Beauty comes in all forms..

The postal courier just arrived at my house... totally totally TOTALLY unexpected i must add. I have just had beauty delivered to me in the most wonderful form of a stunning mini album, filled with the most gorgeous quotes. decorated with divine little bits.. From velvet to glitter.. to butterflies and tags.. it has it all.
It is now taking pride of place on a very empty top of a set of chipboard filled drawers.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the beautiful lady that sent it my way..
Love you to pieces.. though you know that already..

counting down the days angel.
xxx

Sausage Dog Sausages

Tonight was a quick easy dinner since by the time o got home from Scrappit, and dropped into the supermarket to do my grocery shopping, it was rather late. (6.30) so, it was hot dogs!! Yummmmm. Anyway.. while i was making them, Miranda was sitting with Matt while they were talking to me and Matt was editing some new photos, Miranda asked her daddy the funniest question. "Where do sausages come from!?" "Sausage dogs?". Matt by this time trying to stop laughter.. sadly, i didnt even hear the quesion. Because we were having "hot Dogs" she put two and two together and came up with the thought that sausages for hot dogs came from sausages dogs. ~LMAO~ what the!? Aussies done eat dog! ~L~
Matt was just amazed that she was thinking so deeply about how what where and why.. you know?

Re my scrap teaching... im thrilled.. the owner of the store is thrilled and all the ladies that i have met since becoming the store teacher the ladies that pop in love me... my classes so far have been welcomed with open arms and seats are filling up quickly.. so so chuffed!

Just a quicky tonight..
~hugs~

Honk Honk Toot Toot... Beep Beep

and a SQUEAL even...

Soooooooooooo...... what is the secret??? Is that all that you are hanging around for!? ~LMAO~... Well... Since its obvious that you need a hobby, i will tell you all so that you can get on with life... haha...

I GOT A JOB!!! Not just any job.... I got a job teaching in the local scrapping store... im totally over the moon... seems that my stars are all aligned for once... and what a wonderful alignment its appeaing to be...
publications, acceptances, job offers...

but that is not the only great thing that has been happening in my tiny corner of the world... Kiera has been asked to continue a writing task into a short story for publication through the school and Jamie has made it to regionals for High Jumps...

Im such a proud mama...
who wouldnt be.. right!?

okay... well.. im off to continue my play with Paper.. my first Class is at 10am tomorrow morning and i have to finish off the final touches of my latest work..
(atleast this "work" business will keep me out of trouble and scrapping again, huh!? )

Irony.. or is that fate!?

Why is it that when you are glued to a deadline your printer decides to run out of ink!?

Perhaps its fate instead of Alison giving me a kick up the bum tonight.. haha.. i seem to have a habit of leaving things right to the very last minute...
Like the Christmas Book that i subbed to For Keeps the other night.. i had aaaaages to complete it, though here i was... around about this time of the night, the night that it had to emailed to them by, working my ass off to actually get it there.
Nothing moves you like time.. thats for sure...
what can i say... i work well under pressure... though its harder to work when your cartridge is empty.

The moral of this story is... make sure that you have a sparey tucked away for such an emergency.

Why am i stressing!? Ah.. no reason other than i have to catch the morning mail!!! ~making msn shocked face~

I guess... im going to have to do a mad morning dash next door with a good cup of coffee to butter up the neighbour! hahaha.

Well.. im gonna get back to finishing what i can.

nighty night.
xxx

Secret Stuff

gah... i have a secret... anyway... i am the best secret keeper if it is someone elses secret... though... when they are mine.. i suck.. totally, right royally SUCK.

I'm so excited i could bust... and almost busting because... i want to tell someone.. though.... its a secret so i can't really tell anyone... yet. You know!?
But.. at the same time.. i had to write something... for the sake of doing something so that i don't spill the beans... hahah.
At christmas time, Matt normally knows well before time what he is getting.. because i can't keep the secret right until the day.. though last year i surprised him big time.. i kept the best secret EVER... (but had to sms him to tell him i had a secret!) go figure!?! ~LMAO~
Fathers day is normally celebrated with presents to replace the presents to replace the presents that i have bought him prior and given him because i could not keep the secret. Im totally freakin' hopeless, huh!?
oooh.. ~light bulb moment~ hold that thought!!!! i kept two secrets recently.. Kiera with the Harry potter book that i bought her for her birthday and Jamie with the two matrix ps2 games he desperately wanted.. though.. it was tough.. i tell you.
Perhaps i'm getting better!?

Anyway.. just wanted to say i guess, I HAVE A SECRET!!!!!

hahaha.

