Mojo Jojo

2008-03-16T22:24:00.002+10:30

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye!!

Okay well maybe not a true goodbye but if you have been missing the action on this blog it means that you haven't yet visited me at my new home, so what you waiting for ?
Join me at Poppy Monkey Musings.

Right G, you can stop nagging me to post this now :)

2007-12-21T16:27:00.000+10:30

The A-Z of Me Starts Here

I set down a challenge at Pickleberrypop which you can read all about here and it was inspired by my most gorgeous friend Amanda and her blog (click on the link in my blogroll and check out her A-Z!)
So here we go....

{Abbey}

Well how could I start with anything other than my first born daughter, Abigail.
According to the baby name book we used, her name means "fathers joy" and she most definitely is a joy 99% of the time. She is so smart and just soaks up the most amazing amounts of information from anywhere she can get it. She is really into reading, writing, art and music..a very creative soul. I have noticed over the last couple of years that she is much shyer than she used to be, she doesn't like being the centre of attention and having all eyes on her. Her voice is very quiet when she speaks (unless she is shouting at her siblings of course then the whole neighbourhood can hear her!) She used to sing endlessly around the house when she was smaller and now she stops singing if she even gets an inkling that someone is listening to her.
I think that's one of the reasons she enjoys piano so much, she gets to play music but gets to sit up the back of the band!
She's growing up fast now, she is getting more independant and I am finding I allow her to choose her own clothing more, her hairstyles..and now this weekend it's her ears pierced (she swears she is really going through with it this time but there again at age 5 she vowed and declared she would never ever have her ears pierced!)
She has a wonderful circle of friends at school, but I wish she had more friends outside of school, I guess in time she will as she participates in more activities etc.

{Angel, Awesome, Amazing, Artistic}

Oh forget it..how about

{All Of The Above}

Every one of those words describe the gorgeous, {Amanda} She is the most kind, non-judgemental person I have ever met, and I love that I can tell her anything and she gets where I am coming from. When you ask her something, she gives you the straight no nonsense answer you need and I love her dearly for that. She makes me laugh, and she has made me cry with joy, she's always there when I need her and I hope that she knows that I am always here for her too.
We only met online a bit over two years ago and we manage to speak at the very very least once a week now, but normally 2-3 times a week. We have so much in common, we share a love of scrapping, of photography, we both have twins, both live in SA , both born on the 13 of a month (in the same year too!) and the list goes on. We've managed to meet up about 3 times now and I have met her husband and her 3 delightful daughters. I always feel so sad when we say goodbye and she heads back to the country, like a little piece of me has broken.
Amanda is also very very humble and doesn't recognise what amazing talent she has, she is so creative in so many ways I could only dream about but she doesn't think what she does is that special. I hope one day she realizes just how truly talented she is. Love you chick.

{Attitude}

No I don't have one!

2007-12-21T12:36:00.000+10:30

Because I Want Moments Like This To Last Forever

Joe just came in and gave me a big hug and said "Do you know whose my best girl?"
I suggested Scarlett, Abbey and Nanny but apparently his "best girl"
is his Mama *sigh* He then gave me the loveliest kiss and cuddle.
I am not silly enough to think I will always be his best girl but for now it's the best feeling in the world.

2007-12-19T20:58:00.000+10:30

The Month That Was...

It's been a long time between posts..and apparently I am being missed (sorry Annette!!!) so I thought I would get things up to speed before the end of the year arrives!

The past few weeks have been fairly busy getting Xmas sorted, I am very happy to report that I finished every last scrap of pressie shopping on Dec 13th, my Christmas cards which I had sent off for printing this year came back and then I sent them off to their receivers and they shall hopefully get there on time. The Christmas tree is up and decorated, and the twins haven't pulled it over at all yet!

Abbey is now on school holidays after a busy last few weeks at school with a Music Night one week, Christmas Extravaganza concert the next week and then finally Speech and Award Night all of which went very well. She's had another great semester at school and managed 4 A's and the rest B's for her grades (actually one of those was an A+ for her piano lessons!) She has worked hard this year especially at maths so we are really proud.
She also decided that she wanted all her hair chopped off, so last Saturday we took her to the hairdresser and she is now sporting a much shorter do , which I think I am still getting used to but I do like it. This weekend she is talking about getting her ears pierced (she chickened out last weekend but did have a look at the gun they use to do it)

Joe and Scarlett are doing fine. Nothing really new with Scarlett but Joe is finally getting the hang of toilet training and we even had a run of 15 days without an accident from him so it's so much better than it has been. He went to see Father Christmas last weekend and was happy to sit and have his photo taken this year, first time he hasn't had a grumpy face! He also let Santa know that he would like a "big Transformer" which he knows only big boys get when they know how to use undies so fingers crossed he doesn't go backwards once he gets his Transformer.

In between all of that and juggling class parties, getting her books sorted for next year and getting her to concerts and rehearsals etc I managed to get another year older, was a quiet one this year and I managed a nice curry dinner out with G and he gave my a gorgeous little Ipod (yeah I know I must have been the only person in Australia that didn't already have one) but now I do and it's a lovely little 8GB-er so should do me nicely.

Anyhow will close up with a pic of Abs new short hair!

2007-11-14T10:46:00.000+10:30

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Actually it has been looking like Christmas is right around the corner for WEEKS since the shops near us chose to start erecting giant Christmas trees in store at the start of October!

It usually bothers me a bit but not this year, I am feeling strangely calm and organized this year so far and at the rate I am going I should be finished my shopping (except maybe for G) by Dec 1st. You can blame all my Christmas preparations for my lack of blogging if you like...but really I just haven't felt like blogging until now.

I have nothing huge to share but did fancy blogging so here's a quick catch up.

Scarlett and Joe are loving Kindy and have settled in really well. I even saw Scarlett doing the Hokey Pokey last week so she's definitely feeling more comfortable there. Joe has been recommended for a Speech Assessment which should happen sometime during Term 1 next year once all the paperwork is done. He has a lot of words he uses, a big vocabulary etc but the clarity of the words isn't always there and people find him difficult to understand.

Speaking of Joe he is starting to progress more with his toilet training. He's starting to stay dry all day as long as he is not in a pullup (yet some days he will stay dry in a pull up too) and last night he had his first nappy free night as he refused to wear one so we compromised on a pull up instead. Today he insisted on proper big boy undies..so far so good including a trip to school and back.

Last Sunday I did my first photo shoot which didn't involve my own kids! I was very honoured to be asked to take some pictures of the beautiful and very pregnant Skipper and it was so much fun. She was such a great model , and I am really really pleased with the photos I got. Here's two of my faves:

And that's about it really. Nothing else really happening, just the same old same old but we are happy and healthy enough at the moment.

2007-10-31T16:14:00.001+10:30

Not One To Brag BUT..

I played a blinder last night on Scrabble and just had to show it off. The game is still actually in progress so I could lose it but it was a nice boost to the score (yes, and my ego) anyway....

2007-10-19T16:00:00.000+09:30

All Growed Up

Yep it's official, we now have two pre-schoolers in the house as today was the twins first day of Kindy. At this stage it's only pre-entry which means just one morning a week for two hours, but next year it will be almost 3 hours, 4 days a week. I can't even imagine having that much time to myself EVERY day. The possibilities are endless.
It went really well, Scarlett was up at 6am wondering if it was time to go yet. They had both helped pack their bags the night before and she was ready to get going. It was very loud here this morning as even Abbey was excited for them.
No tears when I said goodbye to them (well not from them anyway) and that was it.

I felt like an octopus on the way home, like I had too many arms and nothing attached to them, it was strange. The quietness of the house didn't bother me as much as I thought it would..there again I did use a little music therapy to get me through.
They had a great time and each brought me home a painting. I forgot how annoying it was to try to walk along, talk and keep wet paintings from flapping about as we went along, and by the time we were half way home I was running out of hands to guide the kids across the road and wishing that I was actually an octopus.

Anyhow here is a pic from this morning before they headed off on their trip to Kindy..

2007-10-01T12:21:00.000+09:30

Bliggity Bloggety Boo #3

Isn't that cool? This is for the challenge over at the PBP forums which you can find out more about here

Not a lot going on here, it's a long weekend but we haven't been up to much, just some shopping, mostly for boring stuff. Scarlett and Joe start their pre-entry Kindy in less than 3 weeks now and so we went shopping for lunchboxes which they thought was very exciting. Scarlett chose a lovely pink Disney Princess design and Joe managed to get a big red Spiderman design. New sunhats for both as well and now they are all set for the big day.

We had parent/teacher interviews with Abs teacher the other night and he is extremely impressed with her abilities with English and said she is rating "off the charts" for her age. He likened her reading abilities to that of a Yr7-9 student (she's only Yr 3) and was also impressed with her spelling, grammar and comprehension of what she is reading. He is also very pleased with her maths and she is still above average but has a little room to improve in one or two areas. Overall she seems to be doing great, and I am so glad she is in a great school that knows how to challenge her without pushing too hard.

2007-09-21T11:16:00.000+09:30

Mish-Mash

I haven't blogged for a while. Not much to say but thought I should at least make an effort so just a nutshell-style post from me today.

