Living my dream

Sunday Shake Up

Hehehe, I see these becoming a little more regular again. I think we all had fun last week aye?!

So this weeks challenge is to go back to basics with your kids again (or even yourself for that matter!).

Do another something fun with them that you used to do as a child.....

Play word games with them.... I love to see them challenging themselves without realising it. Playing is a great way of learning. You don't have to sit at a desk memorising things. Or on the computer. You only need your imagination.

Try THIS site here for some cool word find puzzles at different levels that you can print off.

Or pull out a piece of paper and play hang man. Remember how to play? Uh huh! You've just gotta guess the other persons word before you hang yourself.

We often do this when we go on holiday. We take a notebook and pen and when we go for cocktails at sunset (you can see me thinking about Fiji here right?!) we pull out the notepad and play as a family. It's very interesting to see the words they are thinking about! And depending on how home sick they are it's usually about home or the holiday.

But you could also be really creative and play it in the sand or maybe by using some pebbles or lego or something like that to add a bit more fun to the game?

Enjoy.....

Pinterest strikes again - trying some rainbow cookies

Pinterest strikes again!

On Friday I wanted to do some baking for the weekend. I wanted to try something new, but still easy. I trawled through my 'yumminess' board on Pinterest and all thoughts of ease went out of my mind as I saw the rainbow scroll cookies I had pinned. They looked like so much fun!

So I gave it a go. And I must admit it took a while, and I did a few things wrong. Notes for next time:

• Use a sugar cookie receipe that doesn't crumble too much (mine specifically says it's crumbly!)
• Don't leave the balls sitting while you go to the doctor with your son. They need to be worked immediately.
• Might be better to try liquid food colouring not gel? Not sure? Would be worth experimenting.

Anyway, here they are at 'grape sized ball size'....

From here, you grab one of each colour and quickly roll into another large ball, then roll out into a long 'worm', before making a scroll. This is where it went wrong for me as the dough was very crumbly by the time I got around to doing this....

Still. They turned out 'ok'.

And they tasted great (what sugar cookie doesn't?).

But more importantly they looked amazing and the kids LOVE them.

They took a lot longer than I thought they would. All that ball rolling! But it was worth the effort. Perhaps just not a weekly baking event! Grin.

Olympics websites and books I'm lovin.

In looking for the photo in my last post I found a couple of Olympic websites I thought were really cool. Thought I'd list them here for you....

NZ's team site

Official site of the Olympic movement

Official London site

An amazing site based on teaching and learning for children, lots of links here

All the 'need to know' info for travellers to London

The BBC Olympic site

Sites to watch the Olympics live from your computer

I am recommending these sites based on a 'quick' look around.

Oh, and if you want some good books for the kids, we got these three from Book Depository. They are fabulous......

The Olympics most wanted: The Top 10 Book of the Olympics' Gold Medal Gaffes, Improbable Triumphs, and Other Oddities

The kids love this one. All the funny, weird and cool things that have happened.

The London Olympics 2012: An Unofficial Guide.

It's a childs version of the guide and very readable. Our kids have enjoyed finding out more about the games in London.

The complete book of the Olympics 2012: Wallechinsky's compendious book has long been the preeminent point of reference for sports enthusiasts and journalists. A treasure trove of 116 years of Olympic history, it concentrates on the strange, the memorable, and the unbelievable making it an essential Olympics book.

This book is big. It's long and factual. If your child is into facts, when, where and who. This is the book for them. Even I find it a bit too much. But the kids love looking things up when needed. I see it being in use when the games are on and we're watching a particular sport that they can then look up.

Enjoy!

Olympics Olympics Olympics Ole!

It's on right now. The opening ceremony. The boys are at rugby, Sarah and I are waiting for the time to pass before her netball game. Guess who drew the short straw. Sorry Andy!!!!

I LOVE the Olympics. I love the swimming, diving, cycling, and so many other things. The kids, especially Matt are just sports crazy. I can see a time of Olympics only for the next few days.

Matt decided that we would have to record all 8 channels 24/7. Ummmm, don't think they've invented a machine that can do that just yet. Grin.

I am from NZ. So of course I'm shouting loud and proud to any kiwis over in London. Go the Kiwis! But realistically, we haven't been known for our Olympic golds in the past. Perhaps this year will be different? I sure hope so.

I don't know what it's like to train for something like this. The closest I've come to is Ironman. The training for that event is enormous. I would go out for a bike ride at the same time Andy went to work, and come home at the same time. Only difference being he was at work and I was on a bike. So I can only imagine the years of pain and torture and fun and enjoyment every single athlete at the games has been through.

