Fun Monday!

Back at the shop today and we had some lovely customers come in and better still we now have a few "regulars" that we see every week or so. One lady comes from Jimboomba because she says we're cheaper than just about everybody so that's nice to hear as feedback for the shop. I did the usual thing of a bit of dusting and cleaning the counter and the windows and then settled down to do my layout for the Get Real Challenge I'm hosting at Cyberscraps (in our on-line forum and gallery). I had planned what I wanted to do as the challenge this month, in honour of our naughty side (and don't even think about telling me you don't have one!!!! lol), the title must be "Nice Girls Ought Not To .........". Now you can fill in the blank and tell me what you do that nice girls ought not to do. With me it's nice girls ought not to say f**k as I say that far too often and my poor dearly departed mother would be mortified to know what a potty mouth her baby girl has sometimes! It's not like I'd be stuck for ideas though - in my case, nice girls ought not to have piercings in their face, nice girls ought not to get tattoos, nice girls ought not to drink too much, nice girls ought not to spend their last $5 on scrapping supplies, the list just goes on!!!!!! So if you have a confession to make about what you do that nice girls ought not to do, then come over and join in the Get Real Challenge on Cyberscraps. We'd love to hear about your naughty vices and I'm sure you'll get a laugh out of reading about ours!!! Anyway, I DID plan to do that layout but then I had an idea that required a specific photo and some fiddling on Gimpshop so that layout had to go back in the bag until later. Then I decided to do some layouts for Magistical Memories for their design team call and birthday challenge, as well as the last week of the Friendship Rocks contest which I really, really wanted to do the whole five weeks of but got sidetracked all the time and kept forgetting to do!!!! But then I didn't have the stuff I wanted to use so that project went back in the bag as well! Then I settled on my Dare for How Dare You for this fortnight - 3 favourite things in my home. Cass has very kindly scanned my DOUBLE layout and I'll post it up later tonight after she emails it to me. I think I'm happy with it - a kind of uneasy "okay I think it's alright but I can't really tell" so I hope some of you conisseurs of good blogging will tell me what you think when you see it.

Okay well it's RAK time again this week and Cass and I are having a combined Bella RAK. We got some fab chipboard alphas, rub-ons and the sexiest new bling in the shop and because we're loving it so much right now, we figured somebody else might love it too so be sure to drop a comment this week if you're popping in and out of our blogs to be in the running for the RAK. We'll be drawing the winner on Friday after we put together all the combined comments from both of our blogs this week. Don't be shy girls, everybody loves a bit of free stuff now and then - especially when all you had to do was say hi!

A couple of people have asked about online classes for Cyberscraps for those who don't live nearby. We can absolutely do online classes as we have a live chat room 24 a day at our disposal. If you are interested in doing the Tag Album in my last post then be sure to drop me a comment and let me know if you want to do it via our online chatroom regardless of where you live and we can work something out in the way of a class kit in the mail and organising a time. The albums are really simple and once you've done one you'll be able to do them on any theme or event and they are such a quick, easy but really special gift for someone. I'm about to start a Christmas one this week as next month we'll be having Christmas In July classes at the shop. That's handy if you - like me! - still have photos from last Christmas that haven't been touched yet! We'll be having our beginners' classes that are already on the website and we'll also be doing an advanced chrissy and intermediate chrissy layout plus a Christmas tag book like the one I've just done. We can make them up in to kits if you want to purchase them but can't get to the shop to do the class. Hey I'll even chuck in some instructions for you or we'll do the chatroom thing so I can guide you along as you go if you prefer.

Cass finished her Masters stuff today - bless her the poor girl has been frazzled over the whole thing lately and she's poured her heart and soul into the four projects she's done. Between you, me and the doorpost I think she's in with a big chance to not only be shortlisted but to make Master as well!!!! We're hoping she'll at least be shortlisted so we can drive her entries to Sydney - ROADTRIP!!!!!! I can't imagine anything more fun than the two of us running amok on the country's highways, girls on a mission to get to the SM headquarters!!!

