Living my dream

Where to start?

How about with the card I did this morning for one of the Connect Cafe Helpers? Grandma Frankie. She is wonderful. Full of life and a real blessing to us for what she does as part of our group. So we organised a pressie for her along with a card home made by me. Much nicer when its hand made....but this week has been busy so I have to confess, its not my own design. I took this off a sketch by Becky Fleck. I've done a couple of things slightly differently. I mean you've gotta add your own touches right?! LOL. Anyway, here it is....

Unfortunately the pic isn't so good. It was kinda dark when I was trying to take it. LOL. And I wanted to show the inside where I added a page with stitching around the edges. You can't see the kindy glitz which goes around the edge of the circle, but IRL it made it nice and sparkly.

Last weekend we or should I say I got in the mood for a clean up. We've been in our new house nearly 8 months and needed to sort out the sleepout. So we pulled out a heap of boxes which needed to be sold on Trade me, and I put them on site. And would you believe all of it sold except my old camera (is anyone looking to buy a Canon 300D? Let me know! One careful owner wanting to sell!). So that was fantastic. Until someone actually came to pick up our double buggy. I got all sentimental and well, it was just one of those times where you realise things are changing, little people are growing up etc etc. I know its a good thing. But hey, I'm allowed a little bit of self indulgence every now and again right?! LOL!

So at the end of it all I've gotten rid of 1 x double mountain buggy and 2 bassinettes, 3 x sets of girls summer clothes and 1 x set of girls winter clothes, and 3 muslim wraps. Fantastic. It also meant we had room to bring the old bookcase back inside (it used to be where the computer is in the house!), and put it up so I've got more storage! Yep, I needed more, but as its thinner than 2 boxes wide, its given us more room too. Gotta be happy with that. Check it out.....

Man that pic makes it look much smaller than it is. LOL! But that couch pulls out and is used as a spare bed. Great if you're into scrapping! LOL.

You may have noticed I've got some cool new blinkies in my sidebar? Well I've got some news. After working for Fiskars at SENZ, I have recently accepted a role with them as the NZ Lead Ambassador. We've already got some fun things planned for you, so keep an eye on the side bar as you'll see where we're going to be holding demonstrations so you can come down to the store, check the Fiskars products out, see how they work, maybe do a class, or some make n takes and catch up with me. The first one is coming up REAL SOON. I'll let you know once the times have been confirmed. But you won't want to miss it!

Here is my latest DT work for SBO! I did a series of gift cards using the 3 Bugs in a Rug range. So bright and cheery. Absolutely perfect for pressies.

Ok, gotta dash. Lunch is calling my name. Has been for some time. I'm starving. LOL!

Have a good one!

Just for laughs

I thought I'd tell you two of the things my kids have said in the last day.....

Matt: Daddys have prickles (whiskers) on their faces. Mummys have them on their knees.

Is there and emoticon for embarressment? LOL! As they say....out of the mouths of babes.

Sarah, running away from me yelling at Matt: last one up the tree tops is a rotten bananas.

LOL! They are currently listening to "Monkey Mayhem - cheeky monkeys" a tape that came with a book. I didn't realise when she said it this morning, but this is one of the lines from the tape! Too funny. I really really do need to start watching what I'm saying. LOL!

I've been selling stuff on trade me. A camera, buggy and 4 lots of girls clothes. Winter and summer. Huge amounts. Like one humungeous box. It was sad. Really sad. Looking at all the clothes I used to love seeing Sarah wear. But there were boxes in the second toilet and that just wasn't going to work. LOL! I didn't realise the impact this had on the kids. That they understood what I was doing.

Then tonight we had a fantastic time playing with the kids in their room and Andy said something about selling them. Matt got the most distressed look on his face. He thought we meant it. I had to stop Andy he didn't see Matts face and tell Matt that we were just teasing. The relief on his face was huge. I think we forget how literally kids take things.

But n the flip side I think we forget is how verstile kids are and if we treat them with love and care they bounce back, quick! Within minutes he was happily screaming after the balloon again!

And to finish off, some things to be grateful for:

The storm last week. Boy was it massive. And no, I'm not thankful for it, but I am thankful we were one of the lucky ones who didn't loose power (well we'd had our fair share the weeks prior!).

A sleep in on Sunday morning. Andy got up and made the kids breakfast and I stayed in bed and read a scrapping mag. I haven't done that for so long I can't remember. It was nice. Really nice!

