Who's game?

I found out about Project 365 and I'm totally intrigued by it.

So, who else is game? I'd really like to be able to take the whole thing to the end but possessing a practical and scatterbrained ID, I'm not going to bash myself for missing a few days here and there.

LOL - I might even blog about it...

Merry Christmas!!!!

I hope everyone is having a safe and happy day. My cousin has had a baby boy and the poor kid is now doomed to a life of either a big combined present or 2 half presents. Welcome Plaxico and good luck to you. No, that's not his name but it was a joke a little while ago, I'm still waiting on the official name....and the pictures.

Once again, Santa has been very good to us and for the first time in a very long time, DH had the biggest present, hands down. Only problem is that he's going to have to fight the kidlets to use it and probably every kid on the block too.

Going to play some more...

I've come in from the cold

I'm Baaa-aacck!

I had to leave in a hurry, and no, no-one was after me, I just to had to catch up on some family time abroad due a sad but expected event.

On the other hand, I got home late last Thursday and realised that I had 2 weeks of baking and preparation to squeeze into 5 days otherwise it just wouldn't be Christmas.

Growing up in my family, it's all about the food. Food truly means love and the more food there is, the more love to be shared. My poor DH is having a hard time coping with that since the house now looks like a bakery exploded in it and the fridge doors are barely closing. To me, Christmas means black cake which is a fruit cake that's moist and marinated in rum and cherry brandy, pastels which is a type of meat pie that's steamed in a cornmeal batter and wrapped in banana leaves, cookies and ham. Without any of these, it's just not right. I had to make an attempt to remedy the situation so the oven's been on for 2 days and I've got most of it out my system. The ham is in the fridge and I'm making an apple pie for dessert.

This is what it looks like after I've given half the cakes and a third of the cookies away.



Black Cake....mmmmm....


Lamingtons for the DH....



Gingerbread for the kidlets to decorate



More sugar cookies for decorating



And...chocolate chips with Christmas M&Ms for the DS - by request



There are still a couple things that I haven't done that I usually do, but I'm time crunched this year. Maybe next week for New Years....

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

OMG, I didn't realize how long it's been since I've been back :)

Well, Thanksgiving was a pretty low key affair. We did have an invitation to go to my girlfriend's mom's house for dinner but I made a critical error. I let it slip that they karaoke and DH flat out refused to even think about going. We ended up having a nice, quiet Roast Beef dinner since we're not real big on turkey. DD was a little disappointed since they've been going on and on at school about the turkey dinner and she really wanted it but, like I said, no-one in this house really cares for it. At least not a whole bird's worth of it.

I braved Black Friday - that's traditionally what they call the Friday after Thanksgiving - and it's the day all the stores have the big sales to kick start Christmas shopping. I guess it's the equivalent of Boxing Day shopping. Only thing was that this year, it was pretty quiet compared to the past. I went to the mall around 6:30 am, the store I wanted to go to was supposed to open at 6 and I didn't realize that the WHOLE mall was open at 6 and while, there were quite a few people there, it was more like a weekend crowd as opposed to the BIG SALE day crowd. I've braved Boxing Day sales in Sydney and Toronto where I got in early and left before the riots, and I mean riots, no exaggeration. I've witnessed the wedding dress sale rush in Filene's Basement - you couldn't pay me to step foot in there that day. This year, there was nothing of the excitement of the sale which probably isn't going to be good for retailers. I also noticed that the sales weren't that great either, there was the usual electronics specials and a couple really good specials on a FEW toys but the real, bargains that you used to be able to find were almost non existent.

But, Christmas shopping is DONE!! I'm expecting the need for the last minute present as usual but family gifts are packed away to be wrapped. On that note, let me say that I don't approve of people putting up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, even if you don't celebrate it. It just somehow seems disrespectful to me. It's like celebrating Easter before Christmas, doesn't seem right. There are quite a few houses in our area that have had their yards decked out with lights and snowmen for almost 2 weeks now and it didn't seem appropriate. And let me say for the record, in Florida, there is NO SNOW so there should be NO SNOWMEN in the front yard. Dress Santa in a Hawiian shirt and sunglasses, snowmen in 75 degree weather (22-ish Celsius) don't exist. Even if we are having a cold spell, it's still warm enough to wear shorts.

Still no scrapping :( but I'm in the (long, slow) process of clearing off my work space to set up the sewing machine to quilt. Ambitions...

Why is this so difficult?

We've been trying to sort out Christmas lists. The local toystore is going to be open on midnight on the Friday after Thanksgiving so I'm getting a list prepared and for all the stuff that they've been asking for, I still don't know what to put on the list.

We narrowed it down to about 4 items each and a couple big items that they have to share but for some reason it took all morning. I don't get it.

Another thing, I don't understand why I'm compelled to get them anything at all. Little monsters still can't pick up what they've thrown down and when I was that age, I was lucky to get anything at all. My mom will freely admit that we didn't get stuff when we were kids, mainly because the money wasn't there but also, my parents would work like dogs right up until Christmas Day and never had the time to shop anyway. Christmas Day was one of the few family days that we had and that was only after they got to sleep in.

