Hellooooo - is anybody out there?

I have to say that since I am no longer immersed in the world of scrapbooking, I've found it very hard to blog as I figure nobody is really interested in the daily goings on of my house, my job or that kind of stuff so I haven't updated. The only scrapping I have done in virtually the last year *sigh* was entries for the local Mt Gravatt Show up here in Brisbane. I was thrilled with my haul, two firsts, two seconds, a third and a couple of honorable mentions. I even won two shop vouchers that I haven't even used yet - how's that for falling of the face of the scrapping world??? But all the same, it reinforced that I hadn't forgotten how to scrap which is at least something.

The typing business has pretty much become all consuming, very early days, the occasional late night and more weekends than I would like to admit. A newfound love of online shopping has also filled a bit of the void of scrapbooking, but not buying scrapbooking things. Cass and I made a pledge that we would not buy a single scrapbooking item until the beginning of January as we both have far more crap than we could ever use and the point of the hobby is not to buy, admire, imagine what could be done with the product and then shoving it in a drawer at home, never to see daylight again.

I have however made good use of eBay for buying new clothes for the kids. They all outgrow their things so fast that it can be hard to keep up and by the time they outgrow them, they really aren't in any shape for hand-me-downs either. Blayd is now six feet tall!!! I swear he has shot up a whole foot this year alone, and with his mop of curly hair and great "def" (muscle definition from hours and hours of karate), he's turning into one good looking young man. Lachlann is still waiting for his chance to catch up and being 12 now, I think it will be over the Christmas holidays that he starts to sprout. James and Caeligh are both quite slight and a bit small for their age but they too are still managing to outgrow things at a rapid rate. I've also bought Doug lots of techy type things, a watch that is a remote control for the TV, sunglasses with a built in MP3 player and the like. He loves toys even at his age. As for myself, I have always loved jewellery and I don't even care if it's not real. Junk is fine with me! I wear mainly silver except for my wedding band and engagement ring so I've been stocking up on silver (plated I'm sure) bangles, big bling rings, turquoise earrings and that kind of stuff. Better still is that I love the chase of finding what I want at the cheapest possible price!

So the update is super quick but I wanted to share a recipe as I'm going to magically morph into some kind of kitchen goddess over the next four weeks. We have a housefull for Christmas this year, the biggest Christmas I have had to cater for, and I'm trawling the foodie mags trying to find great recipes and things I want to try. I thought I would share one that sounds particularly good and probably not so good for the waistline!

Recipe for Frangelico Cherry Cheesecake

1/3 cup Frangelico (and some for the cook!)
3/4 cup caster sugar
400g fresh pitted cherries
1 x 360g Sara Lee French Cream cheesecake, thawed

1. Place the Frangelico and sugar in a small saucepan over low head and stir until the sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until the syrup thickens slightly.

2. Add the cherries to the syrup. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until cherries soften slightly. Set aside for 30 minutes to cool. Transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge for 30 mins to chill.

3. Place cheesecake on a serving platter. Top with the cherries and pour over some of the syrup.

This sounds divine - courtesy of Australian Good Taste magazine December 2009 issue.

I figure you could replace both the liqueur and the cherries for whatever kind you fancy. Strawberries and Cointreau would be nice too I think.

So that's my update for now. I will try to post some of my layouts for the Mt Gravatt Show when I get a chance. I'm hoping that when the kids finish school, I will have more time to maybe break out a few supplies and see if I feel the urge to create anything. I can't tell you how much I miss it.

Have a great week and I'll try to be back soon, if anyone is still reading!!! lol

Love Lu xx

Happy Birthday Mikayla

Happy birthday 11th Mikki Moo - we love you and miss you every day.

L xx

Sad Smack

Firstly, big congrats to the new Kaisercraft DT girls - they will all do a fab job I'm sure and wish them all every success as they start on what will be a fun, creative journey.

Thank you to the person who emailed me to let me know about this:  

You know the scrapping world has come to a shitty state when I got smacked on a smackblog for not doing enough work for Kaisercraft by someone who reads my blog, knows why I haven't been doing any scrapping and thus why I wasn't reapplying for the KC DT and smacked me for it anyway, while failing to mention why in their big, bad, anonymous blog post.

I even replied to it - begging for an even more thorough smacking no doubt! - because the world is full of people who love to make assumptions and don't even need a fraction of truth or knowledge to base them on.

For the record, if the anonymous world of smack thinks I'm an average scrapper, good for you.   Funny how you never see them offer up their own work for criticism, isn't it?

Get a life.  You suck.  (not you guys, just the anon smacker!).

L xx

Anzac Day

They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest We Forget.

WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU?!?!?

I guess that's been the question if you've come to have a look lately....

To be honest, I haven't been in the best of health and am finally finding out what it means when I used to think I was sick like if I had a cold or a stomach bug or something compared to what I'm going through now.

Basically, I've had a few "weird" neurological episodes over the years, nothing huge, a couple of numb patches on my body, my eyes flicking and doing weird stuff and my spatial perception (that thing in your brain that determines if you have enough room to reverse your car without hitting anything) being on holiday.  During one "episode" a few years ago I scraped the entire side of my van along the driveway gate because in my not quite right mind I swear it looked like I had plenty of room.  Nobody was more shocked than me to hear that noise of metal scraping on metal,  maybe except for Doug who looked at me like I was an idiot when I told him what I'd done.  Lucky for me the van is a heap of crap anyway lol

So these neurological symptoms came for a few weeks at a time and would go again, with a few years in between episodes so I really didn't think much of it but after the van incident I did tell my doctor who arranged for a CT scan of my head which was totally normal (but at least I had picture proof that no matter how scattered I am, I DO have a brain!).  Fast forward to last year as we were preparing to move.  Life was stressful, crazy, full of dramas and I was working ridiculous hours right up until the move the week before Christmas.  Around November I started to notice pins and needles in the fingers on my left hand.  Odd, I thought.  Didn't pay much attention.  The numb patches I had always had started to get a bit bigger and new ones appeared, like having a shot of novacaine at the dentist where you can feel pressure on your face but the sensation is really dulled if you know what I mean?  I also intermittently got the sensation of having something cold or hot on my left leg or arm but there was nothing there.  I started to get really tired and run down and naturally assumed it was because of all the stuff going on in life so pretty much tried to ignore it all and took on an "I'll deal with it after the holidays" type of thing.  I even went away for a few days with the fam to the beach and things settled down again.  Excellent, I thought, clearly just needed a break...