I have a cold, and I feel a bit crap today. I didn't have much voice at the start of the week but it has since mostly returned but the last two days the cold seems to have moved into my head a bit more. I think this could be G's cold that he bought back from China on one of his recent work trips and he still hasn't shaken it yet either some 2 weeks later.
Abbey's birthday was in early Sept, while G was on the aforementioned trip to China. She turned 9 and wow, what a year this is going to be if her current attitude is anything to go by. This week she is at least trying to behave though, you can see her trying..prior to this week though her behaviour has been incredibly poor despite all the treats and extra attention she had been getting surrounding going to her friends birthday parties and her own birthday celebrations. She went to her first sleep over and did really well at that too and didn't go to sleep until around 2am!
Twins had their Kindy Orientation as they start pre-entry next term. Exciting and scary all at once (for me not them!) They are growing fast and the house will definitely be a quieter place without them here. At least it's only one morning a week to start with until they go full time next year. They loved the Kindy, enjoyed meeting the teachers there etc so I have no doubt they will settle in fast.
G and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary last week. The kids went to Mum's for the day and we wandered about doing fun stuff like bowling ( I am sooooo bad at bowling but just love doing it anyway), a trip to IKEA, a trip to Glenelg for a walk along the foreshore but it started raining and getting blustery while we were there so we sat and had a drink at Starbucks and then walked up the main street of Glenelg. We headed into North Adelaide for a meal at our favorite Indian restaurant and then headed home picking up the kids along the way!

2007-08-31T21:48:00.000+09:30

I Am In Love...

2007-08-24T09:21:00.001+09:30

Sharing Some Pics

2007-08-21T10:34:00.000+09:30

Bliggity Bloggity Boo #1

So the idea is that you will blog about whatever the topic is and then post here in the 'Bliggity Bloggity Boo!' thread when you are done. Then you need to go comment on at least the blog of the person who posted here before you.

So in the spirit of sharing the blog love here is my Fairy Name!

Your fairy is called Tangle Rainbowglitter

She is a fortune bringer.

She lives at the bottom of tangled gardens and in hedgerows.

She is only seen in the light of a shooting star.

She wears tangled dresses of multicoloured petals.

She has multicoloured wings like a butterfly.

Get your free fairy name here!

2007-08-21T10:20:00.000+09:30

The Update

Well the update from my last post is that just 4 days later, my girl was put to sleep. She went downhill fairly quickly once more and she was just never going to recover. Despite the double dosing of medication her spleen was still getting bigger and the vet was quite confident that the bone marrow cancer had spread to her spleen.
There was nothing more we could do, and I said goodbye and stayed with her until the end. I've actually had her cremated and now have her ashes which I plan to put in the garden and plant a shrub on top of. I miss her so much.

In other news G has been jet-setting recently and was away for 16 days to UK, Germany and China so I have been keeping pretty busy keeping everything here at home ticking along, racing in the Amazing Digiscrapping Race and keeping Abs on track at school.
She's been doing brilliantly lately, she got an A+ for her piano lessons from last semester, her Junior band just won a Bronze trophy in a competition and she achieved a Credit in an English competition that her teacher nominated her and two of her classmates to participate in.

Biggest news around here is that Scarlett is actually now toilet trained! Yay!! Night AND day, she has been in knickers during the day for several weeks now and has for the last 3 nights worn knickers to bed without any accidents so far.

Nothing much else happening here..other than picking up our new car at the end of the week..woohoo!

2007-08-04T15:37:00.000+09:30

My Moggie

Well she's still fighting to stay with us and doing a very good job at this moment but I am not sure how much longer that will work. My cat has a bone marrow problem, mostly likely cancerous so every day with her now is a blessing.

On Wednesday night when I took her to the vet she was in a bad way, not really reacting to anything around her, not eating for several days and barely able to walk. The vet said if she didn't pick up by Friday it was time to think about having her put to sleep. For now her medication is doubled and it's working brilliantly, her appetite is back in a big way, she is alert again, her walking is almost back to normal, she is purring and constantly looking for attention. For now she is happy, comfortable and with me. Here's a couple of pics from this morning.

2007-08-01T09:18:00.000+09:30

It's August

How the hell did that happen? Did someone take July off the calender this year or something?
Okay so I better make up for being a very poor blogger, firstly the gorgeous Ange tagged me at the beginning of June and I am finally going to respond to that:

Four of my Favourite Jobs
1. The Cambridge Disney Store
2 Brashs (remember them?) in their CD/music dept
3 Pizza Hut - would you like garlic bread with that?
4 Harris Scarfe in the Accessories Dept.

Four of My Favourite Local Places
1. Zapata's (well it's kind of local)
2. Cinemas
3. Beyond India
4. My bed

Four of my Favourite Foods
1. Chocolate
2. Lasagne
3. Mexican
4. Indian

Four of My Favourite International Places
1. Cambridge
2. Cambridge
3. Cambridge
4. Cambridge

In return I tag Amanda, G, Skipper and Chris

Okay well the reason for the lack of blogging is pretty much that nothing of major interest is happening here. I am completely snowed under with scrapping at the moment..the word over committed springs to mind but I'll get there.
The Amazing Digiscrapping Race is under way which was so much fun last season I had to rejoin but I do wish I had thought it through a little more as time-wise it's a bit crazy. Two layouts a week doesn't sound much but when you have to scrap to a theme, colour, sketch or whatever it can be quite difficult. Oh well, two weeks down and 4 more to go!
Abs birthday is on the way next month so having been thinking about that a lot, and have mostly got things organized there...I just need to make her party invitations which I will try to get done today.
My cat is also very sick, I can't bear the thought of her not being here anymore as I have had her since she was 5 weeks old. My tiny little fluffball has grown somewhat and is now a very mature 16.5 years old. I think her little body is giving up on her though. We have been through so much together and I adore her. I really don't want to face what's coming and am just hoping that her current medication will kick in and she will bounce back again.

On a much happier note a big Welcome to the World to litte Brodie and Hollie, the two newest Picklebabies!

Anyhow that's about all from me..and here comes that promise again of "Yes I will be a better blogger this month"

2007-07-11T22:01:00.000+09:30

An Unwelcome Visitor

This evening as I was tidying up some toys in Joe's room I noticed a long thread at the base of Joe's curtains. When I followed the thread I found that the net curtain had a rip almost the entire length of it from top to bottom. Now I knew there was tear in the curtains a couple of inches long as Scarlett had found a hole in it the other day , stuck her finger in and pulled down but now the tear is MASSIVE. I was not impressed and asked Joe about it, he said it wasn't him or Scarlett. I called Scarlett in and she told me it was "the naughty kid" who had done it. I asked her for the name of the naughty kid and she replied "Ruby" and I was told all about how Ruby had come inside, ripped the curtains and was now at home. She apparently lives next door according to Joe, or if you ask Scarlett, Ruby lives in Fairyland.
Just you wait until I have a word with Ruby's parents. Actually the hard thing is I have no idea who did it so couldn't really tell anyone off, Scarlett looked the most guilty and told me Ruby had done it by putting her finger in the small rip. Joe claims Ruby did it by spreading the curtains apart thus ripping them further apart (which actually makes more sense as there is no way Scarlett and her finger could reach as high as the rip goes) The bottom line is I don't have a clue and couldn't really get angry at either of them.
It's hard trying to parent twins, but on the plus side I love how much they stood up for each other in a strange way. Made me a little proud, but also very scared at what is to come as they get older!

2007-07-08T14:47:00.000+09:30

A Little Fairy Story

Yesterday afternoon I was trying to spend some one on one time with Scarlett snuggled on her bed reading a book. This usually means I turn the pages and she tells me her own story to the pictures..so it's a lovely story about a little bunny helping a fairy and getting to go to the Fairy Ball and meet the Fairy Queen and Scar gets to one part and says "and then the fairy says f**k it" and my jaw dropped to the ground. I asked her to repeat herself in case I heard wrong..but sure enough the same word came out. I asked her did you just say f**k it and she says she did. I then get into where did you hear that word and she says it's a mad word and that she heard it from Abbey when Abs was mad at her. I called Abbey in and asked her what words she uses at the twins when she is mad at them and she confessed to telling them to shut up, and eventually I got it out of her that yes she uses that word on the twins too. I asked where she heard it from etc and does she use it at school, do any of her friends use it etc. Apparently she learned it from the girl across the road who is 11 but they hang out with each other. I don't think her friend meant for Abs to use it, she showed Abs the inside of the CD cover of one of Pink's albums and said "look it's a swear word" type thing. I just told Ab and Scarlett to NOT use that word, that it isn't a nice word and the next time they used it they would be in BIG trouble. Abs knew she was in the wrong though and burst into tears the minute she knew that I knew she had used the word. She has such a conscience!

2007-07-04T13:54:00.000+09:30

The Big Unveil

Of Joe's new room. Yes finally we have finished painting and sorting and can now show off to you the 4th bedroom of our house. We have yet to get him some new curtains, but he doesn't care, he is just happy to have his own room.

He is doing really well at going to bed and getting to sleep, no problems at all. Scarlett on the other hand has so far cried every morning when she has woken up alone in her room. At first she missed Joe, but now she is scared of the dark so last night we had to pop a night light in there and that was enough to settle her down to sleep. I think she is doing much better now that she is not being woken up so early. I spent Sunday sorting out all the toy tubs in the house and re-arranging her room so that it's a bit "new" for her too and we have an idea of a few things to get to help her room feel more hers. The big plus is that they both have so much more room to play now, the minus is they refuse to leave each other alone still!

2007-06-25T21:38:00.000+09:30

A Little Bit Of Everything And A Whole Lot Of Nothing!