What happened?

Not much. A funny thing happened though, I finished reading the Twilight series - and let me say now, I've never been affected by a story like that since I read Jane Eyre when I was 9. Ever since I finished it, I've been in a funk. I think it ended too well, too perfect and for the intended teenage audience, that's probably the perfect ending but for my jaded and advanced years, I found that I was depressed. It took a long time to figure out exactly what was bothering me and I think I was experiencing, for the first time in my life, envy. Envy that I physically cannot achieve that state of contentment and happiness that ended the story, envy that I don't have all the time in the world to pursue all the things I want to achieve. All this hit me last night and it was like a wall came down and I can breathe again.

Well done Stephanie Meyers!! You got me good and to be honest, I loved it.

Turning my attention to MY life now, quite a few things can happen in 7 days. You can:

• Start, er, restart, running again
• Completely overestimate cake batter volumes and end up with 3 doz cupcakes and a 15" bundt cake from the same batch
• Start and FINISH 3 novels - more on those later, I hate when I finish something in the middle of an incomplete series
• NOT download a cardful of photos from your camera
• NOT take pictures of all the Christmas tags you've finished
• Vacuum and mop up crumbs from under the dining table 3 times a day and still not see a difference
• Look helplessly at a mountain of crap on and around your desk and STILL decide to do nothing about it - reading is so much more interesting
  
• Wonder why it is your children are the ones in school but you're still doing homework
• Completely ruin a dinner that's supposedly fool proof
• Make new friend that could turn out to be a very distant relation

Yes, in 7 days, this and more can happen and there's still no mention of sleep in that list and a looming family crisis.

Anyway, back to the reading thing...

I think this is just to piss me off, but all the authors/books that I've gotten interested in or want to read, are not currently available in the US until sometime next year. Karen Miller's final installment to the Godking trilogy isn't available in the US until next year. I still can't find Alan Campbell's 2nd novel here -ok, ok, he's British, but it was available in Sydney when we left so I assumed that I'd find it here eventually. Brent Week's final installment to the Shadows won't be available in paperback until December and that series has been out for ages - and yes he's American so it doesn't quite suit the rant but it's my rant so piss off. Most of these books are written years in advance, why can't they be published together so I get them all at once??? No wonder I keep rereading them, by the time the last one's out, it's been 2 years since I've read the first one and the OCD in my compels me to finish what I've started. I have to reacquaint myself with the whole story and that throws me off.

Anyway, on my waiting list is Karen Miller's Godking finale, Neil Gaiman's next novel - I forget the name, oh and as a completely different aside, Coraline is being made into a movie and I'm really excited about that, I'm trying to find my copy so DD can read it. Sadly what could be Terry Pratchet's last novel is also due out soon. Hopes and good wishes to him and his family. Beetle Bardly is here in a couple weeks. I've also discovered that Lynn Fflewing has released a new series so that's on the radar too.

Onto my new friend...funny how some people seem to be destined to meet. I took the kids to a halloween party of a couple of their school friends and I met this really cool lady there. She's:

• Chinese
• Married to an expat Aussie from Perth
• Has 2 kids - 6 and 2
• Lives about 3 streets down from me
• In Chinese - that is, if it was written in Chinese characters - the SAME maiden name
• Totally cool
  

It was so funny. Bits of our conversation was something like:

"My husband's Australian"
"My husband's Australian. Where's he from?"
"Perth"
"Oh my God! My husband's from Perth!"
"Which community do you live in?"
"Savannah"
"No you don't!"

And so the night went on. It was like watching someone else have my life so we're keeping in touch so the boys can meet and the kids can play. That was one of the more profound moments of my week.

Finally, Madagascar 2 starts tonight so we're heading down to the drive-in tomorrow to check it out with a fried chicked picnic.

Ta daa!

*Sigh* First Halloween

It's been a long eventful week and it's still not really over. No mojo to get a buzz with either, hopefully I can snap out of it soon.

The kidlets had a Halloween parade at school today and, yes, they were all very cute in their outfits, boy they're loud. About 400 kids from ages 3 to 10 packed into a gym, vibrating their way across the floor, laughing and talking and teachers on the mic and music in the back and parents yelling at their children to stand still to take photos, it was so nice to leave. Dh has some pictures somewhere....

It's not over yet, trick or treating still to come...

6 things about me

I got tagged by Vicky to share 6 facts about me so here goes

1. When I was about 14, I thought I was going to marry an Australian. I didn't have a particular one in mind, it was more a philosophical idea - like I was going to drive a red car or have 7 kids.
2. I actually did want to have 7 kids.
3. I can't stand reality TV.
4. I can daydream into tomorrow if I'm not careful.
5. I have a basket fetish.
6. Ferns are my favourite plant.

My turn to tag now...

I think I'll tag Jude, Kylie and TBD

Schemes!