Hit the fast forward button again to the first week of February.  Here in Brisbane we had a full on heat wave that first week.  My office, which technically is a carpeted formal dining room, is the only room in the house with no air con and no ceiling fan.  It faces west and gets the afternoon sun from at least midday until the sun goes down and the temperature in the room was like an oven.  As the week progressed I got more and more exhausted even though I was sitting at my desk the whole time.  I started taking naps during the day because I was just so freaking tired.  My ankles swelled up (my beloved cankles have thankfully left the building and I dearly hope they never return) and my blood pressure shot up as well which is unheard of for me.  I am very proud of my rock solid 110/70 bp that never shifts, even when I'm hugely pregnant.  I figured it was just the heat and the ankles were from drinking three litres of water a day cos I was so hot.  So whinged and bitched and made Doug eventually put in the window mounted air con unit we had the garage which he had been putting off for a while as his computer sits right in the path of the big split system in the rumpus room.  Sorry, Doug is normally a wonderful and very considerate guy but I don't think he got how unwell the heat was making me feel and it wasn't like he had to sit in that room all day sweltering.

I was so grateful for the air con but the exhaustion and fatigue didn't improve and I was finding it a bit of a struggle to get up at 4am for my usual starts.  I also started getting the same other symptoms back with a big increase in pins and needles to the point where it was occurring all along my left side from the top of my head to my feet.  My brain basically went to mush and I forgot how to spell things, forgot conversations mid-sentence, had trouble remembering the names of things and my left hand became fumbly and incoordinated, not great for a typist!!!  I started having bladder problems with urgency and my left arm and leg started to feel a bit weak. I had an episode of a tremor in my right arm and tripping because my foot wasn't lifting high enough when I was walking, had an awful case of clumsy, dropping stuff, walking into doorways, walking into furniture, etc.  Within a few weeks the tremor in my left arm had become what's called an intention tremor, it's only really noticeable when I try to use my left arm/hand to do something in particular, like pick up a glass or carry something.  I started to get muscle ticks and jerks which don't hurt but are hugely annoying.  

By this time I'm worried and get a referral to a neurologist who sees me within a week.  I failed a few of the basic neurological tests they do, like close your eyes and heel-toe walk in a straight line, my reflexes were a bit off on my left side and the lack of sensation has spread to most of my left side.  I had an MRI scan done of my brain and whole spine (reassuringly I still had a brain cos I was starting to wonder...) which was a bit scary actually.  I'm not claustrophobic by nature but my gp gave me valium to take beforehand anyway.  Really glad I took it.  Anyway, upshot of the MRI was that it was "clean" meaning nothing obvious to see that would be causing stuff.  I had a sleep study done and it turns out I sleep just fine.  I had basic blood workups done and I don't have diabetes, high cholestserol or anything else for that matter except for slightly low B group vitamins.  My neurologist is seeing me again soon but I don't know where we'll go from here.

So my days now are made up of sleeping longer, taking a nap at lunchtime, cutting back my workload because I just can't type as fast right now, and trying to get on with things in spite of all the weird symptoms still going on.  My left leg weakness is bugging me some if I have to walk for anything more than a quick dash into the shops and I end up limping and exhausted as if my leg isn't strong enough to support me.  So I made the decision to get a "spazz stick" as I call it, not having a joke at anyone but myself there either.  The walking stick comes out if I know I have to be at the shops or walk any kind of longer distances, or if I have to stand for a long time.  It's taken some getting used to and luckily some days are better than others and I don't feel like I need it so I don't use it.  Other days I get so limpy and sore from just walking around that it goes with me if I leave the house for any reason.  It feels a bit strange because to look at me, there's literally nothing you can see from the outside to explain why I'd need it and because the dr isn't sure what's causing it all yet I can't say "well, it's because I have ....".  I figure it's better to give in and use the damned stick than to sit at home and not go out because I'm having trouble walking, which is the point I got to when I decided to go buy it after looking at them a few times already.  I hope this is something that will either fix itself or can be diagnosed and treated and I can put the stick in the garage until the kids need it for dress ups or a school play or something.

I'm not going to go so far as to say I'm messed up or scared because at least with my medical typing, I know that there are often solutions for the most minor of problems so I'm not really worried about what it might be (that being side, I was bloody relieved when the MRI didn't show anything ghastly like a brain tumour or something!), I'm just more concerned with getting it identified so I can get some treatment and get on with things.  I don't have time for this crap lol

So that's where I've been, not scrapping, not blogging, not doing much of anything but trying to get by.  I'm lucky that I'm good at denial and have mastered not thinking about things that upset or bother me.  I'm now pretty used to the pins and needles stuff and the other symptoms.  They've been going on for almost three months now and I guess I've gotten used to all the strange sensations and things that happen.  I'm starting to think of this as my new "normal" but it hopefully won't stay that way but to worry constantly, to fight every symptom and focus in on it just makes things harder, not easier, and I haven't got enough room in my head for that.  All in all I'm pretty optimistic, I'm not scared of what the future will throw at me and whatever happens I know I'm going to be okay.  I'm stronger than I know and I think most people are.  They just don't know it until something happens and they make it out the other side pretty much okay, or as okay as they can be.  

So, super quick round up of life in general whilst all the above crap has been trying to get in the way....

Doug has been wonderful, doing most of the housework and being a wonderful husband and dad as usual.  I know he sounds too good to be true and so many people have "sunshine and roses" blogs but he is just that great apart from being "zoned out" on his computer now and then and really I can't blame him as it's his relaxation time and he doesn't get much of it.  He's a happy camper now the V8s and F1 have started up again.

Blayd went to his second National All Styles Tournament for the year yesterday and came home with a third place trophy in points sparring and a first place in continuous sparring.  I'm really proud of him but he looks like crap with bruises all up and down his arms.  The big boys (the black belts) don't hold back....

Lachlann is LOVING his dance classes and eagerly wants to add tap and hip hop to his weekly jazz and ballet classes.  It means the world to see him come home after class with a huge smile on his face.  It has done wonders for his self-confidence and I believe he's truly found his "thing".  I have no idea if he's any good at dancing as he's only just started but he's a very emotive child, my deep and mysterious one, and so as long as it makes him happy then that's how long he'll be doing it I guess.

James has been busy doing lots of drawing and much watching of Avatar (a cartoon) supplemented with plenty of Sponge Bob.  He's having a "difficult" stage right now where he is having trouble giving up the screeching, choking, roll around on the floor tantrums when he doesn't get his own way.  He's always been fond of a bit of drama but at nearly 8 it's getting beyond a joke so we're trying a few parenting strategies to deal with that one.  I think he's feeling a bit left out of things so we've been trying to do more one-on-one stuff with him.