PS: We have been renovating our furniture instead of buying new stuff.. anyway.. the reno's so far are coming along very nicely.. the sideboard is almost done... looks fantabulous.. coffee table has its undercoat.
Have to go and buy some bees wax for the table top, some timber beading for something ive decided to add to the side board and screw the hinges back on tomorrow.. and then.. its onto the next thing... two huge book shelves!!! :S
Will have to post a few pictures i feel to show you what we have been up to! Maybe tomorrow..

xxlove ya!

and again....

What a week!
As you would have read i submitted a few things to For keeps. Two things to be exact.. Well while i recieved a congratulatory note in my email about the summer book i was still waiting to hear back about another one.
Dissapointment at reading a Thanks but no thanks from Scrapbooking Memories suddenly turned into squealing all round when i re opened my inbox after closing the note from SM to find a CONGRATULATIONS letter from For Keeps.
Im so so so so over the moon right now.. i cant explain the rush.. from a great start yesterday comes a continuation of wonderfulness..
Here is a sneek!
;)
In total, there are 46 photos, 17 hidden areas & only 7 board pages including front and back cover = 12 scrap pages total... all this in 7.5 x 5.5 inches!

I have to say a huge huge thanks to Alison for kicking my arse enough to get me to complete this for the call out.. as well as her generous, open invitation to her ribbon stash... the home of most of the ribbons used and that glorious beaded trim! I owe ya!!!! Thank you sweetheart!
PS: This one will be in the Christmas Gallery in the same Edition as the Summer one, #61

Anyway.. here is to wonderful Fridays... hope that you are all having one.. i know that i am.. and its just getting better.
I got two movie tickets the other day from the sweetest Lady (she knows who she is) and Matt has just suggested that he take me out to dinner and then go watch a movie... so... 2 layouts accepted and a date night and its not even my birthday... how cool is that!?
hahaha.

love n hugs~
me :)

Miss You Much....

If i could tell you anything today.. it would be that you are missed dearly.. that your little girl still, after 14 years thinks about you every day and wishes things were different and misses you beyond words.
Though... things sadly were not different...

You are there and i am here and all that i have are the memories of the best father a little girl could have ever wished to have.
You have missed so much... so many things that i know.. you would be proud of... exciting milestones that i know that you looked forward to though never got to experience.. three children every day demonstrate the gentleness, compassion and love that they have inherited from you..though, through my eyes.. i hope that you do see... and dont miss a second.

My children, your beautiful grand children know all there is to know about their poppy and even they did not have the opportunity to know you nor meet you.. they are rich still for the memories that i have. and for what i can tell them of the man that will always be my hero.
I can't promise no more tears though i can promise to continue to be the mother that you would have hoped me to be, I hope that i make you proud.
Miss you much dad...and love you for always.
Your little Girl.
xx

Chasing Storms...

Ever since watching Wizzard of Oz as a child i have had a fascination with storms and cloud formations.. and after watching the movie Tiwster many years ago have said that i would before i die love to go storm chasing.. Ofcourse, its not something i would do just by myself... id happily pay to join one of the teams that chase storms across the Unite States... after seeing these pictures that Matt sent me via email this morning (he knows me WAY to well!), my dream of doing such is even stronger than it was.. how amazing are these pictures!?
Some people want to bungee jump, some people want to climb huge mountains, some people want to swim with sharks..
Give me storms, white water Rapids, a parachute and plane, or better still, some serious G's in a fighter jet and i will be a happy happy camper!


Check them out!!!! Aren't they just spectacular!?

Just sharing ...

Wooohooo... I thought i would share my excitement of the morning with you all... I'm being published again, though this time, its For Keeps that has picked me up.
I didnt check my mail yesterday and this morning when i woke and checked it.. there it was... an acceptance for issue 61 later this year - Summer Gallery.
I will give you a sneek peek of the Album that is being published... when i send it off, i will replace it with the published banner.. k!?

Just had to share my excitement...

In Print!

Well.. its official... i'm in print. My first ever accepted Layout has become magazine print!
I got the sms message on friday last week at 6.45am from one very very excited Cath to let me know that my Layout was looking gorgeous on page 32 of this months scrapbooking Memories Mag (i think that is the page)...Thank you sweet heart.. only one other way better to be woken up.. hahaha.. although, it wasn't until last night, courtesty of Alisons wonderful hubby whom brought a copy all the way across town did i actually see it. WOW.. im so so excited... even more impressed. The colours are perfect! I could not be more excited unless ofcourse, it was being used as the picture to the title page of the swirls and flourishes gallery or on the from page itself. Now.. just to get my hands on my own copy of it..