It's no secret that one of my kids is a picky eater. DD will only eat from a list of about 10, maybe 15 things, all bland, all dry, all single foods. She won't eat anything with a sauce and hates to have her food touch or mixed. Can you see OCD tendencies?

Anyway, one of the things that she's dead set against is pizza. We only have to suggest pizza for dinner and there's wailing and gnashing of teeth. So this morning, when she say quite clearly

"Mom, I tried pepperoni pizza. I liked it"

"Oh really?" My almost nonexistent eyebrows are about level with my hairline. I'm waiting for the punchline.

"That means we can go to Chuck E Cheese now right?"

Ah, the other shoe dropped! For those unfamiliar with Chuck E. Cheese, it's a children's arcade who's sole reason for being is to take your money. In a desperate attempt to keep you there as long as possible, they offer assorted fast cardboard meals, most of which are cooked in a microwave and arrives about 2 hours after you've ordered from the 13 yr old serving staff. If I remember correctly it's either pizza substitue or wings substitute.

I can't stand the place - it looks and sounds Lord of the Flies in a room of pokie machines. I've been able to avoid the place by saying that there's nothing there that she'd eat - namely pizza but it appears that she has overcome that last hurdle. I'm going to have to test this quite vigorously before commiting to risking my sanity.

Well, I did it!

After weeks of fighting with kidlets about cleaning the playroom, picking up their stuff and putting their toys away, the boom dropped. I told them over the weekend that "On Monday when you're at school, I'm going to throw away anything that's on the floor so make sure that you put anything you want to keep away"

They thought I was playing....

I collected 3 garbage bags worth of assorted trash, toys and craft items and they are currently on the curb awaiting pickup. I think there are going to be a couple pairs of very large eyes after school this afternoon. Ah....

Doh!

Well, I didn't make the Scrap4Life DT team. The last challenge was a Christmas themed OTP item and I did a mantel setting. Yes, yes, we don't have mantels in Florida but I did one all the same. It started off with the clock and I decided it needed candles around it and that spawned the circular NOEL and the trees but thetrees were too big for the circle so they got their own spot. Ideally the clock would be between the 2 sets of candles, maybe 6" over the surface.



Here are some close ups -
Here's the clock. I completely lost focus on the fact that the clock frame is pink so it doesn't quite match the blue theme I was going for...


Here a shot of the candles on the table.


I was having a serious mojo deficiency with all the stuff that was happening during the week too and I wasn't sure if I was going to get it in on time but it happened. I'm a little bummed out but that's ok, it just means that there's something else for me coming round the corner. The girls that did make it are really really deserving as well so it's all good.

Ugh - it's been an eventful week...

This week did NOT start well and it's ending isn't very relaxing either. Monday, we had to go to the kids' school for the little one's parent conference. After hearing that he's clearly the most advanced and well adjusted child in the class and that he's been telling embarrassing stories about me, the car decided to go on strike and not move.

Eventually it gets towed to the shop to find out that the shifter cable's snapped and it needs to stay overnight and have a new shifter installed. Thank God for good neighbours. They came out while the car was getting dragged up the tow bed and offered us their extra car while ours was getting fixed.

Did I mention that while all this was going on, DH was away? At least he was around most of Monday but with getting the car back and dealing with a bunch of crap that came up out of the blue along the way, I'm really tired right now. Tuesday was getting all the stuff I missed from Monday done, Wednesday was still playing catch up and dragging them all over for after school stuff, kids had a school holiday yesterday, DS is home today sick. At least he's supposed to be sick. If I didn't know that he projectile puked all over the back seat floor, I'd be packing him back to class. He NEVER pukes - I think I can count all the times he's puked like that on one hand - so just in case, we felt he should stay home. He's not acting sick though...

In between all of this, I needed to get my project for the DT Comp I'm in, it's the make or break it week and I bit off more than I could chew. This thing took on a life on its own and I went a little overboard so now I need a nap. It's done and photographed thank goodness. Will find out on Sunday, fingers crossed.

Round 4

Woo hoo!! I've made it to Round 4 in the Scrap 4 Life DT Contest and I am chuffed!! Last challenge was to use paper piecing in the layout and that's not something I do at all. Came up with this:



Here's the fairy on the left as I was trying to leave it alone to dry



This was one of the more painful challenges since I really needed to think of something that I'd use. Die cuts and paper piecing are NOT my go to items. I am really pleased with how it turned out though.

Off to have a think now on the next one...

True Blood and books

Ok, I've had a vampire fixation since I was about 3. One of my earliest memories is watching Dark Shadows with my grandparents, howling with the wolf. The last 30-humph years of my life has been littered with countless books and movies about Count Dracula and his ilk, Christopher Lee was my favourite bad guy. Needless to say, this my tastes have expanded to all sorts of other sci-fi and fantasy but the undead has always topped the list.