I wish them ALL my very very best. That they are given a fair go. The cheats are revealed and there are no 'issues'. The weather is kind to them. They are not prone to injuries. That they are given the best shot on the day.

But at the end of the day. This is what sport is. There are going to be 'issues'. There are going to be cheats. May each athlete persevere. Hold their heads high and know just how incredibly amazing they are. Win or loose, they are at the Olympics. Wow!

Bring on the games.

What this Friday means to me....so far

It's 11.07am and already I feel like I've lived a lifetime today.

It started off a wee bit differently. Andy and I sat chatting til 1.30am. We don't often do this, but were discussing some really important things and I feel really lucky that he and I can do this. Some parts of the discussion were really hard, but I also feel so much closer to him for it.

It did mean that we didn't wake up til 7.30am. OMG! School, lunches, breakfast. It all had to be done and in less than an hour.

By 8am everyone had been fed, and sitting at the computer in my undies and singlet, helping Matt with his homework, I hear Dan say "Mum! Mum! There's someone outside".

Sarah looked over and said, no there isn't! Dan of course argued, there is!

So I half stood and saw a man standing at the bottom of our steps. Eeeeek, this is awkward! So the question is, how do I get my dressing gown without him seeing me like this?

Our door is opaque. So walking past it just didn't seem like an option, until Sarah pipes up with Mum I'll open the door. EEEEEEKKKKKK! So I ran and got my dressing gown hoping my fast running would make up for anything that could possibly be seen through the door.

There's our lovely front door. I don't know whether I love or hate the opaque glass drawing. But think we might just have to put it in our new house somewhere to connect the new and old buildings.

So I finally met 'the man' outside our door. He was from the council, coming to look at the trees that we would like to have removed. The ones that WERE going to cost $21,000 to remove! WHAT THE?! Can I just say, do your research people. Our tree removal won't cost half of this now!

Anyway..... the kids take the council man through all the chickens congregating around waiting for food, down the back garden to investigate the trees.

We're now running quite late. The kids have to finish getting ready, and Matt's homework, that he swore was finished last night and he now can't remember is still being finished.

On top of this, he decides he can't possibly clean up his bedroom. That the PJ's he wore last night aren't his and are therefore Dan's to clean up. Seriously???? How does this work I'm thinking! After a short discussion, he stamps a little way off, turns around, stares me straight in the eye, stamps his foot and says a four letter word starting with 'f' (which I've never heard my children use before). Oh. my . goodness! Well, he was sent to his room and told he wouldn't be watching the rugby tonight (his worst 'punishment' is to not be able to watch sport). Which set off a huge torrent of ranting and raving and then a more 'mature' way of dealing with things, he came back in, apologised and asked if there was a way he could earn it back (that alone made me feel proud and I'm still deciding if he can earn it back, it was a pretty big indescretion in my opinion. Too deliberate.)

So time to go to school.

Of course one of them (Daniel) not mentioning names, forgot to pack his lunchbox in his bag. I find it on the bench after they are gone.

I'm off to bootcamp, so drop it off on the way. Of course, because it's today, there are no carparks in the school car park, so I have to park on the road and make my way in. Not an issue I'm off to bootcamp so I make this part of my warm up. A short run in and out. Go me! I feel so rightous as I run out the gates. ROFL!

Bootcamp goes really well. I can actually do all the pressups required. I must be getting stronger (even if I'm not getting thinner! LOL). And then I head back home.

Hang out the washing, cause the day is toooooo nice to use the dryer (again).

Check out that AMAZING Pohutakawa tree. So beautiful....

I decide to wander down and see if Sunshine has laid an egg. She has. I feel a swelling in my heart as I remember that Dan had a 'Sunshine omelette' this morning.

One good thing about our second hen house not being used is that it makes a wonderful nesting box. Our eggs come out clean every single morning. LOVE it.

The chooks had just found a lovely spot to dig up and as I looked past them I saw the city. I saw the blue of the ocean against the yellow of the lemons on our tree. And I felt incredibly lucky.

Now I'm hanging out. We have our architect coming in an hour to show the geotech guy and landscape designer something to work out if we can do some of the ideas we want to do. I really should go have a shower and get out of my smelly workout gear!

But before I do, I wanted to something... did you know that today is national poetry day? Apparently so. In honour of National poetry day, I thought I'd share a poem I made up to say/sing to Daniel when he gets scared of monsters (imagine me in his room doing a rain type dance as I sing. Uh huh! What we do for our children!)

Monsters monsters go away.
Monsters monsters you're not allowed to stay!
Daniel doesn't like you here,
So take a bow and get outta here!