Two weeks ago I went for a pedicure with a friend of mine. My goodness. I haven't done that in ages! I love love love them. Especially at this place. You sit and watch ferries coming and going and just relax. It was divine and I've got to do it again soon one day. Hmmmmmmm, yeah right! LOL.

Friends. The ones that you know you can trust. That it doesn't matter if you don't speak for a while, when you do they share in your excitement, depression or whatever. Recently I've discovered I have more than I realised. They have kinda creapt up on me while I wasn't looking. LOL. It was a surprise to realise and I feel so lucky.

Caramel Koalas - Chris left these with Donna for my two and with the normal quick speed of life at the moment, we only caught up on Friday. I gave two of them to M&S on Sat for morning tea and they loved them. Thanks so much Chris!

OK, must go to bed. Sigh. Far too much to do and not enough hours in the day. LOL.

Take care.

Tantrums, beds and CJs

Another big catch up coming up.  And its a bit disjointed, so hang in there ok?! LOL.

Starting off my with CJ. Yep, finished and handed over. Stoked. Can't wait for it to come back. Just another 13 months. LOL. So here's a wee look:

I got the idea to do a CJ on books ages ago. I was part of one a couple of years back and Alison Shearer's came around and was on "books". I loved seeing everyones fav books so decided then that if I ever did another one I'd do one on books. Well, here it is. LOL.

Big news from Sarah. 6 days ago she had a dry nappy, then another and another. We said she could wear knickers to bed when she had 3 dry nights in a row, but she opted for a nappy on the 4th night. Then night 5 came and we made a big deal about knickers and well, she's had 2 nights now in knickers with no problems. So proud of my big girl taking the next step on her way to growing up.

Her and Matt have also had a fun few nights swapping beds. I thought why not? So they spent 2 nights swapped, then last night back to their own. Gotta laugh. Its cute. They're making their own choices.

So when they get up we get them breakfast. Hmmmm, funny that. LOL. And this morning Matt had 6 weetbix. Yep 6! I mean seriously! How much does your child eat in the mornings? Sarah even had 3 pieces of toast. She normally has 1. Wonder if they're going through a growth spurt?

Which reminds me....thanks so much for the help with the worm song! So good to have it all sorted. LOL!

Ok, onto Daniel. I think I mentioned in an earlier post how he can do strops really good? Well I decided while in the middle of his last one to take some pics....Check out this tantrum.....

 

So it goes, sit on the floor cry and scream and see if that'll get Mum's attention. Ummm, nope, ok, I'll stand up, not move and just scream my head off. Hmmmm, still no reaction, ok, I'll throw myself on the ground and cry some more.....just checking is she looking. Yep, but still not working. Ok, final effort, lots of screams, tears and lets throw in a foot kick just for good measure.

Oh my goodness! He has really discovered what a tantrum is and how it works. LOL!

So Andy came up with a new word yesterday....

"Trinagrams" yep, you might ask... what is a 'trinagram'. According to Andy its things that are marked urgent in my brain and must be responded to immediately. I just had to laugh cause hes so right. I do get things in my mind which just have to happen, like yesterday. Wonder if the name will stick? LOL!

We are watching Tour de France. Its kinda taken over from the Americas Cup. Its perfect timing, we can watch it in the morning while we're having our breakfast. And it means the kids get to watch some sport. They don't watch much tv so I don't have too much of a problem with this, and Matt in particular is just soaking it all up. He loved Team NZ and Alinghi and would know which one was which and he knows the same with the bikes. He knows the kiwi bloke (even though I've forgotten his name! LOL). And he calls out info to Andy while he's in the kitchen.....'Dad, they're 5 seconds down'. 'Dad, 1km to go'. 'Dad, they're down, they're down'. 'Dad, he won, he won! Its very cool. I love that he is getting something out of it, that he is learning about how it works, that sport if fun. That there is a winner.

Ok, cause the dare's been up a day now, heres my one right here. I loved playing with these new BG papers. They're from the Infuse line. Yummo! And of course as per usual I couldn't do a LO without the good ole prima say it in crystals and a few beads. GORGEOUS!

  And heres a LO I did for SBO. This month I'm using the gorgeous 3 Bugs in a Rug Blossom collection. This LO has a very similar photo (taken in the same sitting), but one was blury and the other not. I decided to kinda do two things at once. Vicky had set a challenge on SBO to do a page on a blury photo. So I thought why not. And it worked perfectly with the 3 Bugs range. Now I don't use yellow very much, but it seems to have worked really well here......

Must go, its raining and the kids are trying to get at the keyboard.

Have a great weekend.