I'm very geeked about the True Blood series that's been airing on TV for the past few weeks, they've made a few character changes from the original books by the FABULOUS Charlaine Harris. As an aside, I've been a fan of her books for many many years and I love her books' character development and social commentary. Anyway, back to True Blood, I'm finding that I'm making time to sit and watch it and I never do that and I think part of the reason is all the eye candy that's parading across the screen. Whatever the reason, I'm there!

Now there's the Twilight movie coming out and I'm a little miffed that I don't have the rest of my books yet. I bought the first Twilight book when it first published about 4, maybe 5 years ago and I didn't get the rest because I thought the publishers were taking too long to release them, I made the decision that I'd get all of them once the last one came out. Having said that, I'm waiting for my box set and my fingers are drumming...

After all this, the only vampire books I can't read are the ones by Laurel Hamilton. For some reason I can't get into them and trust me, I've tried many times but Miss L.A Banks is my next target.

Scrap Pink Raffle winner!

My Not SO LSS hosted scrap pink last weekend to support cancer research and had this GIANT pink basket of goodies up for raffle and I won!! Let me tell you, that phone call made my day and I was so excited that I unwrapped the entire thing before I even thought about taking a picture of it. It was full of pink goodness so I'll be putting out some girly pages for the next little while. As soon as their web site is back up and running, I'll have to post a link to it.

yay for me!

Onto Round 3

Well, I've made it through to Round 3 on the Scrap4Life DT Contest. Last week's challenge was to do a seasonal/holiday layout using colour only, no seasonal embellishments so I did a winter one of the kidlets' first taste of snow.



I was pretty chuffed about it, there's some stiff competition over there. I've got to do some planning for the next one now - as in find a picture to scrap...

I've been tagged...

Been away from the terminal for a while and just saw that I've been tagged by Vicky :)

The rules:
1.- Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2.- Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog. Some random, some weird.

3.- Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4.- Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 facts about me:

1. I wanted a Susan Powter haircut when I was young and dumb and fit - those too young to remember her, you'll have to Google her

2. I hate sleeves. I do my best to not have to wear anything with sleeves

3. I'll read or see anything with a vampire in it. Unfortunately much of it out there isn't worth viewing.

4. I dream in colour

5. Card making is a challenge for me. Don't know why.

6. I snapped my last pair of glasses in half, right across the bridge.

7. Coffee is my favourite food

At this point, I'm supposed to tag 7 more people but I have to find them first so I'll get back to that.

I did however scrap this weekend and I was quite productive. I got a few layouts and ATC's done for a swap and met a few really cool ladies in the process as it was not only Scrap Pink weekend but also the CC at Scrap4Life. I scrapped for a bit at my not so LSS in honour of the pink ribbon and bless her heart, one of the ladies there is currently going through treatment and even though she was having a really bad day of it, she came out.

A couple of my favourites:

Awarded :)

I had a pleasant surprise when I popped over to Vicky's blog. She had granted me the following award.



I have to admit I was pretty chuffed about it. LOL - at least I'm not out there talking to myself.

Having received it now, I must pass it on and here are the rules to the award:


1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.


2. Link the person you received the award from.


3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs


4. Put links of those blogs on yours.


5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you nominated.

I don't think I can find 7 other blogs but here goes:

Jen - who's had a pretty crappy summer but keeps looking forward
Kylie and Tracy - 2 of my bestest sheilas! I miss them, especially whenever I go to a crop and I missed the matching nose rings
Kris - I've never seen someone else surf and find as much useful (useless?) crap like Kris. Let's just call her the Cliff Clavin of the, well maybe MY, blogosphere. AND she knits!

We also got the go ahead that we can blog about the Scrap 4 Life DT competition. The first challenge was last week and it involved using circles for a fun background and ONLY stickers in the title. We all got sent through to Round 2 which is this week so that was pretty exciting.



Woohoo! Onto to the next...

And last but not least, today is my big boy's birthday, he is now old enough to play on all the old timers sports teams and requires extra attention when he goes for his physical. Happy Birthday my boy. I also found out something a little unsettling - I got a bottle of Barcardi Mojito today and couldn't wait to try it when we got home. It was a little too minty, I would have prefered a little more lime but I can add some lime juice to it but enjoyable. I was about halfway through my glass when my legs broke out in hives. Don't know why, didn't make sense as I have no allergies but I stopped just in case and I had to pop a couple anti-histamine. Not happy about that, I had just had enough to where I was really starting to enjoy it. Grrrr

Ooooh so cute

It was a mistake making these. I'm feeling particularly clucky right now and I sooo shouldn't be there.

I need to make another hat but this is what's done so far and they are just too cute to look at.

I also threw my hat (haha) into the Scrap4Life DT contest. Challenge one was posted this week and I can't share until the contest is over but the entries in the gallery are all fantastic. Nothing like a good competition to bring out the mojo. If you want to see them, visit the Scrap4Life gallery

New babies on the way

Well, I found out earlier this week that 2 of my cousins are having babies, both are going to be their second and I felt so betrayed. Not because of the babies but because no-one told me about it. Everybody assumed that I knew and one of them sends me a message saying that the new delivery date for the baby is now New Year's. New delivery of what baby? Who's having a baby? And I saw her about 3 months ago, just around the time she'd be finding out too and no-one told me. I had to talk to her husband to find all the details. Hmmph!