Well it's been ages since I blogged, to be honest I just couldn't be bothered. I always seem to be too tired, too cold or being nagged at by kids to have had the time lately. Tonight I am tired AND cold, but decided to make a little effort anyway.
In no particular order, here's what's been going on in a nutshell

Joe's room is finally almost ready for him to move into, we are hoping this weekend will be the big event. It's been painted a gorgeous shade of green which I think should last him a few years. I just have to do two coats on the door and G has some touch-ups and one more coat on the window frame to do.
The twins have finally started toilet training and Scarlett is doing amazingly. I was literally talking to a friend of mine last Monday and saying how frustrated I was getting that we were still in nappies despite me trying to stay fine with it all and just letting them pick their moment to go with it. Later that morning Joe sat on the toilet and off he went, he is averaging about 4 trips a day to the toilet and is wearing pull-ups during the day and a nappy at night. Scarlett who was a lot more reluctant to start is now sitting on the potty about 8-10 times a day. She kept her undies dry for 4.5 hours on Friday but I didn't trust her to make it to school and back to pick up Abbey without wetting herself so we compromised with a pull-up. I am hoping she will be in undies most of the day tomorrow. I am so proud of them both, and so relieved it is finally happening!
Today we went looking at a new car, we have our eye on a Ford Territory TX RWD...fingers crossed!!
Abbey was nominated out of 3 students in her class to participate in the Australasian Schools English Competition which she did last week, no idea how she went but I was so proud that she got the opportunity to do something like that.
Been scrapping a little and will post some layouts in the next few days
Bought a slow cooker a few weeks back and finally got around to using it last night. I made a basic beef casserole..and it worked!! I am not renowned for my cooking abilities but Abbey, G and I loved it and neither of the twins complained about it even if they didn't eat it all ( I think they were stuffed full of junk food from being at my mum's all day) It was so yummy and I can't wait to cook something else in it.

Last of all I wanted to send a huge congratulations to a dear scrapping buddy and fellow twin mummy on the birth of a beautiful baby boy at 2am this morning. I can't wait to see pictures!

I think that's about it for now, will try to be a better blogger from now on :)

2007-05-31T16:48:00.000+09:30

Mother-Daughter "Bond"-ing

Abs behaviour over the course of last weekend was pretty dismal. She seemed irritable, tired, moody and argumentative (and they say she doesn't take after me!?!) She picked on the twins relentlessly and eventually got into a whole pile of trouble.
Monday night I was due to go out for my Girls Night Out dinner so I decided as she had a pupil free day the following day that I would take her out to dinner with me and see if a little one on one time would help the situation. She had a lovely time but I could tell she was a bit bored sitting around with so many older people.
On Tuesday I had booked her and I in for a dental checkup which she was pretty nervous about. My Mum came and watched the twins so it was just her and I, dentist appt went great and we decided to do a little shopping in Kmart afterwards.
We picked out some bits for the twins (scissors, glue and scrapbooks) and I let Abs pick out a new book too and then we headed to the mens underwear section to get G some underwear/sleepwear as it was on special. Abs seemed quite amused in the mens underwear section looking at the different styles available, she was a bit embarassed about the "rude pictures" on the different packets but she really cracked me up when she looked at the Bonds Guy Front undies I was getting for G and said "oh and these have pockets on them too" PMSL

Hmmm G is that a pistol in your pocket?

2007-05-30T22:01:00.000+09:30

Something Silly

You Are a Peacemaker Soul

You strive to please others and compromise anyway you can.War or conflict bothers you, and you would do anything to keep the peace.You are a good mediator and a true negotiator.Sometimes you do too much, trying so hard to make people happy.
While you keep the peace, you tend to be secretly judgmental.You lose respect for people who don't like to both give and take.On the flip side, you've got a graet sense of humor and wit.You're always dimplomatic and able to give good advice.
Souls you are most compatible with: Warrior Soul, Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

2007-05-27T21:29:00.000+09:30

Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me

I have been trying for a while now to post a message about the recent Keith Urban concert I went to in Adelaide, but frankly it was so damn exceptional that I am lost for words when people ask me how it was. I tend to get all flustered and repeat "Oh my God, it was..oh my god" over and over. How do you describe the concert experience of a lifetime?

Our seats were nothing short of frigging awesome! 6 rows back and just two chairs away from the huge catwalk that Keith walked up and down several times. By the middle of the show I was as close as you could get to him without being on stage.

Here's the pics...and they still don't do the gig justice!

And while this last picture isn't great in a photographic sense it shows how amazingly close I actually was to him. In fact when he walked down the catwalk slapping people's hands he missed my hand by a mere ONE cm!!

2007-05-16T21:43:00.000+09:30

The Dragons Made Me Do It

Well it's been an eventful day today..with one tw-incident after another from first thing this morning right up until bedtime. Here's a run down....

(NOTE: This post contains graphic photos that may offend or upset some readers.)

Victim: Bilby
Suspects: Small caucasian female, pale complexion, blue eyes, blonde hair.
Possible accomplice: Small caucasian male, pale complexion, blue eyes, blonde hair
Crime Scene: The nursery wardrobe
Witness: Abbey who claims she smelled chocolate on the breath of main suspect upon her return to the house yesterday afternoon.
Evidence Collected : Foil wrapping from near Bilby's body, assorted chocolate crumbs from shelves and floor of wardrobe and headless body of bilby still intact.

Investigation continuing…..

Not content with the "bilby"incident from the morning I wandered down to the kitchen after lunch to find Scar with a mouth completely stuffed full of Scotch Finger biscuit. She obviously knew she shouldn't have it so proceeded to push it out of her mouth as fast as possible with her tongue while Joe shouted that she'd gotten the biscuit out of the bin. Eeeeew! I'd put the biscuit in the bin when I was tidying up the living area which they completely demolished while I was hanging out the washing earlier. They took all the 5 toy tubs from the book shelves and emptied them out so they could play with the tubs empty Scarlett actually had the cheek to insist that she had been given the biscuit by...wait for it...the Pocket Dragons!?!?!?
(For those not in the know..Pocket Dragons are little ornaments that I collected while in the UK)

We just had what will hopefully be the last twincident for the day when G walked into their room to get the kids PJ's on, he found on the floor in their room a box with one gold and sapphire earring in it and the other nowhere to be seen I almost died on the spot as G bought them for me for Xmas! A quick scout around and we found the other and thankfully they are not damaged but again I don't know who to blame. Neither of them will confess, they just blame each other, Scar elaborated all about how Joe did it (ie what he climbed on to reach it etc) ..but she's a bit of deceptive little monkey and is probably telling us what she did to get it.

They both also threw big tantrums today, Scarlett on the way home from school this morning and Joe on the way home from school this afternoon.

Can we just skip today and hope tomorrow is better?

2007-05-15T21:53:00.000+09:30

Had A Smashing Time Tonight

Literally! Tonight we went out to Zapata's for dinner as Amanda and her daughter Piper were in town and so we just *had* to catch up. Both the food and company was fantastic, and we had a lovely time. I think poor Piper was a bit bored but certainly got everyone's attention when she knocked a glass off the table. She was such a sweetie though and had us laughing quite a bit.
On the way out of the restaurant she let me carry her and we walked down the street looking at all the weird and wonderful things in the windows of the shops as we went along. It was lovely having a little cuddle with her and having her talk so much with me. When we dropped them off at their hotel she gave me some hugs and blew kisses..such a sweet little girl.
It's getting late now so I will blog some more tomorrow as I have been so behind with posting here ..sorry!

2007-05-03T15:58:00.000+09:30

Come What May

Yes welcome to May, it's bucketing down with rain and has been on and off all day. It actually almost feels like winter, it's dark, wet and windy and I love it!

So much has been happening over the past couple of weeks that I haven't had a chance, nor the energy to update here.

It's been school holidays so Abs has been home for 3 weeks as they broke up on the Thursday before Good Friday. We didn't get up to very much other than the bowling I mentioned in the last post but it was a nice break from doing the school run each day.

We are finally getting to the end of the renovations we have been doing. Our study has now become a 4th bedroom as of yesterday and is now being referred to as "Joe's Room" we still have to put the cornice on one wall and have the walls flushed which is all happening Saturday, then we get to choose paint colours, curtains and wall paper borders. Joe is being very insistent on having green walls but I just don't feel right about it. I don't think in 2-3 years he is still going to want green and I would rather use a colour that will last quite a while.

Our attic conversion also was finished yesterday but there are a few issues with it now that we need to sort out so not going to say much about that at this point until we have spoken to the company again.

Last week I managed to do this layout with some gorgeous freebies I have downloaded recently

Credit:
JDesai - Swirl freebie
Carrie Stephens - Swooshie frame freebie
Font: MA Sexy

Well that's about all from me, best go see what the kids are up to since the screaming has all just stopped.

2007-04-22T22:07:00.000+09:30

The Week That Flew By!

Honestly I don't know where last week went, it absolutely flew by! I last posted on G's birthday just over a week ago so I guess I have some catching up to do.
First and foremost G got a job promotion..yay! What a great birthday present that was for him as he was leaving at the end of a rather crap day. He then came home and opened some presents (guitar stand from the kids) and a blues pedal for his guitar from me and some new PJ's too. Never bought him pyjamas before but he really likes them and is wearing them :)
Then we headed out to yet another very delicious meal at Zapata's in Melbourne Street. We were pretty tired though so after we ate we headed straight back home..we must be getting old!

We did a lot of shifting around with the house this week too as Friday just gone we had some guys in to cable the house, put in some more power points, another Foxtel unit and moving the phone line for the modem. They are back tomorrow to fix up and finish a few bits and then hopefully the electrician will be in to actually power up the new power points. We've managed to set up our desks in the front room now so we are slowly getting there with making our study Joe's bedroom.
Next week we have the builders coming to build a storage room in our attic and also another lot of builders to alter the study door and put some sound proofing in the wall. I can't wait for it to be all finished! We went and got some paint charts tonight as we'll need to get going with that soon. It's all quite chaotic here, hence the lack of posts.

Took Abbey out this afternoon, we went bowling..I got 2 strikes (and well...loads of gutter balls) and we had a great time, then we took her out for dinner but she was so tired by then (having had a sleep over at my Mum's the night before) that she didn't eat much and then got moody *sigh*
Oh well time for bed I guess..early start tomorrow!

2007-04-13T11:36:00.000+09:30

PS....

Happy Birthday to my amazing husband who turns... well....he's very old now but is still a young rocker at heart :)

I am also really excited as at last we have all our dates for tradespeople booked in to do the renovation-y bits to the house. Within one month everything should be finished and we can get on with the job of decorating Joe's room for him to move into. I am really happy that this is coming as I think it's time for the twins to not be sharing, and finally I will be able to send the kids to their rooms to calm things down. Now if I could just decide on what I want to do with Joe's room!