Caeligh has adjusted to school life remarkably well and she has heaps of friends already.  Her ADHD medication is the best thing we've ever done for her, giving her the opportunity to be just like any other child at school and improving her relationships with pretty much everyone around her.  Her medication is a bit like Cinderella and her pumpkin carriage though - as soon as it wears off she deteriorates rapidly into her impulsive, uncontrollable behaviour so we've been keeping an eagle eye on the timing so we don't have that problem.  She's now mastered cartwheels, handstands against a wall, and being able to flip over forward in a back arch type position.  She's trying to learn to balance her weight to be able to bring her hands up one at a time to get full circle up to standing position again but I don't think her little muscles are strong enough just yet.  Doesn't ever stop her trying though!!!  She's also taken a keen interest in any kind of animal documentaries on TV so each night we sit and watch half an hour of something.  Typically Caeligh though, her favourite ones are the dangerous animals, especially snakes, spiders, or anything that will kill something else.  I figure at least it's educational.

As I said before, I've done virtually no scrapping at all save for the layout I've created to teach at this year's Scrapbook Expo in June.  While I will no longer be on the Kaisercraft design team (I am not reapplying as I just don't know what my health will do and I'd rather they find new DT with passion, drive and plenty of time to promote the products) I will however be teaching in the Kaisercraft Classroom.  The layout at the start of this epic massive post is the one I'll be teaching.  The class description is on the website at www.scrapbookexpo.com.au in the Kaisercraft Classroom descriptions.  Sorry the photo isn't better.  I tried taking it outside, on Lola's rear bumper but it's not as great as I'd like.  It's covered in bling, doodling, mesh, inking, layering etc and looks so much better in real life - I promise!!! lol  The cropped photo will make it onto the expo's website this week.  I'm teaching from 2.30-4.30 Saturday, Sunday and Monday and I'm looking forward to "plugging back in" to the scrapping world I feel like I've been out of for so long and catching up with people as I've really turned into a bit of a hermit, not going out and not ringing people etc.  What's been going on has been hard to explain and I feel like maybe people won't understand anyway so I've kind of just withdrawn from the world in general a bit.

Anyway, this is my first venture back into the scrapping world, with the layout above and updating my blog.  I don't have any real plans other than teaching for Kaisercraft at the expo and I'm going to be gentle on myself and not scrap unless I really feel the urge to, which is not often these days and let's just say that fine motor skills aren't my greatest asset right now anyway lol

I've missed you guys!  I've missed documenting what's going on in my life even if nobody else reads it and I've missed feeling like a part of a community that I love so much no matter how infrequently I've been scrapping.   I'll keep y'all posted on the health thing; wish me luck in finding out what's going wrong and how to fix it.  I don't really feel like me anymore which is strange because I always said I didn't really know who I was but I do know now at least that this for sure isn't me and I'd like my old, don't know who I am self back please.... L xx

I have a lot of needs....apparently lol

The mwahlicious Ngaire B tagged me on Facebook to play this game.  You go to Google and type in your first name and the word "needs" in quotes so I typed "Lucinda needs" and got this:

Lucinda needs a husband, not a lover. (Shhhh, best not tell the husband I've already got lol)
Lucinda needs no introduction.
Lucinda needs to find a person who is as strong willed as she is.
Lucinda needs a lifestyle that allows her to be spontaneous.
Lucinda needs reading glasses.
Lucinda needs to turn 2 more or gain 48 more Werewolf points to reach the next level.
Lucinda needs her clinic (if there's one for me I'll gladly go lol I could use a holiday!)
Lucinda needs to come up with a spell to snag a guy (apparently I'm desperate but don't tell DH!!!).
Lucinda needs to talk.
Lucinda needs to toughen up.

Okay, so from what I can work out, I'm an infamous sex mad talkative yet sooky spinster who needs therapy and corrective lenses, who clearly likes to dabble in the odd game of Dungeons & Dragons....lol

Tagged by Mel K "25 random things about me" from Facebook (no I don't know how to link up all my technologies yet lol)

1. I can only drive an automatic car.

2. I met my husband on the internet (lucky neither of us turned out to be an axe murderer!)

3. I am adopted but have met both of my birth parents and have an ongoing relationship with my birth mother and her family.

4. I start work at about 4.00am most days.

5. I hate ceiling fans because I don't like the feeling of wind on my skin; actually I don't like wind and really windy days make me cranky (not sure why).

6. I crave food in cycles and will want lots of one particular food for maybe three to four weeks at a time and it's rarely anything healthy.

7. I love to sing.

8. When I yawn, my saliva glands squirt so I *always* have to cover my mouth when I yawn (besides the fact that it's good manners lol).

9. In my job as a medical typist, I know the terminology for over 30 different types of medical specialties.

10. I am guilty of reading the smack blogs from time to time.

11. I barely scrapbook at all anymore :( but this week I gave up two of my transcription clients so that I can find time to scrap again because it makes me happy and keeps me sane.

12. I have never seen snow.

13. I have never left the country.

14. I knew it was a mistake to get married the first time at 19 and I did it anyway.

15. I hate exercise.

16. I have never managed to gain control of my weight (see above!) but I also have reverse body dysmorphia - I don't see how big I really am.

17. My favourite colour is red.

18. I hate public speaking and having to teach scrapbooking as I get very nervous and think people won't like me.

19. I have never dealt with the death of my mother when I was 19 - I have "ignored" it for 15 years but plan to start counselling this year as I have only just realised the magnitude of the effect it has on me as a person, even if I choose to ignore it.

20. I am trying to be a less materialistic person - yes I have a Pandora bracelet but I bought a nice bead for it from Spotlight for $5!!! I care about how things look, not how much they cost.

21. I constantly lose sunglasses and as a consequence only buy $10 cheapies as I'd kick myself for losing anything expensive - and besides, if I like them, I don't care if they only cost $10.

22. I believe that loved ones we have lost are still present in our lives, and that if you look closely, you will see the signs that they leave for us.

23. I don't consider a mobile phone a necessity.

24. I have ADHD (diagnosed when I was a kid) and am in the process of finally getting medication for it so I can function like a *normal* person.  I feel sorry for my kids as I understand how hard it is to be scattered all the time but I am hopeful that, as has been the case with them, the medication will help me to be not so scattered and a lot more together.