Anyways, that's why no blogging recently, I've been knitting. YAY!! I also had a flash a couple days ago about something that I think would make the CUTEST table placings so I'm working through that as well.

Will post piccies as soon as something is done.

I got something done...

Not what I was supposed to do - I really wanted to get in on the SBT50 CC Challenges but wasn't in the cards this time around I guess. I've been wanting to do that stitching one for a while, I found something like a long time ago somewhere, don't remember but I've been itching to do it ever since.

Oh, and I got me some Maya Mist and I love them. I'd like to see the colour palette expand a little more but it's a really nice product to work with. I used the blue and gold on the chipboard pieces in the second layout. Now, if only I felt like journalling...

Happy Father's Day to Aussie Dads

This was one thing I couldn't get used to, Father's Day in September. Basically Dh made out like bandit while we were there, having 2 Father's Days a year. The traditional one (for me) in June and the one where the kids brought home masterpieces made just for him in September and then to have his birthday a couple weeks later. Some people...

It's been a little hectic, I would have liked to scrap some more but with trying to get organized for the hurricane that may close school some time next week and DH going away again and it's getting on that time of the month, I'm knackered.

Hurricane Ike is not meant to directly affect us, he's passing around the tip of Florida and is supposed to be heading up into the Gulf of Mexico. However, based on his size, there's a really good chance that we will be getting quite a bit or rain and a fair amount of wind and they may decide close school while the worst is passing. I'm really not looking forward to that scenario...

What have we done today...

So, the kids come home from school and are playing outside before dinner. This involves riding bikes and drawing with sidewalk chalk. DH comes in giggling his head off.

"What's up?"

"Greg's drawn his brain, looks at Maegan and points to the ground and says 'That's my brain. It's bigger than yours and smarter'"

I had to see this...

Greg's still busy with his brain...



Maegan's trying to compete by drawing hers and making it bigger but as Greg pointed out, it's just a line



The following pieces were then pointed out to me as listed:
Dad, Greg and Dad
For some reason, Greg draws a screaming mouth - always. Hmmmm...
For visibility reasons, I had to adjust the contrast and levels so the art could be seen more clearly.



So after dinner and its usual dramas, they're both showered and changed, ready for bed, Greg comes to see me and his mouth is covered in something and he's looking very pleased with himself.

"What's that on your mouth?"

"I was eating my stamps"


"*sigh* What?"

"I was eating my stamps and LOOK!! I did this too" He painted his nails with the stamp pad *sigh* and I wonder why I'm so tired at the end of the day.

Look, look, look

I am LOVING my new stamps. Like Tim Holtz says "Do you see nothing or possibilities?"

So after a couple fits and starts, I've got 2 cards done, a bunch of ATCs started and I HAD to bring out the Shrinky Dink. I really dig the little tile from the Shrinky Dink. Caution though, I needed a heat resistant surface and the closest one, because I was too lazy to get the glass mat out, is my chair. It's finished wood, an old barstool actually but I didn't realise how hot it could get :(. I ...oops...have scorch marks on it from being a little too enthusiastic with the heat gun.

Other than that, the weekend was a bust. Again a very wet long weekend, poor kids were stuck inside and to top it off, I was not feeling well. All the humidity and pressure changes because of all the bad weather blowing through has made my sinuses very unhappy. Not full blown pain or I'd be bedridden with migraines but annoying.

DH had his dive trip called 2 days early because of all the bad weather blowing in the Bahamas, he texted me early yesterday to let me know and give me pick up times. He ended up being late getting off the boat because some unfortunate fool on the boat got caught in Customs with 2 joints. DH says that in the end there were 12 officers, 2 dogs, 4 agencies and a partridge in a pear tree before they let the boat go but detained the passenger in question. He was estimating getting off at about 12 - 12:30. We ended up scramming out of there at 2:00 and had to scream back to make the school pick up. Cops were all over the road too looking for speeders. We saw one guy get stopped, he passed the cop. DUH!!! In his defense, the cop WAS teasing though, going JUST below the speed limit so you'd have to speed up significantly to pass.

Well, off to finish my ATCs, will post when they're done.

Oh, and my girls on the DIY Network msg board is having a CC this weekend. It's their first and Clarinda that's organising it is doing such a good job. CC at SBT50 this weekend as well so it looks like it's going to be a productive one.

Look what I got!!

They came yesterday and I'm pretty geeked about it. I signed up for the Big Wig Bash at Big Picture Scrapbooking a couple weekends ago and I won a set of Stacey Julian's books in a random draw. I was surprised that I'd actually won anything but these books are really nice. I've always liked her style, even though I can't scrap like her, she's too organised.

Just wanted to show off....er, share. That's right, share.