I bought two new noserings yesterday while I was at the markets; a small amethyst stud and a nose ring with a silver ball on it. The ring is a teeny bit too big but I'll keep it in reserve for when I need the shock factor. There's certainly a trick to getting that ring out once it's in though and for a little while I was worried I wouldn't be able to get it out again myself! Got it figured out in the end though with no damage to speak of. Lu will be a more careful girl next time though!!!

I have to do some thinking this week about the typing business I run from home and what I need to do to find more clients. The problem is that I don't want a huge 6 day a week thing like I had before because I'd far rather be at the shop these days, but at the same time I do need to be making some money, even if it is through dribs and drabs of work from various places. While I've got you reading, if you know anyone who needs a great typist and is happy to work via the internet and online (email back and forth etc) then can I say "pick me! pick me! pick me!!!!!!". I've been a medical typist for ten years and have experience in gastroenterology, speech pathology, cardiology, general surgery, dermatology, orthopaedics, infectious diseases and I'm pretty fast on the uptake so I can pretty much type anything medical from the word go. At the moment I type at about 85-90 words per minute with 98% accuracy and I've got the whole home office set up going on with a personal IT tech on site 24 hours a day (yay Dougie!!!!). I can work with virtual private networks, remote desktops and via file server and email. I can provide 24 hour turnaround for urgent letters and 48 hour turnaround is standard. I can pretty much type anything but my preference is for medical typing because it's what I'm most familiar with. It's a funny business though - I've spoken to temp agencies who say it's so hard to find a good typist and here I am, and I consider myself to be a good typist but can't find work! I could do temping but I only have a wardrobe full of mummy clothes and to be honest I loathe the idea of having to have the kids in before and after school care every day and having to move from job to job on a weekly or even daily basis. So I'm a creature of habit and like to sit at my desk at home and do my work from there, regardless of where the work comes from. There you have it - a shameless plug for my typing abilities and a gentle nudge, nudge, wink, wink if you know somebody who could use a good typist!!!

There is a fruit shop opening down the street from us at the shop and thank goodness for that!!! I've been enjoying the baker's fine efforts for weeks now and it's starting to show again, slowly undoing all the hard work I put in at the gym. As far as I know it hasn't re-opened yet and I think I'll have to take the weight management thing into my own hands again. I'll have to start replacing danishes with fruit and pies and sausage rolls with salad.

The new SM will be out soon for subscribers. I've got my Real People, Real Stories in this issue and one of my very favourite layouts in it- Tuff Chik. Can I let you in on a little secret? I hope SM staffers aren't devoted blog readers but I especially chose Tuff Chik to submit with my article because I was allowed to choose anything I wanted to be published with the article and I had submitted Tuff Chik a couple of months before, loving it to bits and really confident it would be picked up, and nobody accepted it. I was a teensy bit gutted so I figured I'd get it published in my own way!!! lol Silly but I really wanted it accepted because I liked it. So the next issue will have that one in it and I'm looking forward to seeing it. I've already received my thank you gift from SM for publishing my story - a Pink Martini pack of papers and alpha stickers which are v.cool and I'm sure I'll find a use for very soon. Just as soon as I get all the "have to" scrapping out of the way and fine some time for some "want to" scrapping........!

I'm off to feed the starving masses, attend to homework checks, put babies in baths and hopefully catch a quiet minute for a glass of wine alone with Dougie at some point this evening. Oh yeah and Supernatural is on tonight too so after the kids have finished watching Mythbusters I can put the three youngest to bed and Doug, Blayd and I will settle back to watch this week's dose of fright and fear. Blayd is 12 now so he's only just been allowed recently to sit up and watch anything past 8.30 with us - he's all puffed up about his new status and likes to sit with a coffee no less and curl up next to me on the couch to watch the box.

I'll promise I'll post my double for Dares when I see it and I'll be back soon for more chatter. Don't forget to comment for your name to be in the RAK draw this week. Later babes, Lu