2007-04-13T11:24:00.000+09:30

10 Things That Made Me Smile This Week

1. Watching countless episodes of 90210
2. Abbey spelling "S-E-X" at the dinner table (see G's post for the full story)
3. Joe asking "You got plenty more?" at the dinner table when we had poured the last of the coke from the bottle. His speech is just getting so much better every day at the moment.
4. Seeing a photo of my 4 new cousins whom have just been adopted by my cousin.
5. The mere thought of going out for dinner tonight (without kids!!)
6. Leaving an empty cheese wrapper in the bathroom for G to find. He has this obsession with cheese wrappers and complains I never put the empty wrapper in the bin, I just leave it on the kitchen side..so I left it in the bathroom just for him! *smirk*
7. Realizing that Scarlett never just walks anywhere, she floats, she flits, she dances and she prances..but she *never* just walks.
8. Hearing Joe tell G " I love you Daddy" each night when he goes to bed, so heart-warming.
9. Reading the countless Bratz-based stories that Abbey had been writing these holidays, she has such a way with words.
10. G - he just makes me smile *swoon*

2007-04-11T15:54:00.000+09:30

Tag You're It!

Yep I got tagged, actually not that much of a new thing but this time I am actually going to do it, which is pretty unheard of for me. I always mean to do them..I just never quite get around to it! I haven't blogged in a while so this way I get to kill two birds with one stone ;) I was tagged by G

The rules:
1. Get tagged
2. List five things that have not been revealed on your blog.
3. Tag five others.

So here we go..major confessions...

1. It was me with the tea bag
2. I still love Take That..and I am thrilled to bits they are back together!! Please tour Australia soon!
3. When I was in Primary School I told a visiting policeman that I had a secret to tell him, when he leaned down so I could whisper in his ear I planted a big kiss on his cheek and ran off. Yep I have always been a hussy.
4. I can't drive.
5. I'm such an insanely boring and shy person. I don't drink, smoke or do any kind of drugs, I don't like crowds and noise. I much prefer to be at home snuggled in front of the TV after a good meal..or maybe I am just old!?!

Anyhow last but not least I tag Annette, Chris, Kate, Amanda and Ange!

2007-03-30T11:07:00.000+09:30

Twin Speaks

Scar: You shut up
Joe: No, you shut up
Scar: No..you shut up
Joe: no you shut up
Scar: No! YOU shut up
Joe: No..you, you ,you, you, you!

*sigh* Thank heavens it's almost the weekend! Not much planned for this weekend other than a BBQ with friends. Joe's been very frustrating this week so am looking forward to not having to take him to school for the next two days and listen to his tantrums going there and back
Did this layout of Scarlett too which I love and will share here:

Other than that it's been a fairly quiet week here. School holidays start soon so I guess it won't be quiet for much longer!

2007-03-22T14:04:00.000+10:30

A B C D E F Gee, What Was I Thinking!?!?

Joe is watching TV so Scar and I are sitting on our bed with a pad of paper and a pencil and I am trying to teach her letters A - G.
She has a book of ABC stuff and we get to letter F and I say "what's that picture of?" and she looks at me
"it keeps us cool in the hot weather" I continue.
More blank looks from her
"it starts with the letter f" I tell her

"It's a faccuum" she informs me.

2007-03-21T21:36:00.000+10:30

I Wish Every Day Could Be Like This

Late yesterday afternoon I had the absolute pleasure of meeting for the first time Manda's husband and eldest daughters. They were all just lovely and I just wish we had been able to hang out a bit longer.
We met up at the old Magic Mountain site in Glenelg, which is now revamped as "The Beach House" probably because only rich people can afford to go there. It's touted as having loads of arcade games and rides etc for the kids and at that time of day I was expecting it to be busy with afterschool teenagers hanging out..but it was pretty quiet and we virtually had the whole place to ourselves!! Obviously the creators of this place missed their target audience as the youth of the area can't afford the price of all the games etc either!
Amanda's oldest two girls are twins who are pretty much the same age as Abs, and her youngest daughter is pretty much the same age as Joe and Scarlett so it was great fun to see them getting along after a little while of shyness. I think the dodgem cars was the real icebreaker as none of the girls ( oh and G) could stop giggling with their bad driving.
I think Abs really enjoyed meeting the girls and I would glance over at her quite often and catch her having a chat and a laugh with either Georgia or Kelsey. After dinner at McD's we walked along the shops a bit and then down to the beach which was just blissful by that time of night (around 7.30pm) and the sun just setting. The kids ran around collecting shells and watching the huge planes fly over after taking off from the nearby Adelaide airport.
Scarlett was very quiet, she was tired but I was so proud of her for walking along the beach as she really doesn't like the beach at all. She's not at all comfortable with water and when we walked along the jetty a bit she made me carry her once the water was underneath us and held on tight but didn't kick up a big fuss.
I could tell by the time we got off the jetty that Abs was really tired. She'd been on a school excursion during the day and it was already past her bedtime and we had a 40-odd minute drive home to get through with her as well.
I was so sad to say goodbye to Amanda, she is just such a lovely person and I am so lucky to have her as a friend. I hope she and her DH (also a G) make it back to Adelaide so we can catch up again. I really enjoyed meeting her whole family and look forward to getting our clans back together again.

2007-03-12T22:26:00.000+10:30

Let Them Eat Cake

..or just the cake mix will do! Today we decided to make chocolate cake..yummy. Kids had a ball as I don't do that much cooking with them as it's usually more of a hindrance than a help but they were great today taking turns.

Here's some pics:Dig in to that chocolatey goodness!

Back away from the cake mix..it's mine!

2007-03-08T12:35:00.000+10:30

Giddy up!

Yes following in the fine foot steps of G and Manda here is a blast from the past from me.

I'm aged 4 here and in my fave place of all time -North Beach, Wallaroo. We used to go there several times a year practically from the time I was born. It's been a couple of years since I have been up that way so might have to see what we can do about getting back there later this year with the kids.

I also love this photo because it shows my very favourite pair of sneakers. Around the sides of the shoe were little indians and alphabet letters. I was never a girly-girl but these shoes I *loved* I must say judging by the size of the collar and the obvious breeze at the time it's amazing I didn't fly away!

Oh and yes G, you can see my dimple!

2007-03-04T23:08:00.000+10:30

Warning: Bragging Mother Alert

Just a couple of quick things so that an entire week doesn't go past without me updating here.
I am just so proud of Abs at the moment as she seems to be doing really well in everything she is doing right now despite some of the issues we have had with her recently.

On Friday she came in from school excited to tell me she had a note in her diary that only 4 other kids got, and 5 from the other Yr 3 class had also been given. Seems she has been chosen to do some kind of Literacy Extension program on Fridays at school and they are planning a magazine. I can't tell you how thrilled to bits she is as she has been talking about making a magazine for ages (thanks to The Bratz Magazine!)

This morning she burst through the door after swimming, she had the biggest smile on her face and her eyes were absolutely shining with excitement as she had just passed her Level 2 of swimming and as of next week goes up to Level 3. She's been working really hard at this the past few weeks as she set it down as one of her goals to achieve this year in an exercise they did at school so now she has done it. I am so proud of her, and it's great for her to see her hard work paid off!

I think it topped off a great weekend for her as G and I took her shopping on Saturday (twin-free!) and she had us to herself all afternoon, got loads of new (and very cool) clothes, got some new books from the Go Girls series which she has just discovered and had lunch out as well.
She's been so good this weekend, she cleaned her room this morning, did her piano practise early instead of leaving it to the last minute and even had time to go play with her friends this afternoon and have a dip in their new spa!

2007-02-26T22:23:00.000+10:30

Naughty, Naughty Mama!

Okay so that title isn't as tuneful as Joe's singing but trust me it's cute. Joe has recently come up with a chant that he sings over and over with great delight whenever Abbey or Scarlett are in trouble which goes "Naughty, naughty Scarlett" and repeat as many times as possible before being smacked over the head by Naughty-naughty Scarlett.

I haven't blogged in a while simply as there is not much going on. We are still working on clearing the house which is going well and I have to admit that a more organized house is definitely working for me. I feel happier, less snappy and am starting to actually take pride in a clean-ish house. I am starting to set routines for cleaning but nothing too rigid and just trying to continue each day moving forward with stuff and not slacking off.
I feel like less clutter in the house is contributing to a better relationship with G as well, we are focussed on our goals and making plans together more lately, we check in on the weekends to make sure what we need to be getting done is getting done and it's just an all around nice vibe with him at the moment.

So other than that not much going on..see boring I tell you! Nothing to see here..move along...

2007-02-13T21:39:00.000+10:30

Bloody, bloody, bloody...

Today was just a freaky day. I went to get the twins up this morning as they were sleeping in too much and the first thing I see when I walk into their room is our gorgeous son covered from head to below knees in blood. His face (from his eyes down) and hands were *completely* red, there was blood in his hair, heavy smears up his arms, flecks on his ears, drops on his PJ's and smears on his legs. He'd managed to get blood all over his bedhead until it was almost dripping onto the carpet and a couple of small smears on his wall and of course his pillow case (brand new btw) is speckled with it. It looked like a crime scene not a kid with a nosebleed. I half expected to see him with Scarlett's Barbie head in one hand and the body in the other. I raced him into the bathroom and cleaned him up and noticed he looked pale.
I asked him if he was okay he said "yeah I alwight Mama"

On a much brighter note I did a layout today which I just love so much so I better share it with you here.

That's about it from me. Abbey is back to school tomorrow after not being too well the last 3 days. Mostly just a cold but it had her temp going up and down, she's been quite headachey and threw up a few times. I think the worst has passed now.
Nothing else happening here right now.

2007-02-10T23:01:00.000+10:30

A Very Productive Day!

