It's late....

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!

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!!

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..

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..

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..

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...

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...

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...

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!

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...

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..

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!

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

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!

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!!

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!

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!

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

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

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.

2)

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.

3)

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.

4)

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.

5)

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!!