Challenge blogs rock!!!

You know they do!!! Cass and I love 'em so much we made one of our own but you know the deal with that - launching 18 September - be there!!!! (or be.....um.....somewhere else I guess!!!! lol).

One Little Word's bright shiny new word for the fortnight is PURE and I totally love it. Also totally love this layout - yep a bit of a cheater here cos I've had this layout for a while now and none of the mags liked it but I really love it so I'm happy to wheel it out for another go!!! lol It definitely meets the criteria and I'm running more than a bit short on time - if I had to create a layout from scratch these days I don't know if I could do it in time.

All About Eve has the lowdown on the everyday this time around and we should all be scrapping a bit more of that. It's those little moments each day that make up the real substance of our lives and sometimes I know I'm guilty of neglecting to scrap them in favour of the "perfect moments" which look great on a layout but in reality are few and far between.

There's a new Dare out tomorrow so keep an eye out for that one.

Thanks to everyone who has popped over to Everyday Garbage for a look see - the response so far has just been mind blowing! I love the layout I've done for our first challenge so I can't wait to throw down the gauntlet to you garbage girls out there!

On the home front, I'm a little sleep deprived as I struggle to catch up with the backlog of typing I had waiting for me when I started work this week. Yep I can chant "think of the money, think of the money" all I like but it will be mumbled and I'll have trouble keeping my eyes open while I say it!!!! lol I'm keeping myself alert and entertained in between typing letters by blogsurfing (which is my favourite way to waste time!) and taking 5 minutes here and there to do errand type stuff. We're looking to move closer to the boys school over the Christmas holidays and so we've had to do some serious research on whether we should try and buy without having saved a deposit (except for that ridiculous first home owner grant which is a drop in the ocean these days compared to how high house prices have gone) or find a rental place with hopefully a long-ish lease. To be honest I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a dessert fork than have to rent privately again but beggars can't be choosers and a mortgage repayment is a huge commitment these days. It's not something that was just another one of the usual bills like it was for our parents - these days it's a massive, ugly chunk of income and the way interest rates and prices keep going up and up, it's a risk that so many people can't or won't take, and that's even among the people who can afford to!!!! Never mind the masses who would love to own their own home but would need to start selling their kids to afford it!!! Yep that's shocking but I can say it because that's Doug and I!!!! lol It's sad that the norm these days is to either rent and be poor, or really put your family on the line, buy a house and then try to pay it off and be even poorer. I don't know what people are meant to do........it shouldn't be this hard for so many...........

Enough of that whinge cos you've heard it all before.....I've got all three boys at home from school today. We had one of THOSE mornings where every kid seemed equally determined to make sure nobody got out of the house on time. Doug had to be at work early today cos he has a training thing to go to this afternoon so he needs to leave early and the childrens' timing was spectacular. So by 8.15 (Blayd is meant to be at school by 8.30 and we live 20 minutes away at least in busy traffic) Lachie didn't have his lunch made, James was throwing a foam-at-the-mouth fit cos he couldn't find his school jacket and then when he did find it he decided he didn't want to wear it and wanted to argue that even though he had goosebumps, suddenly he wasn't cold!!! Blayd kind of wandered around tut tutting at everyone for not being ready even though he still had a pile of homework he hadn't done and made quite clear he wasn't going to do (I hope he paid attention in English so he can properly spell D E T E N T I O N!!!!!!) and Caeligh generally ran amok and annoyed the boys as much as she possibly could. Because I'm a slacker mama and didn't get Lachie's birthday cake baked, cooled and iced in time last night (only got the baking part done but hey at least I tried!!!) I said they could have it with breakfast this morning (told ya I was a slacker mama!!! lol) so I iced it when I got up at 4am this morning to work and left it on the table. By the time the boys got around to showering and getting dressed and actually making it to the kitchen to have breakfast Caeligh had already done the Hollywood Boulevard thing and put her two famous handprints right in the middle of it!!! Then she ran around stamping the walls and furniture with chocolate icing, not to mention her clothes too or otherwise what would be the bloody point if you can't make a mess of yourself as well as your surrounds I ask???????? That was probably the worse of her morning performance, today was more of a steady level of general mischief rather than full on demon-possessed mental acts that she sometimes goes for (the smashing light bulbs thing - surely you remember that one?). So once we had firmly established that she was going to be a moderate pest for the day I decided that kindy was in order as I needed to get more work done today so kindy it was and off she went to greet her adoring fans. I can't believe she has so many friends considering the way she treats her family!!!! So Doug stomped about and huffed and tried to keep his temper even though he knew he was going to be late YET AGAIN by the time he dropped Caeligh at kindy and the boys at school so I made him a coffee and said "honey just leave the boys home today" - honestly he looked at me like I'd just told him I'd found him a lifesaving organ donor!!!! (which by the way is such a good cause - I've happily registered to give whatever I've got left that's useful once I cark it - think of the worst case scenario of a partner or child facing death because not enough people donate organs to find a match, it's tragic, terrible and shouldn't happen). So anyhow he snatches the proverbial Get Out Of Jail Free card, his workbag and Caeligh and makes a quick escape. I've told the boys to get out of their uniforms, eat their school lunches if they are hungry and let them clean the house for me while I type and then play xbox for the rest of the day. Are you listening you education department people??? I LET THEM STAY HOME BECAUSE IT WAS TOO DAMNED HARD TODAY!!!! I'm sure lots of us do it but not many admit it. James and Lachie love school and are fast studies so I don't believe they'll be academically compromised by today's lack of structured learning and Blayd is doing so little in school right now that if I taught him to correctly load a dishwasher then he's achieved far more than he has in class for the rest of the week anyway. There is the little voice in the back of my head (y'know the one - the Perfect Life Patrol Mummy voice) that says what a bad mother I am but I've just handed her another vodka cocktail and told her to shut up!!!! I - on the other hand - have no vodka cocktail but heaven knows I could totally go one right now but drink-typing is about as successful as drink-driving. The only thing that allows me to type as fast as I do is my two handed co-ordination which isn't good for any fun stuff like playing piano or being ambidextrous, just typing, and if I get wobbly with that then I may as well turn the computer off and try again tomorrow and well I just don't have time for that!!!! lol

Okay I'll go now but that was the start of my day so I hope it makes at least some of you feel better!!! If, on the other hand, you think our start to the day was a walk in the park then I'd love to hear yours so I can cackle madly with laugher (with you, not at you.......).

Later babes, lotta love Lu