I had a really nice day today. The kids slept in until 9.10am even though we were due to take them to my Mum's at 9.30am. We could have woken them up earlier as G and I were up at 7.30 getting showered and such but Joe has been such a ratbag lately and after a long sleep yesterday afternoon he was back to his usual self so we decided if they were all tired they could sleep in as long as they wanted. When they finally emerged we just threw some clothes on them and took them down to Mum's where they had breakfast.

We had a guy coming at 10.30 to quote us on getting our attic converted into some storage space, he ended up quoting us for converting our study into Joe's room too so we are looking forward to that all happening in a couple of months. He didn't arrive until almost midday (he did ring and let us know though) so after he had gone we headed out to the shops for a while.

I bought some white vinyl to use as a backdrop for photos after I heard it works well so here's hoping I can make it happen!
I took some shots the other day I was really happy with so am looking forward to continuing to improve my photography skills as it is something I have been interested in for years but am finally now getting a chance to do something about it.
Fairly quiet week, had my cousin to dinner on Tuesday night which was lovely. He hasn't seen the kids for two years as he lives interstate but they loved seeing him and smothered him completely until it was time for bed. He gave them all book vouchers so they were thrilled to bits even though twins had no real idea of what they are.

Thursday night G and I headed into the city to see the amazing Angus and Julia Stone and wow, do those two know how to write amazing songs. I swear I could just lay back and listen to Angus sing all day, his voice is so lovely and soothing. Julia has an equally amazing voice and their musical talents combined are just astounding. A very late night but worth every second!

And to end this update my 3 latest layouts!

2007-02-02T16:55:00.000+10:30

This Rollercoaster Called Life

It's been a busy week here and I am so exhausted in an emotional way it is not funny. I need lots of love and cuddles, a good laugh and some relaxation this weekend.

I don't even know where to start with this post so much has been happening..I may even have to come back and do some more later. G and I are popping to the hospital tonight to see an extremely dear family member who was taken ill yesterday and only had a 50/50 chance of making it. Not good odds, but he has beaten the odds so far and is doing much better today. I can't wait to see him as I have been worried sick, I feel like my head has just been consumed with worry for him. I know once I see him I will feel much better. K is like another Dad to me, he's been there my whole life and is also my godfather, he is a grandfather figure for the kids and a great male figure in Joe's life since Dad passed away. They have such a special connection and even though I know K loves the girls too I feel the chemistry with Joe is that little bit more special. Joe just lights up when K walks in.

Abs has also had some issues of late which have been quite worrying. I think it has settled down a little now with her return to school giving her some routine back (she's a true Virgo and great with routine) and she seems to be settling down well. Me on the other hand, am struggling with the early mornings again!

Things with G's work have also been quite intense and causing me some concern but it finally looks like things are picking up there as well. His boss has resigned which can only make G's life easier and less stressful. There may even be a mini-promotion in the pipeline..or maybe not, we'll wait and see.

Anyway it's all been far too serious around here lately and so I think I will finish this post with a sight that just made me smile yesterday amidst all the drama. I ordered the twins a new sunhat each from Ebay which arrived yesterday morning. Joe just *loves* his new Cars cap with Lightning McQueen and Mater on and he wore it ALL day and would not take it off..eventually he even fell asleep with it on.

2007-01-28T22:40:00.000+10:30

Look, Up In The Sky! Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane?

No it's a comet! I even managed to take the camera out of the auto mode and take a photo. It's not a *great* photo..but at least it's mine :)

2007-01-15T22:48:00.000+10:30

Conversations With Joe

I love spending time with my boy. He is so different from the girls in so many ways, and I love it when he and I can have conversations without being interrupted by the girls.
For instance Sunday morning Joe and I went for a walk to the shops, he doesn't get to go out without at least one of his sisters normally but decided he needed some time out from them so took him with me. He was so chatty, pointing out the birds, the cars, a truck and a mountain ( a mound of dirt) and then he got really excited...

Joe: Look Mama, the moon. Big Moon
Me: Yes good boy it is the moon and it is big
Joe: Moon hungry Mama. It's hungry moon
Me: What do you think the moon eats?
Joe (without hesitation) : Broccoli

Well there you go..you learn something new with him all the time!
This morning he had been playing with the girls and came in all whingey

Joe: Scarlett's a bully
Me; What?
Joe: Scarlett's a bully, Scar-lett a bully, Scarlett a bully
Me: Scarlett's a bully?
Joe: No Scarlett's a girl
Me: !?!?!?!?!?!?

He's so funny, I almost wish he wasn't asleep right now just so I could go and snuggle with him.

2007-01-10T12:32:00.000+10:30

Happy Birthday Gorgeous Georgeous and Poppy Monkey!!

Yep my gruesome twosome are another year older. The big THREE! I guess that technically makes them pre-schoolers and not toddlers anymore. I am a couple of days late with this post they actually had their birthday on Monday and we celebrated with a trip to the Zoo in the morning.
It's hard to believe how far they have come from the tiny teensy babies they are below

Scarlett, just hours old

Joe, a few hours old

to the big boisterous pre-schoolers they are now. Their unique and special relationship has grown and developed and I imagine would be hard to break, they fight fiercely and yet are fiercely protective of each other around other kids. They get annoyed at their lack of space but are left hysterical should one go out without the other, even if one goes to play in another room it's never more than 10 minutes before they will look for each other. I hope this bond they have will stay with them their whole lifetime.

Yesterday and today they have been playing with all their new birthday presents, so here is a snap of them taken less than an hour ago as they played with their new dress ups. I now can't get them out of those clothes and it's 38C here, which is fine for Ariel..not so great for Buzz!

2007-01-04T09:50:00.000+10:30

Happy Birthday To...

my blog! Yes one year ago today this blog was born and already I can see how great it is to look back on the year that was and I am looking forward to sitting here this time next year seeing what other changes our lives have gone through and what the kids are up to.
I decided to celebrate by popping on my new banner which was made for my actual website that er..still isn't done yet (yoohoo G..remember me!?!?)

We spent yesterday morning being very productive but have nothing to show for it if that makes sense? G and I have finally had our long overdue chat about house renovations and options for extending or not extending the house with the end goal being the kids having a room each as Joe *needs* some space from the girls. We have now decided to hold off on extensions and shift our study so Joe gets his room, it may not work long long term but right now the for the next 4-5 years it should be okay and by then I hope to be back out working and maybe a house renovation will be possible.
So our new plan of attack is to get moving on clearing out the stuff from our front room to make way for the study desks. Somehow having what needs to be done written in front of us makes it all seem so much more do-able! I feel excited by it all and I want it done ASAP as poor Joe is constantly in the middle of the girls bugging him. He needs some space to play his own games in his own way instead of being told what character he is and what he has to say etc.

2006-12-31T20:54:00.000+10:30

It's The End Of The Year As We Know It

Well it's New Years Eve and here I am sitting here with a lovely cold glass of white to drink (okay so it's milk..what's your point!?), the kids are all asleep and G is watching a movie. All is calm, all is peaceful and just a little Nelly Furtado on to keep me grooving while I attempt some digiscrapping tonight.

I decided I should attempt to blog a little about our Xmas celebrations before it becomes last years news.
Christmas Day was nice enough, very quiet..in fact so quiet that we went and woke the twins up at 8am as we got bored waiting for them to come open presents. They tore through the mounds of presents in no time flat. Joe really got the hang of presents this year and barely looked at each one before wanting to tear the paper off the next one. He just loves to rip things though is my theory. The girls weren't far behind. After the unwrapping and breakfast I spent the next hour or two painstakingly opening box after box of toys with stupid fiddly wire tags, sticky tape and assorted other methods of torture to stop kids actually getting to their toys.
I think by far Abs fave present was her Bratz Muichiz (a fancy virtual pet really) and she was pretty stoked to get the Bratz PS2 game plus a TV/DVD combo for her room.
Scarlett's fave is a bit harder to tell as she is still going from toy to toy but she does seem to love her pink ELC keyboard from Grandma and Grandad and her Serafina talking cat which I managed to get from Ebay a few months back.
Joe is just happy over so many things, his bucket of dinosaurs, his Buzz Lightyear action figure and his ELC Lift Off Rocket being his main faves for now.
Christmas Day was quiet, we just had my Mum over for an early dinner and we just sat about watching the kids play with their games etc Our big day (well my fave anyhow) is Boxing Day where we get together with our closest friends and neighbours and have a big BBQ. It's always more relaxing and more casual than Christmas Day. The kids loved having conpany out in the garden all day and we had topped up the sand in the sandpit so that got a good work out, along with the trampoline, play gym and anything else they could get outside!
Unfortunately we are now just a week away from Joe and Scarlett's 3rd birthday and I am now in a mad spin trying to get presents for them. It's a hard time of year to be buying stuff as the toy departments are barely stocked so it doesn't matter how good the sale is if they have not much on their shelves.
Today I bit the bullet as we had to get *something* We decided that we would buy trikes mid-year for the twins and just get them something small for their birthday. Joe has a huge friction powered vehicle that I think he is just going to love! Scar is getting a Cloe Bratz doll. I am going to have take all the small pieces away but I know she will love it as I think she was disappointed to get a Barbie rather than a Bratz at Xmas. She took one look at Abbey's 2 new Bratz dolls, glanced in disgust at her Barbie and threw it aside as she lunged for a Bratz doll. In fairness though she has since played with her Barbie but I think she has room for a Bratz doll too.
We are waiting to see how the weather is looking for next weekend before we decide on what we will do for their actual day but are hoping for a trip to the Zoo all going well.

Other than that all is quiet here. We've been shopping at IKEA a couple of times to get some storage both for our CD's and a bookcase for Abs to try and get more space in her room, it's just so small for her now. Hoping to finish moving her room around tomorrow and fingers crossed she will have some room.

