February happenings...

The end of February marks the end of summer and is also Chris' birthday. He was born in a leap year just a couple of hours short of the 29th so is now 51 not 12 &3/4s. He was also born at home in the 'back kitchen' as his Mother tells us, all planned as was done in those ancient times in ye olde England.

So Happy Birthday Babe, another year older!

Our end of summer was pretty disappointing really, its been rainy and cold today. Usually at this time of year I am gasping for the end of scorching hot weather. But not this year, its been pretty mild overall and our wettest summer yet.

This month has been pretty quiet, not much to report...

Erin started school and recommenced guitar lessons - with her own guitar

Hayley is looking to move out with a couple of friends, takes me back to my days of renting in suboptimal places, sharing bathrooms and brown swirly carpet.

I started running. And I'm proud to say I am still running, the program takes you gradually to a full run and I have been able to keep up the increases.

Work has been really busy. We have students for the next 7 weeks and I always end up hoarse at the end of the day and can't be bothered to talk much at home. The family might appreciate that for a while.

Australia has been lashed by cyclones, more floods, bushfires and plagues (of locusts) We luckily have been untouched by all these tragedies and watch on in horror as Mother Nature wreaks more havoc and tragedy on our Kiwi neighbours.

While I was whipping up Chris' favourite meal (lasagna) and a cake and grocery shoppping today I put the finishing touches to 3 new layouts I started on the weekend. We also had to retell the story of the birthday cake that was ruined by a mean big brother which ended up with Chris having a potato with a candle stuck in it for his 5th birthday. Erin made me laugh today when she was the one who brought up that memory.

I tried to sort out my supplies today but seem to have made an even bigger mess which I now need to put somewhere so we can go to bed.

The millenium quilt...

or how to jinx yourself in 1000 easy steps.

I don't like to talk about things that are 'in the wind' until they are locked down and happening. It may be superstitious but it avoids complicated explanation of things that you wish had come to fruition but didn't.
If the kids have a job interview or audition I don't like to tell anyone until it is real, as too many times (especially with job applications) it hasn't worked out. It seems your goals and dreams might be overly grandiose to others and if you come a gutser it can be embarrassing.

I made the mistake back in the year 2000 to tell friends and colleagues of my ambition of making a 'millenium quilt'. It was to be a quilt made with 2000 pieces of fabric. Most of the pieces were meant to be collected by sharing our stashes of fabric. I got up to 100 fabric squares and even stitched one block. I still have the box with the neatly stacked 1" squares, some of the material is really beautiful and it would have been a colourful quirky quilt if I had ever finished it.
One of my colleagues who had handed over some fabric, repeatedly asked me how it was going. I couldn't bear to tell her I hadn't really even begun. I saw her recently after a long absence and she again asked me about that bloody quilt. I had to confess and ask her to never speak of it again. I really wanted to say 'Let it go Pam, its never going to happen, its been 10 years now'  but I had talked myself up in the beginning and didn't produce the goods.

So it is with you all promising not to ask me how I'm going that I tell you about something I am embarking on. Its not very dramatic really, its only a running program but I hope to commit and achieve. The program is called  Couch to 5K and once you download the app onto your iPod you can set off and build up to running.

The idea of the program is to start off mostly walking with bursts of jogging/running over a 9 week period until you are running the entire 5 kilometres. Week 1 has been OK and running with 2 friends did push me a bit  more than going solo. I hope to be able to get a bit fitter and lose some weight.

And not jinx myself by talking about it.

Guilty pleasures...

I ordered some cutting dies from the U.S. and my parcel arrived today. It is my guilty pleasure. These dies were such a bargain and the guilt part comes from paying only $34 total for something I would have paid over $500 for if I'd bought them in Australia. Crazy, I know! I justify it by telling myself I would never have bought them for myself if I had to pay that price. I shall enjoy them and not think about struggling shop owners or the global economy.

I put them to good use today

2 out of 3...

2 out of 3 ain't bad, so they say and I proved it  today.

I borrowed 3 DVD's from the local hire shop and really enjoyed 2 of them.
I can recommened 'Tomorrow when the war began' and 'Everybody's fine', but don't bother with 'You again', it was very predictable. The Rotten Tomatoes movie review site gave it an 18% rating and I think that was generous.
The 'Everybody's fine' movie was very touching and had me mopping up tears at the end. The tomato review only gave it a 43% rating but I think it was better than that. 'Tomorrow,' gets a resoundingly good 82% but as with all reviews it is rather subjective isn't it?

My reading fared much the same. I borrowed 3 books just at random from the local library, 2 were good, the other I didn't finish as it just wasn't doing it for me. The best book of the bunch was Stuart Diver's story of survival from the Thredbo disaster, very interesting. Along the same theme, I want to see 127 hours, Hayley saw it and told me the gruesome part is ...very gruesome, so I'll probably wait til it is out on DVD too.

Don't want to be screaming/fainting/swooning in public now do I?

Tradition...

how many times do you have to do something before it becomes a tradition?

I was wondering this after I scrapped a photo of Erin at the beach. For 3 years we have gone to Port Fairy & stayed with Big Sister in her caravan. I always come home with loads of beachy photos, that look surprisingly like last years batch, except that Erin has grown a bit taller. We have a lovely relaxing week & when we come home we look forward to next year. This year Little Sister & her boys joined our tradition. By booking the site for next year before you leave the caravan park you ensure the tradition continues. Maybe we won't be able to have a holiday at the beach every year but I hope to add to my collection of beach photos.

But can I call it a tradition?

Happy St V's day...

although it looks more like Halloween in our house than a day for romance.

