Thursday night pimpin' lol

How cool are these kits??!?!?!?!  Now these are the reason I wanted to become a part of Wicked Princesses because they are the best kits I've seen around in ages and I think the girls have done a fab job putting them together.  The Dragon Kit is definitely  my favourite and I have visions of heaps of cool teenage boy layouts with it but also some funky, modern stuff too.  Now y'all know I'm not much one for pimping stuff off my blog.  I do it when required but I don't love it in other bloggers so try not to do too much myself.  I do however like to share something good when I see it and some of you may want to get your inky mitts on some kit club action for free maybe.....?  Read on!

Wicked Princesses are giving away a 3 MONTH SUBSCRIPTION to either their Warlock or Enchantress kit!! (Winner will get to choose which they prefer).

All you have to do is leave a comment on the blog - you can find it here - between NOW and Dec 15th. The winner will be drawn randomly, with the first kit being the January edition.

That’s $120 worth of scrap goods, just for posting a comment !!!! Too easy!  And don't even try and tell me you've got nothing to say lol

There is also a great discount on at the moment if you love all three kits and want them NOW, NOW, NOW!!!!  Have a mosey over and check them out.

PIMP COMPLETED!

As for anything else?  Well, what can I say....you guessed it...work!  I thought things would be slowing down this time of year but I'm just getting busier and today I got another new client so hopefully that will tide me over through the Christmas/January period which usually tends to be slow as clients go on holidays etc.  I think - if I'm reeeeeeaaaaaaaly lucky - I'll get the week in between Christmas and New Year off.  I desperately want a longer holiday but it depends on when my private clients are having time off.

My Christmas tree is still sitting in its box in the hallway with bags of unopened decorations stacked on top of it :(  We have decided to rent in the area we'd like to eventually buy in, close to the kids' school and preferably within walking distance, and so we're in the process of finding a rental house.  We have an application in on one we like and it's perfect, with enough rooms for everyone and an office for me - YAY! - but we can't inspect it on the inside yet as the current tenants are still packing and moving out, maybe end of next week we can go and have a look.  I'm really hoping like hell that our application gets approved and we get the place.  It hasn't been easy so far with a couple of real estate agents suggesting we could offer more than the advertised rent on places we've looked at (yep, I know all that is supposed to be illegal now but it is still going on), and I'm also finding it incredibly difficult just to get to viewings of  places to rent.  These days viewings are geared toward the convenience of the agents; no more are the days of driving up, leaving your drivers licence and picking up the keys to have a walk through yourself.  These days agents advertise a time that suits them (and don't even think of suggesting another time that might be remotely more convenient for you- never happen!), you along with half the city turns out to have a walk through and then you basically need to get an application off the agent while you are standing in the house and have the equivalent of the first week's rent in your pocket to hand over with your application before they will even consider you!  So far we aren't doing so great on the "good tenant" scale, mainly because we have four kids, a dog and we're living in a housing commission house and therfore don't have rental references (even though bank statements can prove we've paid our rent on the dot for years).  Apparently we get sent to the back of the potential tenants list in favour of working couples, groups of students, people with fewer kids, people with no pets and people who have rental references.  I can understand the last one.  No real estate agent will ever tell you outright that it works that way but someone I know who used to manage rental houses for a real estate agent said that's pretty much exactly how it works.  I don't even know how to begin convincing property managers that all I want is a nice house with enough room for everyone that I can take care of like it was my own and make it a real home for us all.  Anyhow fingers crossed for the application we've got in now, I've given them business references from my clients etc and thank goodness they are fantastic so hopefully that will help.

I'm really looking forward to end of school as there are so many things on right now.  Groan in unison if you all understand! lol  There are concerts, afternoon teas, exhibition days, classroom displays, ceremonies and events in every direction!  I said I would make something nice for my kids' teachers this year - SO NOT GONNA HAPPEN!  I think I'll give them what they'll appreciate most by this time of year - a nice bottle of wine! lol  Blayd will be moving into his last year of middle school next year, Lachlann will be moving into his first year of middle school (the equivalent of moving from primary to high school- he is so excited about it all!), James will be moving to the last year of lower junior school (grade 3) and Caeligh will be in Prep, and that will be all my babies at school!  I don't know how I feel about that yet.  It's one of those milestones that takes a while to really think about and digest.  I no longer have babies or toddlers.  All my kids are school age children now.  Yeah, the whole "oh my crikey I'm getting old!!!" type thing. 