We also had one of Abs friends over for a small BBQ the other day and then they all got into a waterfight, was a lovely evening and so I will finish 2006 with some of my fave pics from that night. Oh and Scarlett isn't one for waterfights (or water in general) so no pics of her :)

Happy and Safe New Years Everyone!

Taking it like a man

A Little Bit Soggy

Fireman Joe in Training

2006-12-26T22:40:00.000+10:30

The Annual Boxing Day BBQ

I will come back and blog properly about our celebrations in the next day or two but am so tired I can hardly type a decent sentence let alone speak one..and I don't drink so can't blame the alcohol! So here are some pics from my fave day of the year..Boxing Day!!

The new fancy schmancy BBQ

Future Charlie's Angel?

Go Ahead Make Joe's Day!

Cup of tea?

2006-12-25T22:09:00.000+10:30

And So This Is Christmas 2006!

Scarlett spies a pile of pressies!

Abbey and her new hair do!

Joe gets busy with the unwrapping.

Christmas Carnage

2006-12-19T20:37:00.000+10:30

Little Miss Fiesty

Just in case there is any dispute over who rules the roost in this house.

Scarlett is whining at the baby gate which I tied shut, and Abbey said something inaudible to her from across the room. Miss Nearly Three's response?

"No your not the mum, your Abigail, and I'm Scarlett"

2006-12-15T22:31:00.000+10:30

It's The Holidays!!

Yep first day of school holidays here today and all I can say is..it's going to be a looong 7 weeks with the 3 of them home *sigh*

Joe has been quite off all week and not at all his normal self, he's been stubborn, aggressive, argumentative, demanding and whingy. Urgh, his whinging is the worst sound ever. He's like a damn foghorn. What's worse is that as loud as he is if you ask him what's wrong he mumbles and the more you ask him to speak up the quieter he mumbles..very frustrating.

Looking forward to getting Abs report next week in the mail, why they can't justgive them out is beyond me..I hate waiting to see how she went though am confident she did ok. I know she got an A for piano at least as her music report came home already. Not bad for her first term I think!

During the week I also turned the big 33, not much of an occasion but I do have a flash new printer to show for it and the complete first series of 90210 to watch! We had a delicious chicken enchilada dinner which we ate in peace and quiet once the kids were in bed..bliss! Unfortunately G has been under the weather this week and I was pretty tired and we couldn't even be arsed to watch a movie so G went to bed early and I got held up going to bed by a late night phone call from my sister in the UK.

Not much else to say, G and I are off shopping in the morning to get any last minute bits we can think of while the kids go to Mum's to help her decorate her tree. We are pretty organised now though still reeling from the cost of postage to the Uk for some parcels we sent! I am also just doing a quick desk calendar for my Mum to go with her magazine subscription I re-newed. I started this afternoon and have finished up to June so far so half there at least!

Oh and I got tickets to go see Pink in May...woohoo!

Anyhow off to bed for now!

2006-12-07T22:22:00.000+10:30

Going To Get My Arse Kicked...

if I don't update this blog.

Well it's a busy time of year so here's what I have been up to in a nutshell

- Went and saw Robbie Williams live at AAMI Stadium on Tuesday night. Music was great, Robbie sounded fantastic (though could have been louder) and a very dazzling stage set up but somehow I still left feeling a bit disappointed and flat. Can't work that one out..I must be getting too used to having second rows seats or something ;)

- Having some issues with Abs and her hormonal mood swings. I don't want to be too hard on her at this time in her life when she is struggling to understand how she is feeling but not wanting to let her get away with murder either..I need to find the balance. Today all I asked her to do was tidy her room..let's just say it was like adding water to a sachet of Instant Attitude Mix.

- Been having a ball on Carole Neale's CT team. All the girls are great and it is such a thrill to be working with Carole's stuff.
Here's a couple of my recent layouts using her kits and templates all available at The DigiScrapShak Store (except for the Grungy Christmas kit used in the middle layout which is FREE with the December DigiScrapShak newsletter!)

This last layout of Scar is using Little Possum Designs "Hello Dolly" and "Rockstar" kits with a Carole Neale template.

- Also been busy with Abs finishing up school at the end of next week. It seems they must have everything at the end of the year so the last weeks become a blur of school discos, class parties, music night, speech night and the Christmas Extravaganza, honestly it's doing my head in. I can't wait for holidays but I don't think that novelty will last long once the kids start fighting. At least G has a nice looooong break and will be here too!

- Have almost finished the Christmas shopping too. What a brain strain that has been for the kids who have everything and don't really ask for much. Still I think they will be very happy with their lot and if they complain I am sure there are some disadvantaged kids out there somewhere who could really use some new stuff.

Okay that's it for me, will try to stay on top of the blogging now I am caught up a bit! If you haven't already check out the new music clip on the sidebar..just beautiful!

2006-12-04T12:29:00.001+10:30

No I Am Not Dead

I just haven't blogged for a while due to being tired, busy and not having much to say. I will come back soon and update..but have a splitting headache right now and can't be arsed to type more!

2006-11-25T15:55:00.000+10:30

A Busy Week

and so I am glad it is the weekend! There's been a lot going on here for me this week but it's all good.

First things first I made the announcement that I have decided to no longer design. I love it a lot but it's very time consuming and with the twins off to Kindy late next year I decided I would rather spend that extra time with them rather than pulling my hair out when designs don't come out right. I think I have managed to come to a good compromise which will allow me to scrap more, still dabble in designing when the mood takes me and still get a little more family time.
I will still be over at Pickleberrypop however I will be switching to the Creative Team which will allow me to continue working with the amazing designers we have there and helping to promote both them and the site. I will also continue to help by providing freebies for any upcoming challenges etc so I am pleased I can still contribute in some way. I love the girls there so much and feel far too attached to PBP to go anywhere else.

So following on from that news..I am having a HUGE Sale! Click on the image below to be taken straight to my store!

Wednesday night G and I went and saw Kasey Chambers at the Festival Theatre. It's our 5th time seeing her play live and I have to say it was the best show yet. She looked so happy, relaxed, confident and her voice seemed stronger than ever. She was very chatty which was great and we felt very privileged as not only did she perform a duet with her husband Shane Nicholson (another very talented Aussie!) but also with her adorable and somewhat lively little boy, Talon. I must also make mention of her support act, Angus and Julia Stone who though very shy at first, won over the crowd with their intriguing and somewhat distinctive sound. I shall be keeping an eye on them in the future.

Thursday night G and I drove down to Marion, about an hour away to pick up some toys we had ordered there a couple of weeks ago. All I can say is the kids had really better appreciate how far Santa will go to keep them happy! :)

Friday night Abs had a school disco so I had to race to get her ready after she got home from school. I managed to get her showered, hair dried, clothed and fed just in time for her friend's mum to arrive to pick her up, unfortunately no photos as she whizzed out the door so fast it made me spin. I'll have to be quicker next time.

Not much planned for the weekend, have a heap of cards to make so should get that done ASAP. It's pretty hot here though and it's sapping our energy (what little we have of it!)

I was going to share a couple of layouts I had done for Carole Neale's CT which I just *love* but seems Blogger is playing silly buggers and won't let me so will post them next time!

2006-11-20T22:25:00.000+10:30

A Conversation I Overheard

There was a loud scream from our lounge room, someone had been wronged. G went out to investigate as Joe's cries filled the air.

G: Scarlett did you hit Joe?
Scar: Yes
G: Why did you hit Joe?
Scar: Because I don't like him anymore
G: What did you hit him with?
Scar: With Love-A-Lot

At this point G and I had dissolved into a fit of giggles and once again Scar's insane cuteness prevents her from being told off any further. Seriously what other two year old could think of using a Care Bear as a weapon!?!

Poor Joe, he has been in the wars big time today. It started off when we were leaving to take Abs to school this morning, I locked the front door and was a couple of steps in front of him when I heard a massive thud and the verandah above my head shuddered on the impact, I quickly turned around to see Joe falling backwards after having walked into the verandah post! Ouch!! His cries were so loud that the girl across the street told us she could hear him while she brushed her hair in her bathroom!
Later on in the day he again wasn't looking where he was going and crashed head first into one of the kitchen chairs, he looked at it in pure disgust and then said to me "Not Again!"
They say bad luck comes in threes, so I wasn't all that surprised when later in the afternoon he managed to trap his fingers in the bi-fold door hinge. *sigh*

Fingers crossed he doesn't fall out of bed tonight!

2006-11-18T22:25:00.000+10:30

A Few Odds And Ends

It's pretty hot here today, and I had a fairly busy day for the most part but not feeling too bad considering.

We started off with a trip to the Dr, who officially confirmed that Abs is starting to "develop" I am gobsmacked in so many ways, sad in so many ways and scared to death! I mean this is the same kid who turned 8 just a few short weeks ago. She's just a baby and I am absolutely not ready for her body to start changing, let's hope it's a long and very very slow process! Daddy is still in denial.

After that I went Xmas shopping with my mother while the kids stayed at home with G. It was nice enough, I mean I told Mum what to buy and she bought it, it's not like she had to really think of anything as such. Thinking and decision-making is really not her strong point. Enough said.
Tomorrow she and I are going to a craft fair. I am only really going as a couple of years back I got some lovely hand made Barbie dolls clothes from this market, great quality, very cheap and fairly fashionable compared to some handmade dolls clothes you see around. I am hoping at worst they might do some Cabbage Patch doll clothes too for the twins dolls.

Cool news of the day....I am now officially a CT member for Carole Neale's amazing designs. I *love* her style and am very excited. You can see her designs in the DigiScrapShak Store
I think it's great to see another talented Aussie girl out there doing such amazing work!

Finally after the kids were in bed G and I ended up watching a movie, Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants. Quite a nice, easy to watch Chick Flick, no major amounts of brain power required. Think it was all a bit much for G though, he got all teary in the sad part! Bless!