25. My most favourite place in the world is on a beach, especially at sunset, and it feels almost physically painful to leave again to go home.

So there ya go!!!  I don't normally do tags as I get so easily distracted by this stuff and my mind wanders from work and doesn't want to go back lol  I figured I'd post it though because I love to read other people's random facts and maybe other people do too.  No photos today but I am planning on scrapping tonight as I don't have any work scheduled for after dinner.  YAY!!!!  L xx

I are a BAD mama!

This is a great photo of my eldest son, Blayd, who turns 14 in a few months. He's starting to get a bit of peach fuzz on the top lip, becoming a cranky "don't speak to me" teenager and is now as tall as me. He also as a wee hypochondriac streak which I know is an awful thing to say about your own kid but he does tend towards the dramatic when it comes to his health and will mention the same thing (whether it's a stubbed toe, a paper cut or a bruise) repeatedly, along with a description of how painful it is, to the point where I have to say "Yes, I can see that, you've told me already" and repeat whatever first aid directions I gave him the first time he told me what was wrong. As you can tell, there's not a whole lot of sympathy around here and I try not to let them obsess over little things. Don't get me wrong; if there's a serious injury, claret spilled, etc, then I am the protective mother bear to the rescue but I try not to let them sweat over the small things as usually once distracted, they just forget about it anyway.

So, when Blayd mentioned something last night about having a sore mouth, I admit I kind of brushed him off a bit. I said go brush your teeth then, thinking he might have something caught between his teeth, or a leftover from the sore throat he had on the weekend. It was one of those nights last night where Lachlann had dance class, I was working late, Blayd had karate and we had to fit in grocery shopping at some point. I wasn't especially focused last nght.

Blayd comes to me this morning, early and while I'm taking a phone call, and tries to tell me again that his mouth is sore and can I pleaes have a look at it for him. I say "yes, as soon as I get off the phone" but by then he's off making lunch, getting ready for school and I've started typing again.

He comes home this afternoon and casually wanders into the office while I'm working and asks if I want to have a look at his mouth now. I am full well expecting to see something caught between his teeth or maybe an ulcer at worst. What I do see is a very badly swollen and inflamed gum right up the back on the left - the poor little bugger has his first wisdom tooth erupting!!! Well now don't I feel like a shit mother?!?!?! It looks really awfully painful and I immediately thought back to when I had my wisdom teeth come through, about a year after I had Blayd actually, and I remember thinking I could understand why he cried so much when teething way back then - because it really bloody hurts!!!

So I've given him a panadol and asked him to rinse his mouth with warm salty water because it looks awful. I may go so far as to give him a Nurofen at bed time if it is hard for him to sleep. Honestly I don' t know anyone who got their wisdom teeth at this age!!! That's why I was thinking I would find something totally different. At least from what I can see it is coming through straight so that's one less worry. The one on the right is starting to push up too and I give that another week or so before it's as bad as the left. Thankfully there's no action up the top at the moment.

So there you have it - Crap Mother of the Day Award goes to me - yes, Lord, I promise to listen more carefully to my children when they bitch about things.....L xx

If you want to help...

...by donating whatever you can afford to the bushfire victims I can only imagine how grateful those affected would be. I have seen firsthand someone I love lose everything but the clothes on their back in a fire and the devastation was incomprehensible but to see it happen on such a large scale, whole suburbs and towns...there don't seem words enough to convey the tragedy of it all.

If you would like to help, here's how:

To donate to the Red Cross State Government Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund: 

* Visit www.redcross.org.au 
* Phone 1800 811 700 
* Any NAB, ANZ, Westpac or Commonwealth Bank branch 
* Any Bunnings store 
* By direct deposit to the Victorian Bushfire Relief Fund - BSB 082-001, Account number 860-046-797 

Myer Bushfire Appeal 
* All proceeds to the Salvation Army. Donate at any Victorian Myer store (if you live in Victoria).

The people of Victoria, the victims, families and emergency services staff are all in my prayers.

Kaiser Sneak Peek for February!

How cute is this paper?!?! This is a sneak peak of just some of the new paper Kaisercraft has coming for February. I'll post some more pics as I get them. Can't you see this being a hit with the little fairy in your life?

Trying to keep up with photos!

Only my two children would break into a near knock down, drag out fight over...a stick! A bit of a blurry action shot there.

This is "Fang" as I call him or "The Terminator" as the kids call him. He's a venus flytrap that sits on my kitchen bench. One seriously cool piece of Mother Nature's handiwork. The problem is the kids like to watch him in action so much that James will find deceased flies and try to feed them to him...ick. It's the equivalent of poking a lizard with a stick or something and I keep having to say to them "leave the poor plant alone!" lol

We get some amazing sunsets at the new place - the shot above is looking down the street and the shot below is looking up the street. Nearly all the sunsets here (on a clear day anyway) are that really beautiful golden light and all the trees and plants look hyper-green. It's great for taking photos of the kids or of just about anything really. I love, love, love the new place and it's become a little ritual to wander out the front at sunset most days and let the kids have a bit of a play in the front yard while I take a few pictures here and there. It's a small slice of happy, fun time in an otherwise hectic day.

This week I was literally sucked into the vortex that is Facebook. People have been asking me for ages and ages to get on there "because everyone's on Facebook!" but I've resisted for a long time as I know that I have the attention span of a budgie and I am really easily distracted. Working at home means having to constantly remind myself that even though I'm sitting at my computer and I may need to Google a medical term occaisonally or look up a doctor address, it is not then okay to just wander over to someone's blog for a *quick look* or check out a forum or a challenge blog, or *shamefully* catch up on the 99% meaningless gossip on the smack blogs or any of the other thousands of things I get distracted by on the huge, enormous place called the internet. I really struggle to maintain my focus and that just goes with the territory of working at home. So I figured Facebook would be another place that would sucker me in and eat up an hour or two of my day in what feels like only a few minutes - and it is!!!! So if you got one of my friend invites this week that claimed I was being sucked into the vortex, too late, I'm in....but I'm trying to do it in small, manageable bites lol I'll be one of those FB'ers that...like my blog...I get into for a couple of days and then don't get back to for a week or more only because I've found a way to drag myself out of the vortex for a while and get some work done lol But I am on there now so if you want to find me I'm listed as Lucinda Benson but my maiden name is Griffin. I haven't done anything exciting like created a nice, arty wall, haven't sent anyone an imaginary gift, drink, hug, kiss or crush, and haven't dared go near the games because that would just be the end of my working day if I did! I do however have all my friends on RSS feed so every now and then I get a little window on the bottom of my screen while I'm working that tells me the latest "what are you doing right now" thingy for whoever has posted one recently. The problem is that it would be so easy to just spend hours on there writing on everyone's walls, getting into networks and keeping up with everyone so I'm going to resign myself to doing "Facebook Lite" which is me getting on when I can and not letting it eat into working hours.