Hmmmmm, everytime I sing it, I can't remember the last two lines, and they kind of get made up as we go. Dan loves it and always falls asleep quickly after, so it seems to work!

And now it's lunch time. Yay! I'm going to have something yummy. Then relax into the rest of the day. It can only get better!

Have a good Friday! 

Doing some baking today

I decided early this morning that I wanted to do some baking for the kids lunches. Sarah's own hokey pokey biscuits from the weekend were just about gone, so we need something for the lunch boxes tomorrow.

I thought back to when I was a child and how my Mum used to bake once a week. She would ask us each what we'd like her to bake, then she would make those biscuits for us. I seem to remember it was always on a Wednesday? I wonder why Wednesday? Was it when she did the shopping? Or mid way through the week? I'm not sure? But I always remember Yo-Yo's being one of my favourites. Often us girls (I am one of 4 girls) would get together and work out if one of us was asking for Yo-Yo's then another would ask for Ginger crunch and so on. If you were really tricky (read manipulative, grin), you managed to get everything you wanted without the others realising you were doing this. No not me. I was always miss naive (although I'm sure my sisters would disagree with me. LOL).

Anyway, today I decided on yo-yos. Cute little biscuits that melt in your mouth. I haven't made them in a while, and right now they're in the oven. The fun part comes once they are cooled down and I put them together! Wish me luck.

Extra things from SENZ

I seem to have found myself with a few extra bits and bobs from SENZ....

2 pairs of scissors and a trimmer.

If they are yours can you please let me know and I'll arrange for them to be posted back to you.

TA!

Trina.

Home made Angry Birds Party Invitations

As mentioned earlier today, my youngest son Daniel is having his 6th party soon.

We talked about what kind of party he might want and we ended up with a party at Chipmunks. We've never done one of these before so it should be interesting.

He had a choice of a chipmunk party or a pirate party theme and went with the pirate theme.

Then it came time to decide about the invites. We'd done pirate before and I wasn't sure about the chipmunk side of things, then Andy said what about Angry Birds?

Well, that was it. Angry birds it was!

So Dan is having a pirate themed party at Chipmunks with Angry Birds invites and cake. LOL!

I made the invites last night with the help from this website. I used their Angry Birds balloon faces, but shrunk down to fit on the card. It came together really easily. I think I made about 12-13 in an hour maybe?

First I cut a base card into a circle using my Spellbinders dies. Then I cut a second circle the same size in black card to go on the front of the card.

Then I cut a third circle out of the grey card, which I then cut into two smaller half circles to go on the bottom of the birds (as their chest).

Then I just cut the eyes and beak from The Party Animal blog and stuck it all together.

Inside I used a Fiskars stamp set which has 'to / from / place / date / rsvp' and then I got Dan to write the childs name and his name and I filled in the rest.

As far as invites go, this was a very quick and totally effective one! Even if I say so myself, I love them!

Now we just need to work on the cake. There are a couple I LOVE which will be relatively easy to pull off, but Dan really wants the 'playable' version we've seen around the web. Only problem with that one is that we won't be able to move it. And I can't see me putting it together at Chipmunks. So wish us luck on that one!

Things that have made me happy in the last couple of days

We've had a lovely lazy weekend a bit of sport, a bit of Star Trek, a bit of shopping. A little bit of everything really. But there have been some special moments that have really made me smile....

• As I walked down the hall on Sat morning smelling cooking and realising that the kids had made their own breakfast while I was being lazy in bed. They made their own pancake batter and then cooked it. All together. All taking a part. To say I am proud is an understatement. 8, 8 and 6 years old! You kids rock!
• To see Sarah take on a role in her netball game she wasn't expecting when her team mate got injured. Go Sarah Go.
• To hear about Matt's hat trick of tries in his rugby game. AMAZING effort Matt!!!!
• Seeing Matt running off with an old friend he no longer sees everyday (he's moved schools) for a sleep over just like they are still the best of friends that they actually are.
• Seeing Matt sitting on Andy's knee telling him out of the blue that he loves him.
• The eclectic taste of my youngest son who would like a pirate themed party at Chipmunks with Angry Birds invitations and cake. Ooooookkkkkk.

I'm a lucky lady indeed.

Sunday shake up - remember these?

For a year or so I used to do 'Sunday Shake Ups'.

A blog post each Sunday that would shake up the way we think to try something new, or old but forgotten about. Something that would bring joy to you, but most importantly someone else.

Well, sitting here thinking about something that's made us happy over the last few months, I thought I'd throw another 'shake up' out there and see what you thought....

This Sunday's shake up is to play a game with someone.

Yep, pretty simple huh?! But it's amazing how it can reconnect you to that person you're playing with (Even if it does end in fights! Sigh! LOL).

