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

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

A challenge blog layout and a just for fun

Okay well it's been more of the same here, lots of work, not enough time to scrap but last night I stayed over at Cass's place and got a couple of things done which is better than nothing in my book.  The above layout was just playing around really.  The paper is from a dirt cheap $3 paper pack from K-Mart of all places (thanks to Kylie and Peta for the heads up!) and I've used the glittery pink thickers I've had for ages plus some beautiful ribbony/fibre stuff I bought from Viv Bonder's etsy shop which I've loved and used loads of since I got it.  It came all bundled up in a lovely thicke skein and I was almost sad to unwind it all and use it!!! lol  

The ICK layout is for Category Stories and while I did later pat the snake in the picture, it still doesn't reduce the ICK factor for me!!!  

I'm also 3/4 the way through a layout for the Inspired by Amelie challenge site.  I saw the title on a bumper sticker somewhere and you'll get it when you see it.  Hopefully I can finish it over the next couple of days but I have work to do today sadly.

We're thinking of moving...*sigh*.....hate the very thought of moving but our house just is no longer big enough and Caeligh and James at 4 and 7 respectively are still sharing a room.  Considering she starts school next year I think it's time for her to have her own room now that she is a"big" girl, just ask her!!!  We've done the big toss up between buying and renting somewhere else and I just don't know what will be right for us.  Douglas is terrified of the commitment of a huge mortgage which is understandable and it would suck up the newfound income we now have which we're not spending on anything particularly important at the moment.  It's getting spent on wants rather than needs, although mind you a new couch is a need I guess, especially if the existing one breaks!!! lol  On the other hand, the drama of the private rental market makes me cringe, the inspections, the now very regular rent rises, the uncertainty of having the house sold out from under you and having to move again.  That all makes me loathe to rent privately again.  We rent a housing commission place right now which, when we first got it, we really needed as I wasn't working but now that I am working I know there are people who need it more than us and if we can afford to rent privately then we should do so and let someone else doing it tougher have this place.  Admittedly even though we don't get subsidised rent - we pay market rent here - it's still considerably cheaper than private rental and I think we've been a bit spoiled by that and not used to shelling out hundreds and hundreds each week for a house.  We did consider buying the house we're living in, staying for a while and then selling it later and using any profit as another deposit on a next house but now that the renovations are finished the house is worth more in the open market and the housing commission no longer offers a discounted house price to its' renters.  The house is market valued like any other house and that's what you pay.  I cannot imagine coughing up $300,000 to live in Inala, sorry that's just my personal opinion.  So the whole "what should we do, what should we do" thing is going on here and while financially we're okay right now, nobody knows what the future holds.  I don't want to place my family in a position were we suddenly cannot pay the rent or cannot pay the mortgage but we can't really stay where we are either.  Hmmmmm.........

Anyway, that's my little thought vent for the day.  It doesn't clarify anything in my mind to put it down for the blogworld to read but I guess I'm just thinking out loud if you like.  I'm sure it will all figure itself out in the end but God, I sure wouldn't mind a hint or two about what we're meant to be doing!!!  I know He knows but how about letting me know!!! lol  Yes, all in good time I can hear some of you saying....lol.

I've got netball this afternoon with Cass and her sisters and a couple of other people.  Sadly I don't actually play netball, I just kind of run around my bit of the court trying not to knock people over or get knocked over myself!!! lol  I never played netball in highschool so I had to learn the rules very fast and so far I've worked out that if I just do what comes naturally when I play wing defence - be clumsy and get in people's way - then that seems to work okay.  I am going to the chemist to get sports tape today though; I've rolled my left ankle the first game and last week, second game, I rolled the right one so I've come to the conclusion that I have weak, girly ankles and need to strap them before I really do some damage to myself.  I've also worked out that netball is vicious!!!!  And the guys are worse than the girls - we're playing in mixed teams.  How on earth do I goal defend against a 6'5" man????  I believe groin shots are not permitted so we lost that game....lol  I asked Cass if she thought we'd maybe get a crap team to play against today and she smiled at me and said "Dear, we ARE the crap team" lol

I'm off to type so enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great week.  Shout out to all the mums who will be enduring student free day tomorrow - thinking of you and wishing you strength, tolerance and coffee.

Lu xx

What's for dinner?

Caeligh:  "What's for dinner tonight Mum?"

Me:  "Roast chicken"

Caeligh:  "Well I'm sure not gonna eat that!", pokes a face at me.

Me:  "Why not?"

Caeligh:  "Cos if something is gross you're not sposed ta eat it!!!" yells at me. 

Quite obviously I need an interpreter....lol

All quiet on the Western front except for......