Work has been really crazy busy this week with all my clients having more work than usual to be done. Not entirely sure why it has all happened in the one week but I've been working 14 hour days to keep on top of things and I'm hoping for a quieter week this week!

The kids have had a busy week with Lachlann starting Jazz and Ballet this week which he was really excited about. Lachie is my one in the middle who tends to kind of float along and seems to just miss out sometimes so a big thanks to darling Cass who rang and reminded me that classes started this week when I otherwise might have forgotten in the midst of toothaches and masses of work. Blayd tried out for the school cricket team for the district comp and got in so he's a very happy camper as he hasn't made the cut the last couple of years he has tried. Now he wants a new cricket helmet, new bat, new gloves, yadda, yadda, yadda.... James is planning on starting Auskick again soon when it restarts at school. He's only small for his age and last year I think he and his friends spent more time chasing each other and talking in the in goal area than actually playing AFL but he seemed to enjoy it so he's going back again this year. Friday night Caeligh wanted to learn how to do a handstand after successfully teaching herself cartwheels over the Christmas holidays. Honestly within an hour of me showing her (well not literally, mama is a bloody long way from doing handstands and any attempt may well result in hospitalisation!!!) how to do them by holding her feet and then telling her how to do them up against a wall so she will have something to balance against, she had them down pat and was so proud of herself. I was proud of her too - I can't believe how fast she picks things up. So yesterday she went for her first gymnastics lesson which she absolutely loved! They did some circuit work in the gym room, having to do different exercises on all the apparatus like the parallel bars, uneven bars, springboard, balance beam, trampoline and vault. She mastered it all quickly and had the best time. Then the most fun of all was the rope climb. The gym room is two stories high as there is a viewing gallery above the main room for spectators to watch and the rope hangs from the very top. She was in a class with up to 7 year olds so she was the youngest one there. When it came her time to climb the rope, she was up it like a shot, nearly all the way to the roof and without an ounce of fear but the biggest silly grin on her face lol I sat and watched as she did all these climbing, balancing things that if she did anywhere but in side a padded floored gym they would be dangerous and thought about how funny it was that the teacher was telling her to do all the things I have spent her whole life telling her NOT to do because I was frightened she would hurt herself. Funny how she never has though, despite all the things she has gotten up to the second our backs were turned. So gymnastics appears to be her thing and she can't wait to go back next week so she can climb the rope again. I just have to keep a close on her during the week and repeat the age old sentiment "DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!!".

Hope you're all having a good weekend! Cheers, Lu

Trying to keep up with the pics and Kaiser winner

So I'm trying to keep up with the pics for the year so I'm playing catch up from Friday - you know me, there'll be lots of catch ups lol Naturally these pics aren't in order because Picasa has decided what order they go in and not me! So the pic above and below are from yesterday. I babysat my niece and nephews (Cass's son Ronin and daughter Lily, and Kris but he doesn't need babysitting, just company) yesterday while Cass and Kelly went to a movie. Ronin found Jamie's rollerskates and wanted to use them so we strapped him in and he was off like a shot, a real natural! I asked Lily if she wanted to use Caeligh's rollerblades so both of them were cruising around the house in no time. Last night was quiet at our place as Blayd and Lachie are with their dad and James and Caeligh went to gran's for a sleepover so Doug and I had the place to ourselves. The pic below is a present Doug got me as an early Christmas present - he knows how much I love to sing, in the shower, in the car, anywhere at all really. There are some great songs on there, recent stuff too as well as older stuff. Out of consideration for hour neighbours we made sure all the doors and windows were closed lol

The cleaning bucket is looking at me today, knowing that it will get its workout tomorrow morning once the kids are off to school. Damn Cass and her cleaning bucket - it's become a real fixture and with everything in one place I know where to go when I need something and it does make getting the cleaning done a bit easier. I'm not a Domestos addict yet however...I can't stand the smell that you can't get out of your nose for hours.

Below is Friday's picture, not a great one but one that I see everytime I look out my office window. We have pebbles all up one side of the house where it's too narrow for grass but it doesn't stop the weeds that have sprung up like...um...well like WEEDS!!! lol Apparently it's our responsibilty to spray regularly so the weeds don't take over but it's been raining all week and there doesn't seem to have been one totally dry day so far lately to go out and do it so the jungle continues to flourish.

What I didn't get a chance to take a pic of was the name Caeligh randomly picked for my Kaisercraft goodies which was Robyn W!!!! Robyn if you want to email me (there's a link on the left side bar) I can get your address and post your Kaiser goodies off to you.

I'm going to go get some typing work this afternoon - ugh. I've had a slow last few days because of yet another tooth abscess driving me insane. I've been chewing through Panadeine and anti-inflammatories and eventually caved in yesterday and went to the dr to get some antibiotics but they are slow to work this time so I'm still not entirely focused as there is a constant, low grade grumbling toothache going on all the time no matter what I take. I was going to get my teeth fixed as part of my Life List for last year but I just ran out of year! I do want to do it this year though - provided I can work up the courage to go to the dentist to get a quote!

I haven't done any more scrapping though have taken over the far end of my dining room table with a couple of baskets of necessities so that I can sit down when I have the time and urge and get something done. My office still remains like a storage shed for all of my other supplies and I can't bear to think of unpacking any of it until I know where it's all going to go, otherwise it's going to end up a huge mess and I won't know where anything is. I want to get to Ikea in the next week or two just to have a look at options and I'll work something out from there.

Caeligh and James have just come home so I'm going to go get them lunch and then show Caeligh the Gabriella Cilmi song "Sweet About Me" that we recorded on the Foxtel IQ last night from one of the music channels that does a karaoke segment on Saturday nights. It's the original film clip but a strip down the bottom with the words. She'll be quite excited as she loves the song so even though she can't read the words, she knows them all by heart anyway, and I'm sure she'll enjoy prancing around the lougeroom with the microphone. Maybe that'll be another photo for later today.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday, love Lu xx

Tagged by Lis!!!!