2006-11-14T21:23:00.000+10:30

SURPRISE!!!.......Or Maybe Not

Help me out now blog readers. Is there one person who you can just *never* surprise in life with anything or is it just a me thing?
Since I have known G I have managed to surprise him a grand total of ONE time, yep once in our almost 11.5 years as a couple, even when he proposed he knew I was going to say yes! The one time I surprised him was his birthday and I managed to get hold of a copy of Mindy Smith's album which he was not expecting at all..but which he loved.
It's pretty irritating when (oh just for example let's use today) I decide to spoil him for no reason with his favourite for dinner, a home-cooked lasagne. I figure he will walk in the door and get a whiff of some home cooking and just feel the love of the Universe on his shoulders. Wrong, he emails me and tells me he fancies curry for tea tonight, so I reply that I don't...so he emails me back and says "you've cooked lasagne haven't you" Hmm...I won't write here what I sent back to him. It's not just the little things either, he knows what I want to buy him all the time for birthdays and Xmas too....I give up! Does anyone else have this problem?

Okay so on to other things, this blog has been quite neglected as we were away for a few days last week. To read about our trip and see some of our pics head to G's blog as he covered it so well I don't think he left much more for me to say..you can see it here and here, in a nut shell we had a great time! It was great to get away, and quite an experience to say the least. Ab had her first attempt at sleeping in a bunk bed and did great..now I am thinking I should get her a loft bed for her room, she could certainly use the extra space.

Lastly before I head towards bed..my fave word of the day comes from Joey, who while studying the Rice Bubbles box this morning at breakfast proudly pointed out the "bike-all" (rhymes with Michael) I thought it was very good as he usually calls bicycles motorbikes!

2006-11-13T23:06:00.000+10:30

Why I Love My Husband

Me: Honey, do you know what is so special about today?
G: *pause* It's one month today until your birthday.
Me: You always know the the right answer

Seriously how lucky am I that I have a husband who never forgets my birthday!? I know he doesn't have a clue what to get me, nor does the fact that he knows it's coming actually make him go buy a card any earlier (have you seen the choice of birthday cards available in mid-December?? I am telling you now..it's slim pickings!) but he *does* always know when it is.

We won't mention Mothers Day 2005.

2006-11-04T22:44:00.000+10:30

Top 5 Albums I Am Listening To Lately

In no particular order.......

1. Taking The Long Way - The Dixie Chicks
2. Stand Still, Look Pretty - The Wreckers
3. Carnival - Kasey Chambers
4. Kerosene - Miranda Lambert
5 . Love, Pain and the whole crazy thing - Keith Urban
(which technically I only bought today but I *know* it will barely leave the CD player for the next few weeks!)

I'm offline for a couple of days but will be back soon hopefully with some new pics soon!

2006-11-01T11:12:00.000+10:30

The Season Of Goodwill

is almost upon us and whilst many of us will be celebrating with our loved ones (and maybe not quite so loved ones!) I always think it's important to think of those who for whatever reason, don't have much reason to celebrate at this time of year.

I am very proud to announce the release of Pickleberrypop's very first charity kit, supporting the Chibobo Orphans in Zambia. The Pickleheads have pulled together an amazing kit absolutely stuffed FULL of goodies including 31 papers and 200+ elements, at only $8 Australian it is a bargain and furthermore, and most importantly, every single cent raised from the sale of this kit will go directly to the Chibobo Orphans for food, water, education and better facilities.

Check it out below and click on the image to be taken straight to the store for what could be the most important purchase you will make this holiday season!

To read more on the wonderful work being done for the Chibobo Orphans click here

2006-10-24T11:39:00.000+09:30

Because I Laughed ...

I am now forced to post this embarassing photo of moi! Yes that's me, in April 1995 and is one of the worst pictures ever taken of me..my hair is not, nor was EVER that shade of orange! The flash on a crap camera ( and an equally crap photographer I must add) can do awful things to a girls hair colour.

For more info on why this HAD to be posted check this link to G's blog and you better try real hard not to laugh, giggle, chuckle or even smile faintly! Laughing on the inside also counts as full scale laughing !

2006-10-21T21:53:00.000+09:30

Due To Overwhelming Demand...........

I decided to update my blog tonight :) Oh but where to start!?! It's been ages so this will probably be fairly jumbled and all over the place.

First things first... I have released two new items into the Pickleberrypop Shop!

My new "Dirty Words" Collection are (so far) two sets of grunged up and dirty stamps perfect for heaps of different layouts. "Attitudes" is perfect for the little people with BIG attitudes in your life and my "Get Festive" will be perfect for the upcoming Christmas season that is almost upon us! Check them out now as they are both selling at the bargain price of $2AUD (that's only $1.51 US!!)

Aside from scrapping life is fairly good. Abs is back to school now and will be commencing piano lessons on Monday, very exciting!

This week has been a bit strange, been up and down and not quite myself at times but coming good again now. I managed to go shopping Friday and picked up a few bits of summer clothes for the twins (not as much as is needed but nevermind) I couldn't find anything for Abs so we are taking all 3 shopping after Abbey's swimming lesson tomorrow and see how we go. Quite looking forward to it actually!

Had a lovely day today, was a bit lazy this morning when G went off to do the grocery shopping and then in the afternoon Ab's best friend Emily was having a birthday party at the local bowling place. Ab has never been bowling before but she was quite a natural somehow! G dropped she and I off, and then took twins home and then he dropped off the twins a bit later so he could pop out and get his hair cut so I actually ended up paying for the twins to have a lane to themselves and they had a blast rolling the bowling balls down the lane, Joe danced and shouted everytime and Scar giggled and danced and ran away each time she had set the ball going, barely even waiting to see what pins she knocked down! Final score: Scarlett 78, Joe 80 !
When G got back he and I decided to have a game too, the twins went off with Abbey and her friends to share a slice of birthday cake and G and I had a few minutes peace while we played. Final score: G 118, Me ...er...

Last but not least we went and saw The Dixie Chicks last Sunday at the Entertainment Centre, second row..what a fab night. Here's my fave pic of the night......

Anyhow that's all I can think of for now..will try not to leave it so long next time!

2006-10-12T17:23:00.000+09:30

For No Reason At All

I just wanted to say how much I adore G, he is so supportive and such a great provider for our family. He's a hard worker, has good values and is a wonderful father to our tribe of kidlets. He is honest, polite and so patient. He doesn't drink or smoke or anything else bad.
Best of all he makes me laugh...I guess this is it..I have to officially (and publically) announce what others have known for a long time but I have tried to keep it a lid on it for fear that his head would explode with ego. G is actually *FUNNY*
There see I said it out loud..let's hope his head will make it through the doorway tonight after he's read this!

2006-10-11T08:17:00.000+09:30

What A Night!

As I sit here this morning I am feeling soo content. I am still basking in the glow of a fantastic night out, and just feeling so relaxed and peaceful (at least until the kids start fighting for the day!) Yesterday we caught up with my girl, Amanda again as she was in the city for an appt. We met up about 5.30pm and took a casual stroll down Rundle Mall as it's been a good year or two since G and I have actually bothered to go into Adelaide, usually we drive through it or around it!
Frankly it hasn't changed all that much, the same groups of youths hanging out at the same old spots that they have done for years, many of them looked dirtier and certainly their mouths were much filthier than in my day. The skirts were shorter, the pants much bigger around the waist and hanging most of the way down to their ankles and there was of course the usual "characters" of the Mall. Yep, same old Rundle Mall.
We then drove out to Melbourne Street and had a divine meal at Zapata's, there was much food consumed, much laughing and non-stop talking and it was just a great time, then we headed down the street for a coffee, more laughing , more talking and then a quick drive out towards Marion to drop Amanda home.
I can't describe how much fun Amanda is, and how much I adore spending time with her. She's such a good person and so easy to get along with. I love our friendship, and I can't wait until March when she is hopefully headed back to Adelaide again for a quick trip!!

2006-10-08T09:28:00.000+09:30

New from Poppy Monkey Designs!

It's the Al-Fur-Bet Mini Alpha, a fun furry alpha..small in size but big in effect and a bargain price of $2 (AUD) so even cheaper for US buyers with the exchange rate! Grab it at the Pickleberrypop Shop now.

A fairly quiet week last week but I *did* finish off all those little "things" that I mentioned in the last post, I had to force myself to sit at the PC and bit by bit I got them done..so I have no outstanding scrap stuff to do and can scrap and design completely for me for a while.
I'm trying to find some inspiration for this year's Christmas card photo shoot, partly as it's also a current challenge at Pickleberrypop and mostly because the year is passing by way too fast right now. G and I actually went Christmas shopping yesterday, managed to get a few bits for Joe but I am finding he is super easy to buy for. Scar has a couple of bits put away for her..and Ab has NOTHING. I feel awful but I just can't think of anything to get her especially since it was only just her birthday! Worse thing is she doesn't have anything she wants either, I keep asking her..and she says there is nothing she wants ..eeek!
A fun week ahead..Tuesday I am seeing my chickie Manda, sooo looking forward to it, plus G is back on normal hours-ish other than an early start Monday (not sure I quite believe it will be an 8-5 week for him but nevermind, will see how that goes) and next Sunday we are off to see the Dixie Chicks so definitely a fun week ahead.

2006-10-02T13:02:00.000+09:30

Nothing Much To Say

No really I just don't have anything much to say right now. Life is plodding along, kids are being kids, house is being very very slowly de-cluttered (every step forward helps though right?) and the weather is pretty good.
Design-wise I am working on a small new something, which is taking way more time than it should be but am working on getting it into the store this week *fingers crossed* I also have some other stuff I have done but just haven't done the final tweaks on yet...just can't seem to sit and do it. All the hard work is done it's the silly stuff like previews and file naming etc and yet I just can't seem to sit and concentrate long enough to just do it!

