep on my lap at 2.30pm. I tried EVERYTHING to stop him from falling asleep.. but he went so fast I couldn't do anything about it! He slept until 5.30pm... EEEEK... after dinner Keith told me to have a sleep, because we knew he was going to be up until all hours of the night. So I did. I got a good 2 hours on the lounge, got up at 9.30pm, Keith went to bed, and here I am at 12.30am with him still full of energy. This is really driving me up the wall! BUT! I'd prefer to stay up with him than have him waking me up every 15 minutes by climbing all over me in bed.

1) I'm lucky I got that sleep!

2) He's VERY lucky I love him so much!

I just told him he'd have to go to bed soon.. and his answer was "No no no no".. if you could only hear the way he says no.. it cracks me up! He's a funny cute little guy.

Tell me, how can you stay mad at someone with a face like this??

How can you beat this??

2008-07-22T12:57:00.003+10:00

This picture is of my sassy little 3yo daughter Rebecca. I wanted to share a conversation I had with her a few nights ago. All I could do in the end was shake my head and shut up LOL

It started out with Becky asking for something and I told her no.. and it followed like this:

Becky: Its not fair

Me: No, life isn't fair honey

Becky: Yes it is

Me: But you just said it wasn't fair

Becky: But you said it isn't so it is!

Me: Oh Becky, you're a cheeky girl

Becky: No, you're cheeky mummy!!
Me: I wish you wouldn't argue back...

Becky: Well you're arguing back with me!!

At that point I had to just walk away.. how can you beat a 3 year old with that kind of quick wit? There was something in the middle of that conversation, but for the moment I am drawing a blank trying to remember what it was she said. When I think of it, I will edit it! When Keith got home from work I told him of the little chat I had with her, and he cracked up laughing! We've both agreed that she is a quick witted, VERY intelligent 3 year old.. we're going to have our hands full with her!

It's Fresh Fruit Friday

2008-07-18T19:18:00.005+10:00

at Scrap Orchard!! Oh man, I love fridays, and even more now with FFF!!! I'm literally sitting here drooling at the new things available! I wish I had a limitless bank balance so that I could just snap everything up! If you want to check it out, go sign up and check out the DELICIOUS kits and offers!

Anyway, so one of the SO girls has just had an operation, so we were asked if we wanted to make a get well card for her so that when she gets back, she can read them all! I had fun making one, and it has kicked my creative rutt in the butt, and I think I can sit down tonight and do one or two more layouts :D There are quite a few challenges going on that I need to get done, so I will work on one or two of those.

Anyway, here is the get well card I made for Malinda (MHulshoff)..

I'll finish this up with that layout, and I'll post again when I have done a few more layouts, or if anything remotely interesting happens in my busy life with 4 kids!

I did it :D LOL

2008-07-14T18:59:00.003+10:00

I bit the bullet and spoilt myself and bought "Dulcet" by Ellie Lash.. oh my.. I am going to play around with it tonight and hopefully get a layout put in the gallery! I'm so excited.. I'm just drooling at the elements and papers! I can't promise that I will get a layout done though.. I'm quite tired, and I have two sick kids (yucky colds, go away!).. plus it is first day back at school tomorrow after two weeks holidays. And I tell you, once I get PSP9 open and scrapping, I lose ALL track of time and end up spending 2 or more hours putting together a layout LOL I kid you not!

But hey.. two posts in two days.. not to shabby haha!!

I need to post more!

2008-07-13T17:38:00.007+10:00

It's been almost two weeks since I last posted, and I meant to get back here sooner, but it has been school holidays here for the last two weeks, and between hanging out at Scrap Orchard and keeping kids entertained, I haven't had a great deal of time to come post. But here I am now!!

There have been some great sales on at SO the last few weeks, and I must admit, I couldn't resist and bought some stuff to add to my ever increasing scrapping collection. My most recent buy was a kit by Ellie Lash called "These Crazy Days" and I'm telling you, I don't regret for one second buying it. It is jam-packed full of awesome elements and the papers are delicious! There is another kit of hers that I am planning on getting through the week.. its called "Dulcet" and wow.. I can't wait to get my hands on that one!

Here are some more of the layouts I have finished since I last posted. I will try and credit them as best I can!

This layout is of my gorgeous 3 year old daughter Becky that I did for a Wordart Challenge on SO. I usually do "busy" layouts and tried my hand at a simple, calmer one. I think it turned out quite eyecatching!

This was another WordArt Challenge. I chose to scrap pictures of my daughters very first concert, Fall Out Boy. That is her pictured at the top. It was an awesome night..

And this last one was one I scrapped last night for a scraplift challenge.. I used "These Crazy Days" by Ellie Lash (the one I bought yesterday LOL) and had SO much fun doing it.. isn't that alpha just soooooo cute!! I used three photos that I took of my three youngest after getting their faces painted at our local shopping centre. The lady that did the painting didn't think that my youngest (who turned 2 in May) would sit still, but he was such a good boy and sat totally still the whole time. So much so, that he attracted quite a few onlookers who couldn't believe how quietly he was sitting!!

So I'm having quite alot of fun with the scrapping. There are so many more kits I am just itching to buy, but with money so tight with bills and rising fuel and grocery costs, I'm just treating myself every now and then with a kit here and there.

Some of my favourite layouts :)

2008-06-30T14:42:00.006+10:00

I firstly want to give a plug to ScrapOrchard for being such a wonderful, friendly and helpful community. No question is too silly, and there is always someone there to help you if you need it. And there is always lots of encouragement and wonderful comments passed around in the gallery. AWESOME place. It's where I spend alot of my internet time these days ;)

Anyway, I wanted to try and post some of my favourite layouts that I have done since I started scrapping almost 2 months ago. I'm having so much fun with it, and I really get inspired when it is a challenge layout. Sometimes I like being TOLD what to put on my layout lol

This was a scraplift challenge layout and I'm soooo happy with the outcome. It wasn't too hard getting my 3yo daughter to pose with an imaginary fairy on her hand LOL

This was another challenge layout. It was to use the wordart generously provided by Bethany! She rocks at wordart :) I had so much fun making a page about our trip to Hervey Bay.

This was yet ANOTHER challenge layout, called Fruit Salad. Kami made a list of what we were to use (minimum) on the layout. I chose to celebrate the 3 year anniversary of my mum being cancer free :)

I will post more of my creations as they come along, and it will keep me blogging away! And in the meantime, feel free to join ScrapOrchard.com and tell them ~Cathi~ sent you!! You won't regret joining.. I certainly haven't!

My first post!!

2008-06-30T10:05:00.001+10:00

And hopefully many more to come! My name is Cathi, I'm a SAHM to 4 beautiful children, ranging in age from 16 down to 2. I live in Brisbane, Australia.

I've just in the past month or so, come across the wonders of digiscrapping. Can we say it has become a slight obsession? LOL I'm going to use this blog to not only write about my life in general, but to post my layouts and I dream of one day being able to start designing my own stuff.

I hope you all enjoy getting to know me and my family, and also enjoy my Digiscrapping projects!

Hugs,
Cathi