I've been tagged by the lovely Lis and my challenge was to choose the sixth photograph in the sixth folder on my computer. This photograph was taken about a week before we moved from our old house. It was one of those afternoons with that really great late afternoon golden light, you know the ones I mean, where everything just photographs fantastically no matter what it is! Well this was at the beginning of sundown, just before the yellow light hit the backyard and I wanted some pics of Caeligh. She was sitting on the front steps and our poor cat, Towser, wasn't nearly fast enough lol Honestly all the cats should now by now that when they see Caeligh reaching for them they should RUN!!!! Anyway, she got him and clutched him to her like only a four year old girl with too much enthusiasm can. I did get one reasonable shot before this but it had to be the sixth picture so this is it - Caeligh trying to talk Towser into staying with her and Towser trying to get away....

I'm not a huge tagger, mainly because I find it hard to find time to do them "properly" and therefore feel I shouldn't burden another scrapper with something I usually can't manage myself but because I have found time to do this, I figure Jilly, Sue, Lusi and Ngaire should be able to do this as well. Love and respect you girls hugely, so I hope you take it for it's true intention - a compliment and an apology all in one!!! lol

Have a groovin' Saturday night! Lu xx

First Day of School (original title huh? lol)

Well today was a big day in our house. Caeligh started Prep grade after many discussions about whether she could take her headband out at first break (no), whether she could take off her shoes when she got there (another no!) and whether I could just wait outside her room for her from the time I dropped her off until it was time to go home again (absolutely NO!!!!). She was happy enough this morning to get up, get dressed in her big long schoolgirl dress, put on her shoes and let me do her hair which is almost unheard of for my darling little feral who would prefer to run around wearing as little as possible, filthy and with rat nest hair if only we would let her. She did draw the line at piggy tails however, prefering a simple stretchy navy headband which she proceeded to lose by the time I picked her up this afternoon. She has that kind of "slippery" hair that just about every hair accessory known to womankind slides or falls out of within an hour. She's buggered now though as I don't have another headband and hers didnt' turn up on a quick scan of the classroom. Quite frankly it could be anywhere! I think we'll just have to write that one off and she will have to live with piggies tomorrow if she likes it or not. As far as I know, she does plan on going back tomorrow so her first day must have been okay and she got her medication on time so I believe the teachers are happy for her to come back as well lol

The boys were all dressed nicely, new shoes which none of them have scuffed up yet after the first day and Blayd and Lachie were happy to walk because we live so close to school now. They weren't happy about the first day of school book overload that they had to carry in their backpacks but apart from that they were all fine. James went to a new pod this year to make room for the new Prep kids and he likes his teachers and has his friends with him in his class. Lachie loves middle school and the sudden extra independence that he will have, and loves having his best friend in his pod with him, especially as they can walk home together too as his friend lives a little further away from school than us. Blayd is at the top of middle school this year, his last year before senior school. He was just grateful to access full size handball courts again after a six week break of having "totally nowhere to play at all". I had no idea handball was so important for sustaining teenage life but as a mama, what do I know?!?!? lol

It was a good start to the year and for me I now have all of my kids at school. Still haven't given that much thought as I've had work to fall into straight away when I got home from school this morning but boy was the house quiet. Cass walked over for coffee and we discussed our respective first day of school stories and I've been typing ever since (except when I bravely walked up to the school this afternoon to pick up the kids - I say brave because I am overweight, unfit and haven't been feeling the greatest lately so it was a slight shock to the system to walk a kilometre in the heat and back again but I figure it's a kind of forced exercise and I so desperately need some of that!).

So many posts in one day but I'm trying to establish a regular blogging habit so if you get email updates or anything, sorry!

The pic of the bag in the doorway I took just because I noticed it sitting there and thought it looked like a nice shot so call it my photo of the day for today.

I hope everyone else had a great first day back and that you all waited until you were out of the kids' line of sight before you did the happy dance!!! lol Cheers, Lu xx

Sorry about that...

....the formatting in the post below is crap but I've discovered I can't format in Blogger for peanuts!!!!

Wicked Princess Layouts

I promised and swore black and blue I would get these done so here they are! These are the layouts using the Wicked Princesses December Dragon Kit. It was full of great distressed, grungy papers and funky embellies so I had more than enough inspiration by the time I sat down to get it all done. For the first layout, I liked the star pattered felt that I even used the white backing paper as well! I did the same for the peel off backing of the bracket. Sorry for the photo glare on the picture...

This one below looks really yellow, as does the one after, because I was taking photographs on my kitchen table last night - hence everything has a slight red border (this one particularly so because it seems I can't crop for crap! I also didn't photograph very straight either! The colour on the photograph is just a result of sanding it. Some photos, depending on where you get them developed and what chemicals they use, will sand a nice reddish orange whereas I've had a couple sand a funny teal green on the edges too. I quite like the effect and it's a bit unpredictable but that's okay cos I don't mind surprises.

This photo I took at the Vodafone Triple 8 Racing open day last month. There was lots of bright things to take pictures of, shiny cars, metal and machinery but I saw these stacked up on pallets in the back corner of the driveway into the engineering workshops. I figured they were something from the wheels but I wasn't entirely sure and didn't actually care but they took a great photograph en mass, all stacked up and rusty looking so I snapped a couple of shots. I printed out the pic to see how it turned out and had it sitting in my pile of recent photos and it went so well with the papers I had in the kit that I decided to use it. The title is pretty much what I said to Doug as I busily matted up the photo. Apparently - and forgive me for not knowing! - but they are the brake rotors from Jamie Whincup's V8 Falcon that won the championship this year. They are the used ones from previous races throughout the year and I guess if he could have taken one home he would have to keep as a momento as Doug is very much a Jamie Whincup fan. Apparently brake rotors are important (well they were at the time they were being used!) so he was very happy with the photo and I learned something new about the mechanics of V8 supercars!