A couple of months ago, we started doing 'family game night' on a Saturday. We stopped whatever we are doing at 5pm and start playing games as a family. We order in take aways and then at 7pm stop and watch sport on the telly together.

It's been a lot of fun. Each week the person who is team leader for that week gets to choose the first game and what we're having to eat. They all take turns and it's taught us about patience, working together and what they do/don't like to eat! Grin.

But it's also given us dedicated time together as a family. My husband who hates what he calls 'organised fun' is surprisingly into it and the kids talk about what games/dinner we'll have on and off all week. Everyone loves it. Everyone feels part of something bigger than themselves. Everyone gets time to laugh and connect over a simple game.

It's one of those things that is fast becoming a tradition in our house and a good one. I like to imagine in 20 years time us all getting together for games once in a while to remember how much fun it was 'in the good old days'.

So my challenge to you is to pull out the cards, board games or similar (charades perhaps?) and give it a go.

Dare ya.

(An instagram photo from a few weeks ago - Monopoly was the game of the night!).

A look at all my SENZ classes

I was chatting to a lovely woman this morning all about SENZ and how much fun it was and I realised I haven't shown all the classes I did this year. So without further ado, here they are:

Prima "3 in 1"

The reason this class is called 3 in 1 is because you make 3 complete layouts in one 2 hour class. It's always been popular, and this year was no different.

I used a ton of gorgeous Prima to make it 'just right' ...

As always this class was full on. I think most of the second class got their layouts finished as I tweaked the way we did the first class to ensure time wasn't wasted.

There were a ton of things to learn in this class, and I think the rosettes were a big favourite of peoples. However, we also did some stamping, die cutting, adding fabric to a page, rolling edges of paper, using the most of paper pieces, hand cutting etc etc.

Texture throughout was another LO class.

I have to say it's one of my all time favourite classes. Just so pretty. It was also a lot of fun as we cut out many pieces of paper then put them back together again in a different way. But I think the attendees favourite part were the Resist Canvas pieces we used (here's a link to one of many different styles you can get). So much fun and easy! If you're not sure what they are, then ask your local store to get them in and try them out!

Cherishing your childhood was another of my classes...

Again a very pretty layout. I encouraged people to bring a photo of themselves to create a layout from when they were little and it was lovely to see all the old photos come out!

My smash album from Christchurch and Nelson was extremely popular so I did another class of that. Again, a full on class, but lots and lots of fun. People racing around from one work station to the other. We had a ton stations: ink, paint, glimmermist, embossing powder, sewing, die cutting and of course, the creating of a brand new album at their own seat.

And the last class I taught was a multi photo class.

I reintroduced an old design technique of using specialty page protectors. It meant we could make 3 pages and it would sit in an album as one.

This is the first page you see. Once you've finished looking at this page, you flip it open to see a double page underneath.

We used mostly 6x4" photos and a variety of black and white and colour photos. We made a pocket to put invitations/guest lists in. We worked out how easy it is to move your photos around and around again until they are just right....

Above, the page on the right, is made directly onto the back of the front page above. Let me show you how it looks inside your album.....

  

Again, it was lots of fun and I think just about everyone got their pages completed. Yay!

And that was it for this years classes. There were 40 in each class and 6 classes over the weekend. So I was pretty wrecked when I got home. All that talking! LOL. But it was a nice wrecked feeling.

Would love to see what you did at SENZ! Send me any links, I'd love to see more pictures...

T

Prima PPP - cupcake holder

Thought I'd show you what I created with Prima's PPP colours this month...

Of course being July, it's red white and blue. And I wanted to try out some red/white/blue icing on a cupcake so thought of this wee treat to carry said cupcake in.

It was fun and easy to make. So much so that I'm thinking of making a wee video to share how I did it. Keep an eye here or the Prima Educator blog.

Pain is temporary, Pride is forever

A few years ago when I did a 10km fun run, I saw a sign held high by someones supporters. It said.....

That sign made for someone else got me through the run.  You see I hadn't done much training for running and although I was 'fit' I wasn't running fit. And it hurt. I got chaffing and was tired. I knew I could do it, but I could feel the pain becoming more real than the want to do it.

And then this sign came up and it made me realise that in less than 30 mins I'd be finished and my pride in doing something I hadn't done in a while would be far greater than the pain I was feeling right then (and it was!).

And the funny thing is that this sign has stood by me alot longer than that run. I often think about those words when things get tough. When the pain is greater than the want to keep going. And it helps me realise that it is possible.

Don't worry though! All is good. I'm feeling fit after my walk this morning. Healthy after the food choices I made yesterday and my soul feels full after spending time with my friends and family over a very fun and busy weekend. Life is good.