I've changed my hair back to what could be considered a "normal" colour, a dark brown with a slight violet tint.  As I stood in Woolies last week having a look at the home colour kits and thinking how boring they all were, James stood next to me and said, "They don't have your colour here Mum.  Anyway, I like your hair the way it is", which is sweet if my hair wasn't a fading red with some serious roots!!! lol  I said I was going to make it a normal colour for a change and he then replies, in total seriousness, "but that colour is your normal hair".  I had to laugh before explaining what my real colour is.  How odd for my little man that he didn't knowwhat my natural hair colour is because it's been so long since he's seen it! lol

Doug and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary on Tuesday with takeaway Thai and a bunch of yellow roses for me.  Thank you so much to beautiful Lusi who sent us an ecard from her and her lovely fam.  I will get around to ringing at some point!!!!

I haven't done a lot on the scrapping front, but the delightful Miss Jilly has inspired me to play with mixed media which I'm enjoying very much.  I've done a canvas that I like but it's not quite finished yet and it's so much fun to get out the oil pastels, the inks and paints and really let fly.  I'll be sure to share if I get around to doing any scrapping whatsoever!

That's my update, not very exciting and they're all starting to sound the same these days.  I hope there are more creative folks out there than me at the moment!

Have a good weekend and enjoy getting into the Christmas spirit (my favourite is bourbon!).

Cheers, Lu

OOoooooohhhhh milestone moment!!!!

MY FIRST BABY IS IN THE BATHROOM HAVING A SHAVING LESSON!!!!!!!!

Argh!!!!  Where has 13 years gone?????  I've been happily living in denial about how my oldest son and first child has been growing up (physically at least, maturity wise we still have  truckload way to go!) but today I was chatting to him while we were shopping and I caught a side profile of him with some lights behind him and realised he was growing A BUM FLUFF MOUSTACHE!!!!!  You know, the piss weak, feathery ones that teenage boys with attitude try to cultivate to be more like "real men"???? Yeah, that's the one.  It's awful and horrible and I realised then what I had to do.  I went to Woolies, bought him the safest looking razor I could find.  That wasn't an easy task.  Men's razors these days are big, huge V8 powered things with a thousand blades, trimmers and accessories and the head of the razor looks like it would cleave half his face off!!!  I got a nice, (hopefully safe) 3 blade job without any embellishments at all, totally bog standard.  I figure you need to walk before you can run (or shave before you can cut your whole head off!).  So now my 13 year old is standing in the bathroom, having had an instructional shave from Doug first plus a demonstration of what not to do with aftershave (how brave is Doug!).  

Right now I would normally be in the thick of things taking lots of photos but I figured this was a "man moment" and I gave them the privacy I figure they deserve.  Doug and Blayd don't have a lot of "bonding rituals" as step-father and step-son so I thought it best to leave them to this one. That's why I'm here instead of in the bathroom being a nosy mama.

Blayd has just emerged from the sanctuary of the bathroom, proudly showing me his glowing (slightly pimply) and perfectly smooth skin.  Doug has done a wonderful job of teaching him and he doesn't have a scratch on him, unlike Doug who has a couple of his own from the demonstration!  Doug also made him put on aftershave straight away - talk about mean, but I guess it's a life lesson and he'll know from now on.  I've given him a special "man moisturiser" to put on afterwards and he is walking around the house now ten feel tall and bulletproof!!!! lol

He's so excited that he's already called his dad and left him a voicemail message, strutted into his room and shown off his baby smooth face to his brother and his friend, is talking about telling his karate teacher, his school teacher, his cousins, his mates, like he plans on shouting it from the rooftops!!!!  He says, "I feel like a different person!" and I'm trying to keep a straight face and an understanding demeanour....