Wicked Princess February Kits

Karen and Tam are all back down to business at Wicked Princesses and the February kits are now available!  There are also some new things happening too from this month so head on over and have a squiz.  It's hard to pick my fave out of them but I think Enchantress: Be Mine wins by a nose!  After all it will soon be Valentine's Day and as I've discovered from recent years, if money is tight Doug truly does appreciate anything I make for him as a gift.  He always takes things off to work and shows them around to his workmates which is really sweet.  If you have a moment swing by here and have a look at the gorgeous new offerings for Feb and if you are still completely undecided, there is a fantastic Wicked Combo which includes three of Wicked Princesses' best kits for the month plus a card kit too for all the card makers out there.  It's also a great price too with value well over the kit cost so would make a nice gift for someone in need of a stash boost or for yourself if you feel like a nice delivery from the postman instead of bills and junk mail lol

The whole project 365 thing seems so popular right now and while I can't say I have devotedly been taking a picture a day - unlike some of you who have been amazing and kept up to date so far - I have taken a few here and there but my lovely friend Jilly has been taking such great pictures that she got me thinking I should be a bit more dedicated so Jill, just for you, a photo!  Not even a good one but a picture nonetheless.  This is my Ikea double drawers that Doug and I 

have on either side of our bed.  They m

See that?  Up there?  The cut off end of sentence?  That's all Blogger managed to save after I typed for half an hour!  Wow have you missed some exciting stuff about Doug's bedside table and his lava lamp "mood lighting", having to take a jar of Vaseline to the shops to buy school uniforms and books, and my unfortunate affliction with cankles.

Blogger, you are truly ticking me off with your lack of ability to keep hold of what I've typed!!!!

I'm going to go put my cankles up on a couple of pillows on my coffee table and wait for the return of some kind of recognisable bone structure while I curse at at Blogger's crappy and ineffective auto-save feature which apparently - despite it's promising name - does not auto save anything.  Ugh.

Kaisercraft January sneak peeks and a layout!

Yes, it's a real live layout that I've done with my own hands.  Almost feels like I'm not a scrapper anymore!!! lol  This is a sketch that I did for Kaisercraft, not a sketch girl at all really but it was great for getting back into the swing of things after such a long break.  It was nice not to have to sit and think it through and see what came but to create with a bit of a plan  so I only had to work out papers, etc.  I've used Esther's Guestlist for the layout plus the coordinating brads, inked Kaisercraft Chipboard, flowers and bling of course!  The beautiful gold brocade ribbon stuff I grabbed from Cass's stash.  She has the coolest stuff in her scraproom that she doesn't realise is cool but when she helped me move, she found a gazillion things in my stash that she thought were cool.  I think we're going to have to have a swap night!  If you're a Kaiser fan, then also keep an eye out for the new silk flowers, plus the paper flowers in fab new colours like purple, pumpkin orange, yellow, olive green, red and black!  We asked for those colours and boy did Kaisercraft listen!!! lol  There are also new bling colours coming out with a vintage feel and I can't wait for those.  I'll be teaching for Kaisercraft at the Brisbane convention in June, doing layouts so if you have any ideas on what kind of classes you'd like to see using Kaisercraft products, leave me a comment with your idea or suggestion and in a week I'll choose a random comment and send you a RAK of a mixed bag of some of the new Kaisercraft flower colours to add to your stash plus a couple of the MDF off the page projects and a packet of bling borders.  Have a great week!  Love Lu xx

Happy New Year!!!! (a little belated maybe lol)

Okay, there once was this blogger who had been flat out so waited AGES to update and get around to it cos she's a bit slack too.  Not that there was nothing to blog about, just that it went on the back burner.  So she sits down one day to update, looking forward to telling the stories behind all the pictures she had put in her blog as a draft a few days earlier.  Well she drank coffee and typed like the wind and eventually was happy with her massive blog post that would surely take anyone an hour to read... :-)  but....when she went to save it in Blogger, the big mean Blogger machine at up her post and said it could not process her request at this time.  She went back to her compose page to copy and paste her blog entry so she could update at a time more convenient to the obviously inconvenienced Blogger but nay!  She could not because the entire post was gone so she was left with nothing but her original pics and no text.  It was a sad day.

Due to slightly massive frustration with Blogger, my first update in just about forver will now consist of dot point pic explanations and I'll attempt a proper post once I get over my annoyance and mistrust of Blogger.

1. Lachlan's Shuffle Up Day where he went from the Upper Junior part of the school to Middle School, the equivalent of graduating primary school (well, the little ceremony thing most primary schools have anyway).  He was quite chuffed with himself and so was I.

2. & 3.  The Christmas tree did go up, a week before we moved, because it just didn't feel like Christmas without it and I needed a visual reminder that there was something to look forward to.  It has birds, bugs, beads, crystal thingies, feather stuff and other assorted crap on it.

4. & 5.  Doug wanted to take the kids to Triple 8 Racing's open day at their new workshops at Banyo.  Was pack, hot, crowded, but the kids all sucked it up beautifully and all "said" they  had a good time, more for Doug's sake I think.  

6. (Below) Caeligh's little "graduation ceremony" from her kindy.  They made them all these cute mortarboard hats with tassels.  She really did like it even if it doesn't look like it here.  The ceremony was combined with the Christmas party which was the Friday night of the last day of "regular" school for the boys.  She's been on holidays ever since and loving it.  Don't know how I'm going to convince her to go school...

7. & 8.  Despite all the chaos of working and moving and end-of-year school stuff, I promised myself we would get away for a few days.  The older boys were going to their dad's for a few weeks so Doug and I took the little ones to Dicky Beach at Caloundra for five days.  We bummed around, spent a lot of time at the pool and the beach, taught James to duck dive for dollar coins (the most effective motivational tool ever for a child who wants to learn how to swim properly but is all wussy about gettnig his face wet!), at fish and chips virtually every night and it was fantastic.  We're planning to go back this Christmas but undertaking the very brave step of purchasing camping gear throughout the year and doing the whole family camp for two weeks if we can.  I don't know anything about camping but if you know how to do it comfortably (if there's such a thing, and we're getting a powered site so that will help) then I'd love for you to share your hints or tips!  