But this morning as I was trawling through Pinterest and saw some other 'words of wisdom', I really wanted to share something of me with you guys. Hoping that perhaps these words might help you, like they've helped me.

Have a GREAT day!!!

Belated 60th wedding anniversary congrats to my parent in laws

Recently my parent in laws celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

What a huge achievement!

I think I can speak for just about everyone in saying how proud of them we are. I kept thinking... imagine if they hadn't got together. Imagine if they had stopped at number 5 child. Imagine, imagine, imagine....

Alot of the family got together for a celebration lunch (which was wonderful). And I looked around a couple of times and thought "Oh wow, none of these people would be here today if they hadn't got married". It was quite an amazing insight.

My SIL Sue organised for letters to arrive from the Queen, the Govenor General, The Prime Minister and many others too. It was pretty neat! I didn't know you could do this but it was so special.

Everyone played their part in the day. I baked and decorated a cake, plus did the place card settings. Remember those butterflies I talked about a while back? Uh huh! That's them.

So thought I'd show you my wee creations....

I used a Spellbinders die set to cut the two butterflies out, then stuck them together with some Kindy glitz on top for added sparkle.

And the cake? Well, I decided to go for something I'd not tried before. Something that could possibly look like a wedding cake....

Ok, so I've still got a long way to go before it looks like a shop brought one, but it was made with lots of love.

...and I am getting a little better with the roses.

It even tasted quite good too. Whew!

So, my very best wishes go out to some wonderful role models who I'm proud to say I know and love and are ever so glad my children know and love as well.

Questions and answers from SENZ

Hi everyone.

I had quite a few questions from SENZ that I mentioned I'd answer here on my blog. I can only remember a few though. EEeeeek. So please if you have any others, leave them in the comments and I'll add answers as I get them....

Q: What is the name of the company that made the 3 page, page protectors from my multi photo class?

A: They are made by C-Line and are called Memory book page protectors. Here is a link to an online store in USA if you'd like some. Or ask your local scrapbook store to bring them in for you.

Q: What is the receipe for the chocolate chip cookies that you made for us?

A: I found this receipe online by googling 'best chocolate chip cookie receipe ever' (or something similar - it's how I find all my receipes now). Funny huh?! Here is the link. I swear these cookies are better than any others I've ever tried, brought or home baked!

Q: Where do I get the Prima magazine and in fact any of the Prima products that you gave away/used in your classes over the weekend?

A: Ask your local scrapbook store to order Prima in for you. When they order a certain amount directly from Prima they will get the Magazine. They can then pass it on/sell it to you. If you're after a certain product, again, ask your store to get it in.

Q: What is the receipe for your fudge?

A: I got this receipe from Rachel Tucker. Another FABULOUS NZ scrapbooker and teacher. She got it from a friend of hers. So I'm not sure of the origin of it?

Here you go though:

100g of butter, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup golden syrup, 1 can condensed milk & 1 tsp vanilla essence.

Put first four ingredients in a large bowl and microwave for 2 mins at a time for approx 9-10mins. Stir each time the microwave stops. The mixture will bubble vigourously. Test by putting a few drops into a cup of cold water and it should form a soft ball rather than flattening. It may need more time, but do at 1 min intervals until right.

Add vanilla and beat for 5 mins. Put into a metal dish and wait til it cools. Then put into fridge to cool completely. Cut into small squares before it cools completely or it can be difficult to cut.

Q: Where do you get your little bags that you package the edible goodies in?

A: A store in the Hastings area which also sells online. It's called Cakestuff.

Q: Where do you get the little cellophane bags you package the 'mini kits' in?

A: Cardmakers in Christchurch. They also sell great packages of blank cards for the card makers out there!

Q: What is the product that I used over the stencil on the following LO?

A: I can't remember the name sorry ladies, but I *think* it's just called 'puffy paint' and I get it from Spotlight. It comes in a long thin package with a thin nozzle. It's fantastic. Just remember to heat it to get the 'puff' and have it set properly.

Q: Will I be teaching in Auckland anytime soon?

A: The short answer is I'd like to. Is anyone interested? The long answer is.....Once I recover I might try and work something out. Watch this space and please email me if you'd like to be notified if/when this happens.

Q: Will I be teaching anywhere else soon?

A: I currently have two events that are booked and confirmed. One is still to be announced. Grin. If you would like me to teach in your area. Please contact me, or talk to your local store to get them to arrange a class/day. I'm happy to travel and LOVE to share my passion for scrapbooking.

Ok, I think that's about all I can remember for now. If you've got anymore questions, just fire them through.