No 8 Wired - NZ Dares turns one

Wow, Happy birthday No 8 Wired! That went fast! And what a great dare for this fortnight.... You can check it out here. Its a fun dare, something to remind us why we're scrapping and also this fortnight there's a heap of prizes from our very generous sponsor (Fiskars!), and we even a guest designer AND a questionare. We wanna keep things fresh for you, so come and take a look, create a LO, and leave us some comments. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

I won't put my dare up here.....just yet. You'll just have to see it across at No 8 Wired!

So what do you do on a sunny winters day?

Yep, go down the garden and play pooh sticks off the jetty. Or as the kids call it the 'bridge'.  Pooh sticks is a game my family has adopted from Winnie the pooh when he and his friends sit on a bridge and throw sticks in, then watch them float under and away. You can see the kids had some rather large 'pooh sticks'. LOL!

Hey, I've got a kids song stuck in my head. Can anyone help? Its about a kid who I think feels lonely or grumpy or something so s/he thinks...."going down the garden to eat worms. Big fat juicy ones, ......" It has a fun catchy tune and I'd love to remember the words. The tune won't stop going around my head with just those few words! ARGH!

So today's plan finish my CJ! Yep, lets hope so aye Andrea?! LOL.

Talking of scrapping...did you know there's a cybercrop on at SBO on the 4th Aug?! Come join us! We're gonna have some games and challenges and who knows you might just get lucky and win something?

Huge catch up

Wow, I didn't realise it had been so long since my last post! So here we go....lots to talk about.....

Daniel:

Is now running around the house 'talking' to us. No not real words, well not in the most part, but really good talking. Actually replying to things, or initialising converstations. Very high pitched and often we have to really look at him to work out whether hes annoyed or not, mostly he's not. But boy he does a good strop! LOL. His main 'real' words are Dadadadada, which he chatters as Andy comes home. He actually realises the routine when Dad comes home. He hears the gate go, then the footsteps, then the door opening. He gets all excited and starts chattering and waving his hands while he walks over to the door. Its often a race to see who gets there first (although Andy doesn't know this!). Very cute. And sometimes we get mamamamama too. Beautiful.

Hes had a good couple of days running around outside, but of course with outside comes concrete and he's now fallen over twice in the last week and sconed himself in exactly the same position both times. Poor wee man.

I brought Dan some gumboots yesterday. Did you know you could get teeny tiny gumboots? They are so cute and soft and flexible. Must take a photo. But now he'll be able to walk around outside and we won't have to take his slippers off and wash them everytime. Yeah!

He is now walking more than he crawls. Oh its so sad. Wonderful too, but every now and then it hits me again. Hes growing up. Next month hes one. One! Sigh. LOL.

Recently I took the 11 month photo. OMG!!!!!!!!! What a mission. As hes been moving its been progressively getting harder and harder. Well, this gives you an idea of what we're up against. LOL. I 'think' I might have one, yep, just one photo where he's looking at the camera and its not blury. and that's after taking around 40? LOL.

Matt and Sarah:

Are into 'movies' at the moment. Its a great treat for them to be able to watch 'cars' their favourite. And I've gotta say I really like it too. They get too scared in most of the others. They really want to watch 'Happy Feet' but get too scared by the orca and the walrus. Yesterday I got them 'a bugs life' which was good, but those darn grasshoppers were terrifying. 'Monstors Inc' wasn't too bad, but its full of monstors! LOL. Wouldn't it be nice to have some more 'feel good' movies for kids like cars? We are currently listening to 'monstors inc' and 'toy story' in the tape deck so I'm hoping to buy Toy story. I wonder if it'll be a bit better?

They are also now totally dressing themselves. They can take all their clothes off and put all their clothes on. It does mean we have some gorgeous new looks, and inside out clothes, but hey, its worth it!

They are certainly growing up quickly too. And I mean literally. I brought winter clothes for them in autumn and they are out of them already. I needed to buy some extras the other day. They are now in size 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They even look like they are at school. All holidays we'd get asked how are the holidays going? Poor things. They are only 3.5 so act that way, yet people think they are older.

Ok, some me stuff.....

I've been on my 'sugar free' restricted diet for nearly 6 weeks now (well except for one day where I ate a small packet of jellybeans (thanks to BB), LOL! But on the whole its going really well. And unfortunately I've gotten into a habbit of jumping on the scales every day. Sigh. I really shouldn't. But I've found out my weight can fluctuate anywhere between nothing to 1.5kgs in a day. Yep, that's right. I can be 1.5 kgs heavier or lighter from one morning to the next. Nothing changes. I weigh myself at the same time, in the same circumstances every morning, so don't ask me whats going on?! But its weird. However, the good news is that I'm on generally more loosing than not. Not a huge amount, but hey, I'm not able to exercise due to these knees, but its ok, I'm eating healthily and I feel so much better! Yeah.

