Stressy! Stressy!!!!

Sorry I haven't posted sooner! My house is a government funded "housing commission" house and they have decided to do routine maintenance on the property which means that they are going to put in a built in wardrobe in mine and Doug's room, paint every room inside and the whole outside of the house, replace cyclone wire fences with timber fences on three sides of the property, build a carport, replace a concrete slab and give us a big garden shed, replace guttering and roofing, put in concrete paths from the letterbox to the patio and from the back of the house to the clothes line, build privacy screens in front of our front windows, replace the metal patio railings with nice timber ones and a few other things. I can't tell you how grateful I am that the house is being upgraded and we aren't paying for it. I know it would cost thousands and thousands to have those things done if we were owners and paying for it ourselves. I will readily admit I'm one of those public housing tenants who is EXTREMELY GRATEFUL for being in our house, and even though it isn't big enough for our needs it is affordable and we are blessed to be here instead of trying to fight it out in the private rental market. Thank God for our home!

So we've had to do a big declutter of the house so that when the painters arrive we can just push all the furniture into the middle of the room. I've told the children to treat it like we're moving and so they have had to pull out every toy and item of clothing they possess and choose between things they love (which they can keep), things that are broken or missing parts (that go to the tip) and things that they no longer love which can bless someone else (charity donations). Having to really pull the house apart actually stresses me a lot and messes with my head so I'm feeling especially scattered right now!!!

I am going to go and watch the State of Origin though because I do love a bit of footy!!! lol

Anyway, I just wanted to update so you know what I'm up to. I've got layouts to do for Kaisercraft for their CHA exhibit in the States in July, I've got a heap of exciting nice stuff to do for Scrapping Outback for our stand at the Scrpabook and Papercraft Convention at the Brisbane Convention Centre on the Queen's Birthday long weekend in June and I have a house full of renovations to work around!!! As usual, it's chaos here!!! lol OH for a quiet life....!

I've also got typing and trying to get a couple of new clients so that's a bit more to think about but huge hellos to loolabelle!!!!!! And also to the SM girls - can't wait to catch up in Brissie for dinner one night. Miss Sue the Too Cool = thinking of you! Lusi - totally owe you a phone call babe!!!

Wish me luck in staying sane!!!! Love, Lu

Some days I love interruptions!

Look at this beautiful card I received in the mail today!!!! It's from the very lovely Brigitte who has been an online buddy of mine for a long time. Brigitte I can't thank you enough for the gorgeous card and for the lovely words inside. You are one of those rare special people who always seem to know when to comment, post or pop up and say hi and I'm so thankful for web friends like you. I *promise* I haven't forgotten your journal!!!!

It was destined to be a day of interruptions because Caeligh was at home with me while I worked today and apart from the occasional break to watch a show with her or play cardboard box cars, she really kept herself amused pretty much all day so as a reward for being such a good girl she and daddy have gone out to the shops to get her a present for being so well behaved during the day. If you know Caeligh you'll know how much of a minor miracle it is for her to have a peaceful, settled and quiet day where she has stayed out of trouble and kept herself amused. I hate that I have to work while she's at home but I can't bear the thought of her being at kindy just about every day so I keep her home with me and we have little "rest breaks" during my working day where we have morning tea together, we have a dance, we watch a bit of a show she likes, we have lunch, cuddles on the bed for 10 minutes, have a warm Milo together or I read her a story. It's a nice way to break up my day as well so I spend 10 minutes of every hour doing something with her and the time seems to fly so fast that she doesn't seem to notice that I'm busy typing until I come back for the next 10 minute break an hour later.

I got a couple of other deliveries today as well. The nice courier man arrived mid-morning with a delivery from the fantastic people at Kaisercraft, containing products for some layouts I've been asked to do. Thank you so much to Melissa for organising all that - you are a champion to find time to sort all the DT stuff out while doing everything else as well!

I also got a delivery of a case of wine that I ordered via a wine club. It's the first time I've done that but I do like a glass of wine (oh, really, I'd never have guessed I can hear you say!!!!! - those who know me are so NOT surprised!!!! lol) and I don't know anything about wine at all really. I have no idea what to buy if I walk through the bottle shop. Usually it's something cheap or that I've tried somewhere before. I don't tend to take risks and spend much on wine because I don't know what I'm looking for or whether I'll end up with a $20 bottle of liquid dreadful. I'm also pretty unpretentious about it all - I've tried $30 merlot and $4 merlot and I like the $4 merlot better!!!! lol That's me - ALL CLASS!!!! lol I know it doesn't really come down to price but I don't know what else to look for so I figured Doug and I could try something different and learn a bit in the process. Right up there with my penchant for $4 merlot is my firm belief that if you ever get to taste a wine somewhere DO NOT SPIT IT OUT!!!! Wine is supposed to be enjoyed and spitting it out is a waste of perfectly good wine! Like I said, all class here.... So I am sitting at my desk, about to start dinner, and working out if I'm enjoying a glass of 2002 Mt Pleasant Shiraz. Not a big red wine drinker (ahem...unless it's a bit of Chateau de Cardboard Lambrusco that is) so I had to refer to the tasting notes to work out what I was tasting. It's pretty good so far and those who know me will be so proud when I say that I haven't refrigerated one single bottle of the red wine yet! I don't even know really why I want to acquire a better knowledge of wines (apart from the fact that I like drinking it) but it seems like something handy to know and something Doug and I can do together, cuddled up on the couch - alone - after the children have gone to bed and the nice "grown up" food comes out like pate, brie and dark chocolate!!!! YUM!!!