Goodies

I broke my scrap diet :-) and I did it with 2 eyes open and money in hand and not guilty about it. After hearing numerous rumours about an LSS, I decided that I needed to investigate and there were further rumours that the alleged LSS was next door to a YARN store - LYS. They were reputedly in a fairly familiar part of town so I made a special trip and YAY! Found them both first time, no turning around or passing by too fast.

Only problem is that "L" isn't that "L", they're in a mall that's a good half hour away if traffic's moving but both rumours have been confirmed and they do exist. I have actually NOT gone into LYS yet but it's in the plan. LSS isn't bad, there was quite a bit in it, some of which I would actually buy ;-) and they have a weekly Friday night crop. I'm particularly impressed with my new stamps, I'm christening those tonight.

I wish...

I wish I could say that I was productive today but I can't. Out of my 10 items on the mental "Things I really really really need to get done today", I've done one and a half. I wish I could say it was because the one task I did get done ate all my time but again, I can't. I wish I was motivated to do the rest, but alas again, I can't. Don't you love apathy? I completed the one task and gave up, figured that I'd done enough and...

I can't really remember how I filled the rest of my day. I think I ate and drew a mental blank for a couple hours and then realised I had to do the school pick up.

I then had to deal with 2 children that are experimenting in the fine art of negotiation. This usually involves with them asking for something, my saying "No" and them repeating the question with "I really really want to..."

I don't negotiate with terrorists.

Mmmmmm Look what I made

I actually was able to find the right coconut here! Not that sweetened clumpy nasty stuff in the grocery, I got proper dessicated, unsweetened coconut and the only thing to do with it is to make lamingtons. It's been a while since we've had them too and the kids were so geeked to see "Daddy Cakes".

Who's that?

Conversation with this afternoon with Greg

"Greg, who's this?"

"That's me!"

"Is it? You're sure?"

"YEAH! Oh wait. That's not me. I don't have pink underwear. It must be Maegan"

I laughed - wrong both times.

CC this weekend

It's Scrap4Life's August Cyber crop this weekend and I managed to get a couple of the challenges done. Thanks goodness there weren't many "back to school" type of challenges posted because I don't have a lot of those pictures.

So far, I've got these done






I'm finally getting the groove back. Slowly but it's dribbling in.

First day of school

Today was a GOOD day! Uninterrupted hours of thinking my own thoughts and doing my own thing, getting all my errands done in my own time. Such a good day and they were so happy to be going to school and not having to deal with the shouting lady that keeps telling them No! No! No!

Until they got home...something about Maegan had been bothering me for a while, couldn't quite put my finger on it until I was brushing her hair and...

"Why did you cut your hair?"

"Because you wouldn't let me"

"You didn't ask"

"I did when Dad and Greg went"

"But you didn't say anything, you just said you didn't want your hair like that"

She cut her fringe last night and the shortest pieces are dead centre of her face and they're, I swear, at scalp level. Maybe a whole cm long. I actually had my face in my hands for a minute, trying not to fall to pieces because if I don't laugh, I'll have to cry. You can actually see how short and crooked it is in the picture.



IT was so cute though, when I picked them up, Greg was wearing his "beautiful crown" .

"It's not a funny crown Mom, it's a beautiful crown"

Today's drama

I hate when they're bored!! Greg comes to me about 4:00 in tears, not whiny "Somebody's picking on me" tears, deep sobbing "Help me please please please" tears.

"Moooommm, I put beads up my nose! Waaahhhh"

"What? What do you mean you put beads up your nose? Come here let me see"

Yep - I look and see this blue piece of plastic wedged in there. Ok, deep breath, do I take him to emergency or do I try to get it out myself? I took another look and decided that I could probably get it out since I could see the hole. I find a hook, catch it and it's out. *HUGE SIGH*

"Mom, there's a yellow one in there too. I put two in"

Ah CRAP!! I look in there and sure enough, there's another one in the back, just at the back of the nostril but that one's sideways, no purchase. By this time, he's wailing that I'm squishing him and his hands are flailing and getting in the way and I keep telling him that he has to stop or it will really hurt or worse and I'm thinking "I better take him to emergency". After about 5 minutes of him flailing, he gets tired and I'm able to push the tip of the hook under the bead and it pops out. Just in time because he caught his second wind and he was winding up to start again.

I bet he won't do that again! That was, I swear, the most stressful 10 minutes that I've ever been through. I felt the grey hairs sprout.

Aaaaagghhh

Fay's killing me and she's not even a hurricane yet. First day of school has been delayed until possibly Wednesday depending on where and how she is. This is seriously cramping my style. I had all these lovely plans on how I was going to spend my alone time since DH is away too. Now I have to entertain 2 active, trapped children ALL DAY!! For 2 days!!

On the bright side, the weather's not actually that bad. So far, rain, quite a bit of rain, but that's about it. No wind, no floods that I've heard of yet so we're not doing that badly.