....I'VE BEEN CHOSEN TO BE A WICKED PRINCESS!!!!!  I've never applied for a kit DT before but there's always a first time for everything and I've sworn of retail design teams forever so I was looking for something else to try.  I stumbled across Wicked Princess kits by accident while having a blog hop and really liked the kits.  I've always been wary of buying kits because I was worried that even though you see a picture of what's in them, somehow it's not the same in real life and I'll end up with things that aren't quite the colour I thought they were or something.  I guess I've always liked the safety of having my money in my hand and going to the LSS to buy exactly what I want so I know I'll use all of it.  I saw Karen and Tam's call for a design team not long ago and figured why not?  I looked at their kits and the pictures were very good and I liked just about everything in them so I thought I'd take te leap.  I'm hoping they'll learn to love my creative yet slightly inappropriate side!!! lol  So I'm very excitedly waiting for my first kit so that I can go totally crazy with it and the add ons are awesome too so I'm very keen for my AP courier to turn up hopefully this coming week.  I'll let you know how I go and post some layouts when they're done.  Also very importantly, because October is breast cancer month, Wicked Princess are donating $5 from every kit purchased in October and  up to 15th November to this fabulous cause.  What better reason could there be to grab a great kit plus support a cause all close to our boobs...ahem, I mean hearts!

I haven't been scrapping much lately, I'm still trying and failing to get that work/life balance right.  I did however take on a wonderful new client which means I'll be able to cut down my transcription company work a bit and maybe have a full day of once a week now.  The lack of scrapping time hasn't cut into my ability to buy scrapping products though! lol  I'm still going hammer and tongs at that because I figure I'll get to scrap one day soon!  I've raided Spotlight lately and been looking for interesting habby stuff and ribbon and trim, plus they've got a great selection of feathers, flowers, etc for making fascinators (you know, feather dusters ladies at the races wear on their heads that isn't quite a hair accessory and not quite a hat?).  There's so much stuff that's scrapbable that isn't in the scrapbooking section.  Quick question, does anyone else dislike the fact that Spotlight have their scrapbooking papers organised by colour instead of by brand or range?  I find it really annoying because I know what I'm looking for.  I don't know if the colour system is easier for seasoned scrappers or beginners but I don't like it and end up not buying any of it.  They also have a great range of Kaiser products which is good to see.  Oh wow speaking of which, keep an eye out at your LSS for the new ranges coming out this month; Distracted, Dancing Jewel and Rustic Charm.  They are awesome!  There's also some fantastic new rhinestone releases and chipboard - yep, I said CHIPBOARD ALPHABETS!!!  These days Kaisercraft have all the bases covered and the prices are always great.  I'm looking forward to getting my hands on some of that too.  The Distracted range is my favourite so far.  I've also been to a couple of LSSs around the place and picked up new Basic Grey and I've been feeding my Thickers habit as well.  So the sad bit is that while I have lots of nice stuff to use I feel like I have no time to use it all.  I'm hoping to shift my scrapping into the loungeroom soon (hasn't happened yet) and that way I'll be more inclined to do stuff while I can watch TV or hang out with the kids etc.  Right now I spend so many hours in front of the computer that I don't feel like staying at the same desk for more hours to get scrapping done.  We did have a crop night last week at Cass's place with some friends over - hi Peta and Kylie!!!! - and we had a great night catching up and I did get a layout done - see above.  It was for Aussie Scrapjack and I'm really happy with it although it is way OTT.  The huge purple flower is from Spotlight and the big chipboard circle is from Magistical Memories.  The photo was of my catch up with my aunty Anne and my grandparents when Cass and I were in Townsville on our way to Hughenden back in August.  We only had a couple of hours so I took heaps of photos.  It means so much to see myself in pictures with people whom I look like, so I can say I can see a family resemblence.  Being adopted, I missed that growing up and was always envious of my friends for having family whom they looked like.  So I was so glad to see them all as Granddad is not well right now and I was very lucky to have gotten the chance to see him.

THe kids are all good, glad to be back at school as it's the last term and they just want for it to be over.  They're all looking forward to Christmas already and let's face it, the shops are not making it easy as they are putting stuff out already!!!  We're still tossing up colour options for the tree this year.  We wanted to get a black one with lights wired into it but I haven't seen Target's tree display yet (as, kindly of them, they haven't put theirs up yet).  I change colour schemes every year but don't worry, I don't waste last year's stuff, some years I mix and match what I have from previous years or Cass and I have a very successful decoration exchange programme going on so we always have colours to choose from! lol  

I'm off to get some typing done (the paying kind, not the playing kind) so have a good weekend and I'll try to be more regular with my posting although I'm not sure anyone reads here anymore! lol  Chat soon, Lu xx