9.  The new mailbox at our new home.  That one picture means a lot to me and represents a lot of things for our family.  We absolutely love the house, love living in it and already everyone is happier.  Caeligh has her own "girly" room, James has his own room, Lachlann has his "fortress of solitude" and a set of double bunks in his room and so does Blayd.  They're all pretty happy campers right now.  Doug and I have a "grown ups" bedroom with a nice Ikea bed, matching double deep drawer chests on each side of our beds and NO COMPUTERS IN THE ROOM!!!!!  It felt like a bit of a battle to be here once we got our application approved.  It was so strange that all the other houses I enquired about/looked at/went to inspections for were also being eyed off by a dozen other people.  This one I had registered my interest for a couple of weeks before but they were having trouble getting the existing tenants out (the tenant had sublet the place to uni students and was thus an absolute hovel when I came to inspect it) so it took longer than I thought and by the time I was phoned about an inspection date, it was a week and a half out from Christmas and I had to check with the RE agent about how many other people were going to come look at it because I was getting tired of competing with everyone else.  She said only one other person had registered interest which was bizarre to me because it's a rare four bedroom and study in Calamvale with separate formal dining (now my scraproom cos I'd never let the kids eat on the carpet!), formal lounge (for a grown-ups lounge room that isn't full of toys etc), a dining, living and rumpus rooms in front of the open plan kitchen, lots of big windows, reasonable yard, master with ensuite and walking distance to school and staggering distance from the Calamvale pub and sort-of nightclub (oh wow, anyone who's a southsider in Brisbane probably has some really good/bad/dodgy memories of their Friday and Saturday nights at the 'Vale!  I know I do!!!!).  Anyway, the RE lady said only one other person had registered interest so I jumped the gun and asked if I could sub an application before I even viewed the place.  She said yes, but I would have to inspect it first before they could give it to the owner for approval.  So I did all that over a couple of days, losing quite a few working hours while I was at it, just scanning and emailing documents, finding the right paperwork, etc.  I turned up on the Friday 12th December to inspect and the other person didn't!  I couldn't believe how it felt like (small God moment here) a path had been completely cleared for me to have exactly what I had been working for with absolutely no competition.  I couldn't quite believe it myself.  The owners accepted the application straight away as they wanted people in by Christmas and we wanted to be in by Christmas.  We did the bond payments the week later (now we're up to a week before Christmas, I'm still working full time and Doug is packing up the old house and it's getting a bit crazy) and had the electricity put on Saturday as the cleaners had to come back because the tenants did a crap job of cleaning the house (not surprised, it would have taken me a week to clean the dump they had turned it into - so bad that at the inspection, I politely took off my shoes at the door - as you do - but by the time we got to the main bathroom that everyone shared, the RE lady says "Oh, you don't have shoes on, you don't want to come in here, just look from the doorway"!!!!  Yep, that bad.   Think a house full of guys with no cleaning ability or inclination at all who apparently are impervious to disease and plague! lol  Anyway, house got recleaned over the weekend and carpets done a second time (cheap, nasty "Rental Beige" carpets I call them, to go with the nasty "Rental Beige" vertical blinda and "Rental Beige" walls!) and we got our keys late Monday morning - the fourth day before Christmas.  Far out, I was stuck at the old house that afternoon, still typing while furniture was being moved around me!  Cass did an amazing job.  Honestly she stepped in, told everyone how and where to pack, move and shift everything, she knew the fastest, safest way to get it all done and I don't know where I would have been without her!  If you ever need one of those people (you know, you can HIRE someone to coordinate your move while you go away for the week or something!) to take charge of a move and set up your new home for you then she's the girl.  I told her she should do that for a business because honestly, I had trouble knowing where to start, but she took our tiny, cluttered house, showed me how to declutter and what to throw out, and has helped turn our new place into what feels like home already.  She's even repainted some of my old, crappy furniture so it doens't look old and crappy anymore!  CASS I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH!  It's her birthday on Sunday (25th Jan) so if you're a follower of her blog, take a moment to stop in and wish her a great day.  I'm still trying to think of what I can do to repay her for everything she's done for me so I'll let you know how I go with that one.  Anyway, it was a race to the finish line but by Christmas Eve we were mostly in, mostly unpacked and only the garage and my scraproom were still packed up and we had a wonderful Christmas with my mum, stepdad and sister, plus Doug's mum, coming over for Brunch and then we had everyone back Boxing Day for lunch.  I love waking up every day in this house and am genuinely thankful for how everything fell into place.  Already the house has managed to stay 99% perfectly clean and tidy for a whole month, not because I've been really anal about it or anything but because there is a place for everything, we only brought with us what we needed/loved and I'm slowly training the children on how to do little things to help maintain the house like putting stuff away, doing a load of laundry every day, turning on the dishwasher each night, etc.  I know they sound like no brainers but I'm not very organised and not a good housekeeper so I'm really proud of all of us right now for trying our best to keep our home clean, tidy and welcoming.  

10. Our new and massive dining table which currently seats ten but I think could fit 12.  Cass's husband, Kelly, very cleverly used a couple of huge pieces of MDF on top of each other for strength that we had at our old house, we bought legs from Ikea, the chairs from Ikea, Cass's dad came over to her garage and routered the edge for us so it looked nice and more professionally finished, and Kelly painted it for us.  It took six people to move it the 50 metres from Cass's place to my place on Christmas Eve in time for our big family brunch on Christmas morning.  Think of all the room we'd have for a crop night at my place!!!  Let me know if you're interested!

11.  I came back from holidays to find Cass (who had very kindly offered to look after the dog etc) had repainted an old pine table that was in my garage, plus she salvaged a big wall mirror and repainted it.  This feature sits in my hallway and I absolutely love it.

12.  Cass's husband Kelly also bought these fab red cannisters (sorry, bad lighting in this one) as a house warming gift for us.  Cass and I were really impressed!

13.  You guessed it, this is my office/scraproom and yep, it's the only unpacked part of the house left! lol  Because I had to work full time again literally the day I got home from holidays, it has been one of those things that came down to doing only what was absolutely necessary, like setting up my computer and transcription equipment and so all my scrap goodies are sitting in boxes, baskets and tubs.  I did a proper tidy up yesterday and now everything is lined up along one wall behind me and much more orderly looking.  I figure I need some "thing" from Ikea, and if you're an Ikea fan you'll know what I mean.  I need some kind of furniture or storage system or some "thing" to put all this scrap stuff into some kind of order and I figure that to be reasonable (so unlike me), I should just leave it all packed up until I have somewhere for it to go otherwise I will be overtaken by product and lost in the mess.  Now that I am lucky enough to have my own room for scrapping, I want it to be clean, organised (sort of and as much as I ever am), and full of things I love so I'm basically waiting for the money to get back up to speed (crappy being self employed over Christmas when clients are away and money is really slow), and I want to invest in a storage/furniture system that works, not buy cheap, half arsed stuff that will "do the job for now" until I get what I really need.  For the first time in my life, I'm actually willing to wait.  So impulsive usually! lol

So that's it, not as long as yesterday's failed blog attempt but better than nothing.  BTW Wicked Princesses are having a garage sale www.wickedprincesses.com.au before our February kits arrive.  I wil have some layouts from the amazing December Dragon kit up this week as I've been scrapping a bit at Cass's place.  Also, there'll be new Kaisercraft soon too which is fab.

I'm not American but hey, congrats USA on your new President!!!  He rocks!!!  

Have a great Wednesday everyone!  Love Lu xx