BUT...and isn't there always one!...I have some more typing to do first, dinner to put on, children to bathe and get into bed and probably homework to help with.

Thanks again to Brigitte for the gorgeous card. Even though I don't "do" cards, I certainly appreciate the effort that others put into them so I'm thrilled to have received something hand made.

Have a nice evening and I'll let you know tomorrow whether the Shiraz and I liked each other or not! lol Love, Lu

Time for change

Well I've had some time to think about where I am in life with work, family, scrapping and the whole 9 yards as the saying goes, and I've made the decision to make some changes for myself, hopefully for the better.

The first of those changes was to sadly relinquish my position on the CyberScraps design team. A lot of my decision came from the fact that I don't really have the time that's needed to be a fully involved design team member for a retail store with an online component as well. It takes far more hours than it looks from the outside to keep up with all the work needed each month in terms of the gallery, forum, cybercrops, challenges, planning, etc, and with only a couple of people it's been hard to keep up. I've definitely not been able to support Cath as much as I would have liked to and it isn't fair for me to continue when I know I can't do that. I'm going to be cutting back now to things which don't require a lot of online involvement which for me really takes away from my scrapping time which should be the whole point of the exercise. I've been with Cath since she began the online store almost two years ago now and I've loved every minute of being immersed in the whole design team lifestyle and playing such a hands on role in the direction of the shop. I've especially loved the amazing women I've met through my time there as well - people I probably never would have met otherwise - and I hope that anyone who wants to keep in touch will do so through my blog or email me or carrier pigeon or anything at all and naturally I'll do the same. I'm also very thankful to Cath for all the opportunities that being a part of her design team has given me and I know she'll continue to do well.

So what now? The typing is here as always so that's keeping me busy but in the spare moments (what are those?!?!?!) my lovely friend Alana who runs Scrapping Outback has asked me to help her out to showcase some of her products so I'll be doing that in bits and pieces for her. I'll also be helping out at the Scrapping Outback stand at the Scrapbook and Papercraft Convention next month (Queen's birthday long weekend at the Brisbane Convention Centre, Southbank) doing product demonstrations etc so I'd love to see you if you are going. That reminds me...

.... that Scrapping Outback is holding a big competition - Sounds like fun......here is the info!
Brisbane Scrapbooking ConventionJune 8 & 9thWould you like to see your work on display at our stand, alongside works by Lu Benson (li'l ol' me), Rachelle Minett, Sandra Gerdes, Petrina McDonald and Jill Geraghty Groves...well you could. If you have purchased products from Scrapping Outback you are eligiable to enter. We want you to help us show off our best products. So if you do not already have our designs in your stash, you need to do some shopping.To enter you just need to submit your layout or off the page project. You can enter as many submissions as you like...the only requirments is that you MUST contain products from Scrapping Outback. Entries are to be uploaded in the Brisbane Scrapbooking Convention Competition in the gallery. So register your details in the gallery, grab some products and show us what you can do with our designs.Entries close 27th May. Winning layout will receive a huge prize pack valued at $100, presented in one of our Convention reusable shopping bags which will be personally autographed by all the above designers as well as your layout on display at the Brisbane Papercraft Convention. Sounds cool hey?

In an update from my work for Kaisercraft at the Stitches and Craft Show a couple of weeks ago, I'm also really excited to announce that I've been asked to be a Design Team member for Kaisercraft!!!! I only found out yesterday so that's mega exciting. As far as design teams go it's a great opportunity to work with all of their latest and greatest products to create samples for their catalogues, trade shows like CHA and the monthly workshop booklet that you can find at your local scrap shop and it's something I can fit in around the typing business as well which I'm really thankful for. There are some other fantastically talented Aussie scrappers joining me on this very exciting design team but I'll let them tell you in their own time - I dont' want to spoil anyone's surprise but I'll link as soon as they've made their own announcements. Huge thanks go to Melissa Kennedy who asked me to come on board - I'm really honoured to be involved and can't wait to show you all the exciting things that Kaisercraft has planned! They just keep getting better and better as I'm sure you all know. Stay posted for updates.

So have I been scrapping? Not much really but I did a couple of layouts today that I'm really happy with.

I'm off to do some typing tonight because there's always that waiting for me and tomorrow Caeligh wants me to help her make a mini album for her to keep in her room. She always loves to see the layouts I've done but wants to keep them for herself in her room instead of in any of my albums so we'll make her something that's just her own.

I hope everyone's travelling okay and keeping well. Hopefully now I'll have a bit more blog surfing time to catch up with you all. I miss reading what everyone's doing and I definitely need to have a big catch up!

Have a fab week, love Lu