I also bought a Christmas tree today - 6ft tall green with gold glitter tips - it is tacky as all get out and I'm thrilled to bits with it!!! lol  I've gone with red deccos to match my loungeroom and have red velvet scrollwork bauble shapes, some red velvet reindeer, some red shiny and glittery baubles, dark red hibiscus flowers, red poinsettia flowers and artificial cherries!!!!  Laugh all you like, I've even got a bag of red feathers that I don't know what I'll do with yet but I'll think of something.  It sounds hideous and genius at the same time and I'll put up a pic whenever I get done with it.  I'm very excited at my super tacky, whorehouse on acid Christmas tree and I'm definitely busting a fufu valve to put it all together!!!  

Have a cool Sat night!!! Chat soon, Lu xx

Christmas is coming!

These cute little bird houses are what I've been doing for Wicked Princesses this month.  They are the OTP November kit which should be going on sale any old minute now.  I was a bit unsure when everything came flat packed like an Ikea purchase but the instructions included in the kit were easy and I'll be doing a project sheet to go with it as well so that should make it a bit easier.  The papers are Making Memories and there is the obligatory Kaisercraft bling plus some chipboard accents as well.  Trust me, when I opened it I wasn't sure if it was into it but once the houses were together and up I realised I really liked it and spent a bit of time adding accents and embellies.  I kept this set fairly sedate but I think I might buy another set and do something more elaborate with it.  It was quick to do as well and would make a great decco for home or would be really nice to give to someone with maybe little rolled up notes stuck in the holes of the bird houses.  Could also roll up little gift certificates or gift vouchers and present them that way as well - that would be cute!  I think I'll get the kids to write little Christmas wish lists, roll them and tie them up with ribbon and put them in there.  If you were REALLY into them you could create a whole Christmas village of bird houses and use it like an advent calendar if you know what I mean.  They would look awesome en masse, esp as all the papers coordinate.  If you're dreaming of a white Christmas you could even cover the birdhouses with spray on fake snow and do the same with your windows and then line them up  along the window sill.  Now there's an idea I like!!!

I have some scrummy new Kaisercraft papers to play with but I haven't had a chance to do any layouts yet.  Another couple of busy weeks at work and a week spent with a killer tooth abscess that took five days of day and night agony to respond to antibiotics and high dose anti-inflammatories.  The worst part was that it only started as a toothache which I figured a couple of Panadol would deal with and then by the time I realised it was worse than that it was too late to go to the dentist (not that I would do that without it being dire agony anyway) and that I needed antibiotics to address the abscess before a dentist would even see me.  So I've been very sore and sorry for myself this week and today is the first day I've woken up and not been in pain so I'm a happy camper.  And yes, I can remember the pain enough that I might just have to go to the dentist of my own free will before it happens again....       