With being sugar free I've found Coke Zero. Someone stop me buying this stuff! I just get so darn sick of drinking water and EVERYTHING else has sugar in it.

Due to feeling better, I brought some cheap shoes from No 1 Shoe Warehouse the other day. They were only about $20!!!! But they have quickly become my favs. I dunno about you, but I just don't buy clothes/shoes if I feel yuk, so its a big thing to do this, and I think that's why I only went 'cheap'. LOL. But as I said, they're really cute and comfortable. I'll definitely be going back!

Our road is looking like a tip right now. Inorganic collection about to happen. We actually found a heap of stuff to put out there too. Even cleared away a couple of boxes that had been sitting around. Awesome.

In the weekend I got started on a CJ I'm doing with the Puke crop girls. Man you should see them. All such fun and interesting topics. They were all meant to be finished on Sat, but mine is still sitting in pieces. Thank goodness Andrea doesn't mind! But I am getting mine to her this week....I hope! LOL. Can't wait to get started on Lucy's! Its sitting here in prime position waiting to be started!

Ok, lastly are you getting the SBO newsletters? Well they have a big one once a month which covers all sorts of things, but they also have a new series every Friday which are to give 'weekly inspiration' in the form of a short article. This week was my turn. I chose to do a 'Time capsule'. Here's my LO:

Well, that was a long one! Tap, tap, tap. You still awake?

Have a good day. Big hi to two buddies of mine Jane! Thinking of ya! And Kathy. Thinking of ya too!

Sneek Peeks

OMG, with CHA right around the corner there are lots of little peeks coming through on blogs and websites. And I've got some here for you too..... yep, some of the new Junkitz range and its yummo!!!!!!!!!! Check these out.....

Ok, amending this to add a link. It gives you a closer look at all the product, and I've gotta say, I LOVE it. There is some really cool chipboard, alpha, all sorts really. Go check it out here.

Can anyone beat my record for seeing doctors today?

**edited due to poor grammer! LOL**

Yep, 3 doctors or health professionals in one day. Today. Sigh. It all started about 8 weeks ago. I had started running again. Trying to get fit. Well, with pushing a buggy while running, being a little overweight, quite frankly my joints didn't like it. Then I tried to kneel down to change Dan's nappy on the ground and twisted my knee something funny and something went really wrong. So for 8 weeks I've been nursing this bung knee. So a few days ago, my other knee started going down the same path, and when I woke in tears this morning cause I couldn't move without shooting pains up both my legs I decided it was time to get serious. So I had accupuncture and a full 'balance' at the chiropractor this morning and he advised me where I could go to get further instructions. So this afternoon after I picked up the kids from daycare we all troddled off to the 'normal' doctor. This time for Dan. He's been really ill. You know those colds that are going around? Yep, well he had a nasty cough, a river of snot and all those good things. With bad ears, we had him on antibiotics for the last 5 days and today was the check up and thank goodness the all clear given!

So that's two doctors and luckily after my chiro this morning I managed to get in to see a sports doc, so we trapsed over there. Yep, she confirmed there is definitely something not right. Ummmm, yep, I could have told you that! LOL. And she wants me to see the orthopedic surgeon. Eeeeeek. First I have to get X-rays and blood tests done to make sure its nothing genetic like ruematoid arthritis? What the? So, three doctors later and getting home at 5.30! Sigh. But I decided even if it is a Monday, we could do fish and chips for the kids. I rang directory, got the number, ordered and picked it up on the way through. Meant the kids were fed and watered immediately when we got home, and really fish can't be that bad can it?

Hey, have you seen SBO has a new blog set up? Its all about SENZ Ch/Ch and so far has details on the wonderful Chris Miller who is coming all the way from Australia to teach for us. How cool is that?! I'm very tempted to jump on a plane and go down there. Hmmmmm. LOL.

And the other thing that I was asked for recently was details about the blog that's all about using your scrap bits and pieces. You can find the blog right here. Its a fun one of course, and I'm sure we could all use some info on what to do with those extra little bits we have left over.

Anyway, busy times, kids just out of the bath, so better go. Wish me luck with my knees.