Hayley had bought home all manner of things since starting her apprenticeship proper. This is her actual teeth! Just look how straight they are, no orthodontic involvement at all (the other 2 not so lucky)

I can't wait to show you the other toothy play things she has, they look like the elephant molars that are on display at the Melbourne Zoo.

Some layouts...

Looks like I have been very productive in the scrapping arena but in reality I was able to upload these today and I am pretty pleased with myself.

 This one had been sitting in my 'in progress' folder for ages, I wasn't happy with it so finally took it apart & am much happier with this. I rarely go back & change a layout, Callum's baby album is very indicitive of my beginner style but the whole album is like that, so that's the way it will stay.

Have a good weekend!

January review...

I'm a little late with this but I intended at the start of the year to have a monthly review when I dump the pics from the camera. I have created a sub folder for each month of 2011 and will attempt to have some sort of order for my photos. I am constantly frustrated when I am searching for a particular photo. It is surprising though if you browse through the drive and find some unexpected treasure. I inevitably think that a photo is 'gold' and have big plans for it then promptly forget where to find it.

Take Hayley's 21st pics for example - can't find them!

So I give you January...

A holiday with cousins and Aunties, a good way to start the year

Nerf wars and a haircut for Callum

 Hot, humid weather

 Rain, rain, rain and flooding

I had a lovely day scrapping today with Big Sister and I'll share some finished product tomorrow if the sun shines.

Photos...

My photos came in the mail today from Harvey Norman.

And I am really happy with the quality.

Coming home and seeing the package on the bench reminded of when you would put your film in at the chemist and pick up the prints a few days later. You couldn't wait to rip open the pack and see how they had turned out, who had their eyes closed, who might have had their head chopped off. I also remember the disappointment if any of the prints hadn't turned out well. I'll be using this service again.

I certainly will have enough to keep me busy for a while.

Cars & BBQ's...

I did my stint selling snags at the the car show today.

The weather was mild, no rain, no extremes of temperature. We were lucky seeing as a lot of our State is under water. On the other side of Australia they are struggling with the opposite - bushfire.

The car show was very well attended, I'm sure they will declare it a big success. There were rev heads galore and they wouldn't have been disappointed with the huge array of cars on display. I left when our stall ran out of eggs, onions, soft drinks, bread rolls & came home stinking of BBQ. It could have been worse, a colleague told me she had done what felt like 1000 BSL finger pricks and taken twice that of blood pressures. Next time we might be a bit more specific in our offerings.

Rabbits...

So this is the Chinese year of the rabbit. I too was born in the year of the rabbit and am a 'water' rabbit. I did a little research and found that our little family is made up of:

Boy Racer -Rat

element metal

clever & quick witted, utterly disarming
natural charm and sharp, funny demeanor make it an appealing friend

1st daughter  - Dragon
element earth

giving, intelligent and tenacious
brash, fiery energy

Boy racer Jnr  - Sheep
element metal

creative, esoteric needs plenty of time alone in which to feed its Muse
makes a great craftsperson or artisan,
finding plenty of riches in their own imagination





 

 Sweet girl  - Ox

element fire " smart, trustworthy, caring and honorable"





We Rabbits are supposedly timid and attractive, extremely popular and have a wide circle of family and friends. Its compassionate nature leads it to be very protective of those it holds dear. Sweet & sensitive, Rabbits dislike arguments and other conflict and will try anything to avoid a fight; (now that part is true!)  Rabbits love to entertain at home and always make sure their house is comfortable and tastefully-furnished.


There are some truths in these definitions but like most things you can read a lot or a little in to them. It was fun to try to analyse us all. Rats and rabbits are not compatible apparently but what do those ancient Chinese people know?!?


Click on this link to find out what your Chinese horoscope can tell you.

Schools back...

Erin went back to school on Wednesday and the rest of the state started today. Getting to work and school is going to be slow going again as we all rush out the door at 830am.

I scrapped at Big Sisters today and surveyed her recently flood damaged home. It would be helpful for her if she knew when this torrential rain is going to let up so she can begin her repairs.
I managed to finish a couple of layouts including this review of Hayley's secondary schooling.

 Tonight we have had spectacular thunder, lightning, power outages and heavy rains again with more forecast for tomorrow. I might get some more scrapping done!

Summer flowers...

My Summer blooms are blooming again.

I'm still not sure what exactly this vibrant bulb is, maybe a Hippiastrum thingy maybe not, but it makes me happy with its lovely flame coloured petals. Something around here likes the hot weather.

My licence needs renewing and as it has been 10 years I need to have a new photo taken. For a licence pic I quite like the old one, 10 years ago I had long blonded hair and a slimmer face. I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow afternoon so I will look fabulous immortilised in Vicroads beaurocracy.

Just hope they will let me keep the old one

Car show...

I was hoping and praying for the cool change which came to us at about 3pm today. The next few days seem perfectly reasonable for Summer, I can do things again!!!

One of the things I have committed to is helping out at the Car Show on Sunday. This event is a big fundraiser that benefits the hospital, using staff as volunteers.





The 6th Annual David Calleja Car Show is held on 6th Feb 2011 in the historic, picturesque grounds of Maddingley Park, Bacchus Marsh. A great family day out with on-site catering, country market, kids amusements, live music and trade stalls, with a great display of bikes, trucks, hot rods, classic, exotic, & vintage cars, Adults $5, children under years of age 14 free. Gates open to public at 8am til 4pm. All proceeds directed to Djerriwarrh Health Services.

I'll be helping between 12 and 2pm and am very thankful the forecast is for mild weather if it had been today I don't know if I could cope.