On another note, how cool am I that I figured out how to get 3 columns on my blog? I've been jonesing for that little feature and I had to dig into some script - can't call it code if it doesn't run through a compiler - but I think I got it down.

I'm wondering why

Butterflies are for girls and dragonflies are for boys? I mean, there are boy butterflies otherwise there wouldn't be caterpillars. Just like in "A Bug's Life", just because it's a ladybug, doesn't mean it's a lady. That thought crossed my mind when I was making this little creature and it occurred to me that I just assumed it was going on a girl layout.



I'm bent now on making a "boy" one. Btw, this isn't the idea that bloomed yesterday. I'm having a bit of an issue expressing exactly what I was thinking of both verbally and visually so I'm a little frustrated. I was hoping that doing something else would help but no luck so far.

This is cute...

I got this off of Kris' blog. Give this a try Swedish Furniture Name Generator

I am:



The 2 brain cells collided tonight and a light bulb went off that I'm going to have to exorcise tomorrow. I now have to hunt for that perfect picture so I'll probably be attached to the camera all day tomorrow or however long it takes to get it.

Stitching

I just love the look of stipple stitching on quilts. It just gives the finished product that much more dimension. So, I've been playing with trying to reproduce it on a scrapbook background and I've realised a couple things that should be glaringly obvious but I'm just a sucker for torturing myself instead of listening to common sense. I just need to see how something will work out.

Stipple stitching on quilts requires that the presser foot be raised while stitching so that the piece may be moved in any direction freely. When stitching on cardstock, if the presser foot is lifted, for some reason, the needle punches these GIANT holes in the paper and the result is not pretty. Not what I was looking for. I used an 80/11 needle, which was the smallest one I could find, I've ordered some smaller ones but I don't think it will make that much difference.

Polyester thread works better than cotton which works better than handquilting cotton. It could be my machine but I couldn't get handquilting thread to work, just couldn't get the tension right. The metallic threads work really nicely.

It's infinitely easier to work with a small piece of cardstock over the full 12 x 12 piece (DUH!) but I thought "Oh, it won't be that bad". Maybe it's my reliable 10 year old machine.

So I had to keep the presser foot down but because there's no nap to catch on the feeder dogs, the cardstock moved fairly easily but only in a forward direction so it can only be spiraled and the radius can be pretty small and the turns can be spiraled both left and right but for some reason, turning the cardstock counter-clockwise is more natural.

The top image is a finished one. I sprayed and stamped the background first and then ran it through the machine. I chose the yellow because I found I had this spool of metallic yellow thread from some distant project - not gold, metallic yellow.

This is the layout after I scrapped on it. Not bad, the stitching added a bit more dimension but I'm not done playing with the machine yet.

Waaahhh!!! I want to knit

But it's too hot here in South Florida. With the high humidity we've been having the last few weeks, my hands are always moist. I did a bad thing and went to the Knit Picks website and now my fingers are itching to feel all that lovely baby alpaca running over them.

That's the other thing about living down here. Even on the coldest days, it's too hot for a sweater. I might need one if I'm going out in the morning but by 10, I'm shucking out of it. I haven't yet been converted to cotton knitting either, it doesn't have the same feel to me and I'm yet to get used to the reduced elasticity in the yarn.

I've knitted and crocheted flowers a la Miss Nicki Epstein but it's not the same as completing a garment and to add insult to injury, my new Vogue Knitting and Knit Simple magazines have arrived. *SIGH*

I have no stash left either, I gave about 90% away when we moved from Sydney and I really want to order more but I don't have room with all the scrap stuff I have yet to go through. I really need to organize myself more...

This is a response to a product challenge from Scrap 4 Life where the challenge is to use non-scrap items. I used a paper towel, tinfoil and popsicle sticks. Actually, they're the sticks from the rubon pack so they're a little shorter than the popsicle sticks.

Not something I'd normally do but that's what a challenge is all about and I'm quite happy about it. I did figure out what wasn't sitting right with me about it and it took a while, it's the plain green cardstock that I backed it on. I think I would have been happier with a patterned but my thought at the time was that I didn't want to overwhelm the paper towel. Or maybe I should have used white or black instead of the green.

Colour Story Challenge CS7

This month's Colour Story Challenge is done :)

I love the fact that they pull inspiration from a variety of ads and pick both colour combinations and design elements from it. This month's was based on primary colours: yellow background with scattered red, teal and pink accents.

I kinda stepped out of the zone a little for this one as I have a really hard time with buttons and ribbon but I DID it!! I'm pretty happy with the results, the empty space at the bottom and left side could probably use a little something extra but I think I'm OK with how it is now. I might look at it again in a couple days to see if I feel the same way.

I must say, I'm really enjoying the Colour Story Challenge blog :-)

A breather :)

DH is home!! The kids are rapt that Dad's home again, the fun one's back. Hah! What they don't get is that for the next 2 weeks, Dad's going to be sleeping all day so he can watch the Olympics live all night so he WON'T be any fun during the day.