Today we're off Christmas tree shopping - YES I KNOW IT'S ONLY 1ST NOVEMBER!!!!  But because I'm so chronically scatterbrained and the days are flying past so fast right now, the tree is a constant visual reminder for me that I must get onto all the Christmas stuff that needs to be done.  Anyway I like Christmas, love Christmas in fact, so I don't mind starting the festive season early.  I don't turn our house Chrissy lights on until 1 December so it's just inside that gets the festive treatment early.  We change trees and/or decorations each year and before you say how wasteful that is, I keep all the past trees/decorations in the house so I can mix and match colours each year.  This year however I'm going for a colour scheme we've never had before so it will be new decorations.  I'm thinking those really nice bright green decorations and maybe silver as well but I heaps of silver stuff that I can reuse from a couple of years ago when I had a pink Christmas tree with pink and silver decorations.  That's the plan but because I'm into cheap and cheerful, we're going to trawl the $2 shops and see what takes our fancy.  All the kids get to choose the style of decorations they want in the chosen colour scheme so nobody feels left out - except maybe for Doug who's favourite festive saying is "Bah Humbug!!!" so he doesn't give a toss what we do but is happy for us to do it.  I was thinking a black tree this year but that's a couple of hundred dollars and it's not like I'd use it every year so that seems like a bit of waste of money to me so I'm thinking a big green tree (our old green tree is missing parts) that reaches the ceiling nearly and then just cheap shop decorations.  Caeligh is still far too destructive for anything pretty.  What I really want one year - maybe the year that all of the kids have finally left home! - I'll go to DJ's or Myer and treat myself to the beautiful hand blown glass baubles I've always wanted.  I could get them now but that's not fair on the kids because either by choice or by accident they will get broken, I will be angry and upset and they will feel bad about it and that's just stupid.  Much rather get plastic so it doesn't matter if accidents happen - either they break and get fixed or thrown or they last for a few years and there's no drama.  So that's the plan for the day and the kids are always excited about it and so am I.  I'll post a couple of pics once the tree actualy gets up and decorated.  That can take a couple of days sometimes depending on how busy we are and how much work I have on.  My house is less cluttered this year and my lounge room more coordinated and tidy than it's ever been so I'm looking forward to putting up a tree to compliment the red/white/black colour scheme - maybe the green won't work?  I'm so prone to changing my mind at the last minute that who knows what we'll end up with!!! lol  

I've also got to get to Hardly Normal sometime today and get some pics printed out.  I took the plunge and got a new camera after Caeligh smashed the lens mechanism on the last one.  This time I decided to really go for quality, for something that will last and will take the kind of pictures I want so I got the Canon 40D.  It's the same one Jill has that she uses for all of her amazing photography so Jilly, darling, sweetie, lovey, friend - will you give a hopeless camera user some lessons some time??? lol  It almost seems a waste because I don't know what I'm doing with it but I'm slowly learning.  I only got one lens with it, a nice middle of the road that will do what I  need it to now, plus an extra battery, an external flash (which I got to use last night for Halloween pictures) and a few other bits and pieces.  It weighs as much as a newborn and the children are all under strict instructions that nobody touches it but me or Daddy (or Aunty Cassie cos she knows more about it than I do!!!).  So I'm looking forward to getting into the habit of taking regular photos again.  I think that's another reason I haven't scrapped more - if I have fresh, great pics then I'm more likely to be champing at the bit to scrap them but it's hard to summon mojo with old photos that I've looked through so many times before and still not found any I felt like scrapping.  Hopefully I can share some pics on the blog as I get better at using the camera.  

We did do the Halloween thing last night - I know it's a divided issue, some people "do" Halloween and some people "definitely don't" and that's fine.  I understand that it isn't our tradition but Doug grew up in Scotland where it is done and the children just like an opportunity to dress up and play games so I don't mind getting into it with them.  The only trick or treating they do is to the lovely couple next door who always have "safe" treats for them to eat and the little toddle one door down and back seems to satisfy their Halloween urges.  We had quite a few trick or treaters last night and I had a good supply of Freddos on hand to pass out.  It was good to see so many parents getting out and keeping their children company and keeping them safe.  A few years ago we had little kids (like under 10) that were trick or treating with no parents in sight.  I didn't understand that.  We don't live in a "great" area anyway but even if we lived in the safest suburb in the country I wouldn't be letting my children wander about the streets in the dark by themselves.  You never know who lives behind the closed doors of any house in any suburb.  So the lollies got eaten, the children bobbed for marshmallows and lolly snakes and stayed up playing air guitar and having a mini disco in the lounge room while Doug played DJ.  They all fell into bed happy and sleepy.  Like I said, I know some people don't do Halloween but for me it's about taking any opportunity to create some happy memories for them of their childhoods.  I know that in 10 or 20 years they won't care if people didn't "do" Halloween, I hope they'll at least be happy that we did.

I'm heading out the door now to do the Christmas decoration marathon shop and I'll let you know how it all goes.  Cheerio to my mum who hopefully is loving her new car and reclaimed freedom - for goodness sake, Mum, please drive carefully and don't put any more dings in it!!! lol

Have a good weekend whatever you get up to, lotta love Lu xx