T

Thats Life

Yep, it arrived today. Nic's book. I was so excited I ran out just as the rain started to rescue it from the mail box.

Now I know I've already talked about this book, but now that I've read it, yep from cover to cover, every LO, every word, I just can't rave about it enough, and yep, I had to come back here and do my second post of the day, LOL.

Nic has a style all of her own which is so apparent in this book. The words, the ideas are so her, so unique, so true, so wonderful. It has inspired me all over again! I want to go out there and start taking pics of things that are important to me but which I forget about. Stuff that mean so much, but no one would know unless I talk about it somehow. I LOVE that she has all these amazing LO's which will be such a huge part of her families legacy. I want it to stop raining and be light so I can go take some photos. Hey, I see a LO right there. LOL!

Even Andy says as he walks off to bed just now....Tell Nic DH likes it. LOL!

If you haven't ordered Nics book. Do it now! Go here and be inspired.

WTG Nic you rock!

Weather

In our old house we were at the bottom of a hill and the weather went right over the top of us. We were surrounded by trees so never knew if it was going to be hot or cold, windy, rainy or sunny. It just was.

At our new house we can see the weather coming from miles away. We see the clouds building, growing blacker, then we see the rain start to fall all those miles away and we watch it as it comes closer. It means we have time to get the washing in, run for some wood for the fire or just sit and gaze. Its amazing. It also means I know what to dress in for the day. Long or short sleeves. Hat or not. You know. Its quite a novelty.

And the other things is that I've never seen so many rainbows as I have since living at this house. Every day if its raining, we see a rainbow. Its beautiful and wonderful and magical. The kids love it. I love it. It takes me back to my childhood and I wonder whether my kids will remember loving rainbows as much as I do?

Hey, moving right along, are you a monthly scrapbook kit buyer? Have you seen the kits that SBO put out? Well they are very cool. They come packed with amazing product to use and there is a new one every month. Well on top of this, there are two 'add on' kits which you can buy. One is packed full of extra paper and the other is chocka block with embellishments. They are chosen in conjunction with the main kit so everything matches, but you can also buy them singly, if you want. Thought I'd show you what the add on kits look like this month.  Just take a look here to see what Donna and Yolande have created for you.....

Scrapcamp and oranges

Ok, so they're not related, but I just had to remember....lol.

So scrapcamp has been and gone. What a great weekend. Its always neat to get away from the norm and do something you really love, but throw in a huge group of wonderful ladies, some incredible organisation, meeting people you've chatted to online for a while but not met, and cool classes, and it soon becomes more than great!

Chris did a fantastic class. I loved it. It was quick and easy to follow and we all came away with finished LO's. You should have seen the group shot at the end. There were so many people in it. It must look fantastic! Can't wait to see.

SJ had us creating beautiful journals using lots of felt. It was cool. There were some really neat ideas in there and I can't wait to finish mine.

I was lucky to have a wonderful table of girls to natter to. Donna, Michelle, Rach, Chris and Andrea. They were so much fun but I think this must be the least productive (LO wise) crop I've been to in a long time. LOL! But hey, I did do Chris's LO, and the challenge one (although I'd rather forget that one! LOL). And yeah, it was amazing after all this time chatting to Chris and Andrea to finally meet them.

Andrea had some wonderful stock there. Couldn't help myself and brought more stuff. LOL!

So here's a couple of shots....

Chris and I with my version of her LO.

Here's a better shot of the LO:

And in true scrapcamp fashion, there was a fancy dress theme. Oh dear! The theme was 'retro'. And well I grabbed something out of the kids fancy dress box, plus Rach got us some very cool BIG glasses and of course a headband and we were done. Yolande and Lianne looked amazing. They truely went all out. Loved the hair!!! Check it out:

And of course here are the SBO girls. Vicky came, but after Andrea had left and we didn't get a shot! Vicky it was soooooo cool to meet you and Arlo though! And to meet your two other men briefly in the car. You guys rock!

After scrapcamp we brought Chris to Auckland and showed her the sights from the top of the sky tower. It was actually really nice. The lights were just starting to come on so it looked quite pretty, yet we could still see around. Then we all went out for dinner and Donna and I showed off our families. LOL!

Chris made Donna and I the coolest journals to say thanks. Aren't we spoilt?!

Ok, so that was scrapcamp, in a nutshell.

Oranges....I had my first one from our tree tonight. OMG! It was sooooo nice. Seriously. I can't believe I'm having fruit from our own tree. How cool is that?! Can you tell I'm excited?! LOL.

Here's a pic of it when they were just green.....

Later!