Won't matter much soon anyway, school starts in 7 days - that's 189 hours from now and I'm still scrambling on finding ways to make those hours fly past. I love the fact that they're always wanting their art box and we're working on cleaning up after they're done using the art box but that'll just need some more re-inforcing me thinks.

OOOh and Club Heidi's back and I am LOVING the new Heidi Swapp website! I'm not into the current kit, clocks don't really do it for me but I'm looking forward to see what else is coming down the track. Patiently waiting for the new Tim Holtz products and my new Gel-a-tins stamps. Wendy's so cool...

Tagged by Jude...

Ten Years Ago:

August 1998: Contracted to Chrysler for application development

5 Things on Today's To-do List:

1. Pick up photos
2. Mid week shopping
3. Tidy up rumpus room
4. Clean bathrooms
5. Organize dinner

Snacks I Enjoy:

Anything crunchy and can be dipped :) Chips, raw veg, pretzels....

Things I Would Do if I Was a Millionaire:

Ooooh...

The responsible thing would be to set aside enough for children so they could attend any uni of their choice and there probably wouldn't be much left after that. I also have a long list of causes that I'd help if I could, I'm very supportive of any cause that gets women and children off the streets and allows them to be self sufficient for example *unashamed plug* companies like Dhoo Dhaas in South Africa. I'd also like to buy some patience because lately I've been in short supply and I need to stock up.

The indulgent thing would be to have a house in Bali and go diving there when ever the urge hit. Second thing would be to set up a studio with just my stuff - no more taking the dregs of space left after everyone's dumped their crap all over the place. LOL - probably in the house at Bali.

Places (or areas) I have Lived:

Trinidad and Tobago, Toronto (Ontario, Canada), Dallas, Detroit, Boston, Weston, Philadelphia, Sydney(NSW Australia)

4 People I am Tagging:

I'm pathetic and don't have any friends that haven't been tagged yet. I'll have to come back to that...

Facelift

Trying to get my groove back and I decided to give the blog a facelift. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out but it was a pain getting that sidebar image just right so it would tile nicely. I love those coffee ring stains, a little slice of my life I guess. I see enough of them around me HA!

I'm fixing to rig up some ribbon and hooks in the kids' rooms so they can hang up their creations, just trying to decide where and how many and I need to track down clothes pegs. After being in Oz for so long, I'm surprised how scarce they are here - not that I hung out clothes down there either, but clothes lines are not the norm here. Even in Florida, just rains too much and the humidity's too high and it ALWAYS rains when no-one's around to bring the wash in so you have to do it again otherwise it starts to smell. Maybe out west in Arizona there's more of them.

Ikea's calling me, this could be interesting...

And it's only Monday

Well, day 1 of DH being away. I should be used to it by now, his usual MO is to be away for 2 weeks out of the month. I guess I got used to him being around since this is the first time he's traveled since the move and that was in March. No-one told me that 3 1/2 year old boys needed a full time keeper either. He's starting to feel his boots too and he thinks that they're too small for him. I'm mis-speaking though, it's because he's 3 and not a he. It seemed like I was yelling at DD all the time too when she was that age. He just needs to grow out of it and fast. Is it wrong that I'm counting the hours until school starts so someone else can deal with him for 6 of his waking hours?

6 more days to go until DH get back and currently 320 hours until school starts...

Tapped out

I've hit the proverbial wall. Out of the blue, I've gotten lethargic and just want to veg, I don't even want to read and that's never happened before. I'm in the process of making my to-do list for next week but since DH is away for the week and camp's done, I don't know how much I'll be able to complete. Maybe that's why I'm feeling tired. No mojo either.

Out of sorts

There's something in the air. I don't know what it is but I feel like I'm waiting for something but I don't know what. It's definitely a "marching time" kind of vibe, it's not a bad thing, no negativity associated with it, just there's something coming down the pipe that's just for me.

Maybe I'm bored...

Anyway, I've got shots of some journal pages that I've been doing over the past few days. Some days, it just flows out of the fingers. Other days...just best to leave it alone.

It's a little obvious that I don't collage that much - mainly because I don't have the patience for it or the space and storage for keeping extra bits and pieces. Rubons, paint and maybe some chipboard is probably all I really use. I like using old book pages and acrylic photo transfers too but I never wait long enough to let it dry before putting the second layer on OR I forget to check it and I put something on top of it and there's a challenge to leave the page in one piece.

*sigh* I love paint and there's always a spot for Glimmer Mist.

And what's up with 6 year olds? I think they have too much time these days to obsess over crap. My daughter is constantly coming to me, hours after she's supposed to be asleep, to tell me about some perceived slight done to her. By me, her father, her brother, some random kid on the playground that she's already expressed at least 3 times BEFORE she went to bed the first time. Or it's a reminder about a birthday party or she has to take something to camp the next or some errand that she NEEDS me to do or get for her and it's not like I forget to do them that I need reminding, she just can't let anything go. That, she gets from her father's side.