PS: Its ALLAN, not Allen! ;)

PPS: I dont know if i can put the picture back up here yet.. anyone know the protocol!?

a chip in the eye is worth...

well you know the saying.. a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush... i dont know if a chip in the eye is worth anything but lots of laughter and tonnes more stinging from the salt that was on it.
It was too funny not to share and im sure that my purple headed giggle pot of a friend will be laughing her arse off at my stupidity... so.. here i am... still blushing from embarrassment, eyes wet from tears of laughter... and red from salt reaction.
Tonight we decided to have an easy dinner since Matt and i got out into our front yard, did some weeding and mowed the lawns that were well and truely in need of some TLC. So... just for those that see easy as ducking to the fish and chip shop, let me clarify.. we are talking box fish and mc cains crunchy fish and chip shop style crunchy chips.. tossing them in the oven is easy... means i can toss the kids into the bath and shower while its cooking and then there is no waiting for people to come eat.. ANYWAY.. (im rambling)... i quality control tested these so called crunchy chips tonight.. and... you know what!? They are super crunchy. For some unknown reason.. (i do lots of dumb things after all)... i held the chip between my thumb and fore finger at each end and pushed hard... the thing just was not going to snap in two.. (and it was not over cooked)... then.. all of a sudden.. snap... wham... OUCH... it snapped...& hit me right in the eye ... while it was open still no less... thus the ouch!
Hope you get as much of a laugh as the guys did... they thought it hysterical.. didnt matter that my eye was on fire with the sting of salt and i couldnt see because my eye chose the moments after to snap shut and refuse to open again! ~L~

It made me think almost immediately to the Book of me challenge that i have set over at Froggy Todd. "Through these eyes" & "behind these eyes".
Jamie definately thought i should get my picture taken and scrap it... i think not! ~L~
I seriously dont think i need to document for future generations ALL my stupidity, besides.. i have no doubt there will be many other oportunities.. dont you?

Scrapboxx & a Scrap Box

Well....
yesterday i did it... i broke the drought! Would you believe that the last time i REALLY played with paper and did anything more than a card or two was in MAY!!!!????
Yesterday i recieved the latest scrapboxx newsletter (which i have to say i look forward to every month. Thanks Maria :D) and fell in love with a LO that Kim Archer had done for the back to Bassix challenge.. i had to have it... the first time ever i have scrap lifted in entirety a LO, but since its for my own personal use, wont be published online.. not even in my blog, i didnt think there was any harm... and i have given the artist full credit. I hope that she see's it as the greatest form of flattery... today, i love you Kim!!
Without this newsletter and this gorgeous (i hope it is going to be published) LO, i would have still been deep in drought.
I had all the items to create the layout & make the embellishment... i didnt go any further than my scrap-box. (no pun intended)
It has been the longest time since ive created anything and it felt so good. In April i got sick and by May i was unable to scrap... as i started to get better, i had to see my doctor about my hands since they were hurting around the clock and it got to the stage that i was almost unable to hold a craft knife let alone hold a ruler still. To a scrapper... and a serious scrapper at that, this was a nightmare. I became depressed about the thought of not being able to do one of my favourite things again.. my other, is quilting... just as depressing was the thought... i found it harder and harder to be inspired, to be creative as i knew that even if i was inspired, i could not do much because my hands would ache so badly and i would regret it days after.
Anyway... my worst nightmare became reality when i was diagnosed with Rheumatoid athritis... but it doesnt stop there... after a series of xrays was taken, it was discovered that while i dont have serious degenerative changes yet, i have a god aweful cyst in my wrist (on the hand side) that is pressing on muscles and restricting movement in my fingers.
I also found that i had a deficiency in b1, b2, b12, a low white blood count and was iron deficient which was associated to chronic tiredness, i have two bone growths on my left foot that are growing into soft tissue.. While, this means that i cant walk very far some days when the pain is so bad, it means that i should be able to sit and scrap.
Medication has eased the effects of the deficiencies, pain medication and anti-inflamitories are helping with the pain and Kim Archer, it seems is helping with the inspiration.
Between them all, i think i will be okay!
:)
Happy humpday everyone... i have some scrapping to do!

Birthday wishes for the birthday Girl.

Happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday my sweet lil lady..
Happy birthday to you!

I cant believe it.. my first born is 14... i dont where the time went. You know..i still remember every detail (well.. all but what was blurred by huge doses of drugs)... i remember how i felt (other than numb and sick! ~L~) what she smelt like..(beautiful) what the weather was like.. (hailing).. like it was only yesterday that i held my gorgeous baby in my arms.. even though she is now, quiet litterally, a young lady.. she will be very much, like Jamie and Miranda, my baby for always.

You make me proud with everything you say and do.. your tollerance of those around you.. your beliefs and determination and the wisdom beyond the years..
Love you baby girl.