My website isn't going anywhere right now. G has just not had time to sit and do it which is frustrating me no end but not much I can do about it. The good news is that shift work should soon be over (so I keep being told) and that G actually has a week booked off in November..YIPPEE! So we are headed away for our first proper family holiday and will see how the twins go. As long as we are together we will manage whatever comes our way but we really need this time to recharge, regroup and reconnect as a family.

Oh and best news yet...I'm hopefully catching up with Amanda next week while she is in Adelaide again..cannot freakin' wait! We are planning on heading out to G and mine's fave mexican restaurant, the very delicious Zapata's , their nachos are the best I have ever tasted! Am salivating just thinking about them!

Anyhow I am off to get lunch and then truly truly going to try to do some more to finish off those design bits that are weighing me down!

2006-09-26T10:17:00.000+09:30

Calm Before The Storm...

Yesterday was a perfect day, twins woke early but happy, we were super-early getting ready for school, twins walked up to and back from school nicely, they played well through the morning (didn't eat much lunch though), napped well etc etc The sun shone, the birds sang and I did a layout and started designing something new..perfect!

Today I got up extra early so I could shower before twins woke up early..and they still beat me up and were destroying my bedroom when I got out the shower, they hardly ate breakfast, argued and finally got ready for school..just as we were leaving my Mum called in tears.
Earlier this year on April 25th my Nana passed away, she was cremated and my Uncle has her ashes while decisions were being made on where to scatter her (despite the fact she had clearly stated in her pre-arranged funeral plans *where* she wanted to be scattered)
Today is Nana's 90th birthday, and I suggested to my mother some months back that this would be a perfect time to scatter her ashes and give her a birthday send-off. After a lot of nagging and ringing about on my part (Mum's life is far too busy to worry about such insiginificant things as fulfilling a dying person's wish) I managed to get Mum to arrange with her brother to head to the cemetary today to spread Nana's ashes.
Deep down I knew this was never going to happen, and sure enough my Uncle rang this morning and cancelled on her. I am so angry and hope I never encounter my Uncle again, I just have no words for what a piece of crap I think he is right now. I am positive that he never ever intended to go with my Mum today, thing is she doesn't drive and she doesn't have the ashes..so Nana will have to sit and wait until my Uncle decides he can be bothered to do anything. He's way too busy having a little cold to worry about anything else right now, he's well enough to be looking after my cousins two kids while she swans off on yet another holiday with her husband for a week though! I'm ashamed to even be related to him.

Happy Birthday Nana, and don't forget to take that slice of pizza out of your bag later!

2006-09-19T14:24:00.000+09:30

A Series Of Events

Can't shut me up now eh? It's been a busy day and I am exhausted.

The day started normally enough, I got up and got myself ready to take Ab to school, twin sdecided to sleep in a bit longer so I quickly fixed the hem on Ab's pinafore before heading to the kitchen to start breakfast, I opened up the blind to let the light in and found this...

Yes, our patio was filling fast with water from an unknown source! I went outside and paddled about and found that the neighbours had decided to drain their pool..straight into our back garden..idiots! It was coming in from under the fence at a very fast rate and was deep enough to cover the tops of my feet. Not sure how much damage they may have done to our pavers yet, I have a feeling it has washed out the sand from underneath them but will have to wait for the back area to dry out a bit more first. Needless to say the neighbours had me on their doorstep at 7.30am in not the best mood (but I was everso polite about it!)

After dropping Abs at school G, the twins and I headed down to the shops to pick up a few bits and pieces, Joe has outgrown his jeans so we picked him up some new ones and some new jammies! We bought Ab a shirt to wear for Sports Day this week, and some cute denim capri pants..she's outgrowing so much of her stuff lately too.

I had a great surprise shortly after arriving home when a delivery van pulled up and my new 19" LCD monitor was handed over. I was pretty gobsmacked as we only ordered it from dstore.com.au on Sunday around midday, and at 8am this morning I got the email to say it had begun delivery..and by 11.45am it was here!! Talk about speedy, and I am very happy with it. I can now also proudly show off the "Poppy Monkey Design Studio" hopefully in the next day I will have moved everything I need over to the other PC (well G will) and I will be up and running!

Yeah yeah I know, it needs a few cool knick-knacks but am still searching for just the right items, I do have my Mojo Jojo monkey there though!

2006-09-18T22:41:00.000+09:30

The Bad Blogger Is Back....

and ready to fill you in on what I have been up to..well some of it anyhow!

We've been continuing our mission to declutter the house a bit, on the weekend I bagged up two FULL garbage bags of baby clothes to give away and another lot that hopefully I can sell. I still have more clothes to get through but at least it's a start, we moved some furniture around so twins now have more room in their room (when the toys aren't all on the floor!) and we are getting rid of a chest of drawers and side tables that my sister left here many years ago!

Friday morning we went shopping briefly while Mum watched the twins and Ab was at school, we bought a new mouse and keyboard for my PC, and yesterday we ordered my new monitor so once that has arrived I can shift onto my new desk.

We also celebrated our 9th Wedding Anniversary last Wednesday, the 13th of September. To be honest it was a bit of a fizzer. G had worked a late shift the night before and then had an early shift the next morning, giving him a grand total of 5 hours between going to bed and getting up again! Needless to say he was completely knackered by the time he got home Wednesday and I had had a horrendous day with the kids..we had a takeaway curry and watched TV so not all was lost!

To other news now and I will be hosting my very first chat at Pickleberrypop.com this coming Friday night! Come along from 9pm Australian Eastern Standard Time or from 6am US Eastern time for some friendly chat, a free mini-kit and some prizes!
Here's a peek at the kit you will get just for coming........

I am also starting a new project at Pickleberrypop and I will have more information on that in the next day or two so check back here for the details, or better yet..head to Pickleberrypop.com and find out about it there!

2006-09-17T22:41:00.000+09:30

Been A Bad Blogger!

It's been almost a week and can't really say for sure why I haven't blogged, partly no time and partly no inclination and partly not a whole heck of a lot to say!
I'll come back and blog properly tomorrow!

2006-09-11T15:16:00.000+09:30

Everything Has It's Place

Our house is somewhat cluttered, we need more room..and frankly considering the size of our house that's a lot of clutter. We need to get this under control, we need to be able to move in this house.
Yesterday G and I went to IKEA, we now have a brand new PC desk (from here on to be known as "The Poppy Monkey Design Studio") I am getting G to set up the old PC with all my scrap stuff on it so I have my own space and own PC to work at...yay! I will have a neat desk, and do my very best to keep it that way and I will no longer have paper everywhere, I bought a storage tray for that, I am going to get a cute container for all my pens and pencils, some post it notes etc and have everything right where I need it when I need it!

We also stopped at Big W on the way home to get some more HUGE storage containers for the kids toys as the other tubs are overflowing (I'm dreading Christmas!!) I don't know where it all comes from but I am sick of trying to balance toys so they don't fall out all over the floor during the night! Scarlett seemed very impressed with the new tubs too!

I also managed to finish off a layout this morning which I am really happy with using Carole Neale's - Jaffa Boy kit, and her Ready Steady Scrap Templates Vol 2 and Atomic Cupcake Chalked Action.

G is working a mix of late and early shift this week so things are bound to be all over the place but at least he is home on Wednesday night for a nice dinner to celebrate our Wedding Anniversary and hopefully we can get some more clearing of the house done too. We seem to be lacking motivation a lot lately so need to pull our fingers out a bit!

I'm off out to dinner tonight and can't wait!

2006-09-08T21:05:00.000+09:30

Kitchen's Open!

"Retro Kitchen" is now instore at Pickleberrypop it contains 10 rich, textured papers (4 solid, 6 patterned) in funky colours that was inspired by the kitchen we had as a child, like I say..it was the '70's! These colours were so fun to work with and I can't wait to get a chance to scrap with these myself!

I have also managed a couple of layouts this week, both of which I love. I feel like my style has changed significantly lately and I am really enjoying whatever this new style is.

Papers are Carrie Stephens- Portobello Road freebie

Photoblast Action - Dark Chocolate available at DigiScrapShak

Papers and staples: Carole Neale - Best Buds kit (available at DigiScrapShak )

PhotoBlast Action - Vivid Colour (also at DigiScrapShak )

It's been a busy week around the house this week. Lots of little interesting (well to me anyhow) things going on and I was looking forward to a peaceful weekend but seems like we have managed to book up the weekend a bit too, at least it's with FUN stuff. Am taking Abbey to a book launch tomorrow for a new series of her favourite books as the local book shop is having a fairy party to celebrate. Her two best friends are going as well so afterwards we are headed to McDonalds with them as a slightly late birthday lunch.

I have a date for Saturday night with G, we are going to cook a big yummy dinner (probably chicken enchiladas) and then veg out on the sofa to watch the RockStar SuperNova episodes we taped this week, can't wait!! I just love that show and will miss it so much after the big grand final is over with next week

Anyhow it's early here so plenty of scrap time ahead of me if I get moving..be sure to head over and check out my new kit!!

2006-09-04T10:36:00.000+09:30

Happy Birthday Ab-Kebab!

Well today Abbey turns 8 years old, blimey that has gone fast. We took her to the Royal Adelaide Show yesterday where she had a fantastic time. She rode on the Dodgems with G, went on a pony ride, played a camel-racing sideshow game (where G won her a big toy horse which we then had to carry around for the next 5 hours including it riding on the ferris wheel with us!), she had her picture taken in the farmyard animals barn, she bought showbags and we ate hotdogs and hot sugary donuts, she watched some show-jumping with her new pony pal, and galloped through the carpark on the way back to the car.

She was pretty exhausted as we headed home via McDonalds for a quick dinner and then home to decorate her birthday cake before her godparents arrived to sing Happy Birthday and watch her blow out the candles. She was sluggish getting up for school today (she's also a bit under the weather) but headed off without complaint and we'll try to have her basketball hoop (yes it arrived on time!) set up for her for when she gets home. I just hope it doesn't rain or she will have to wait a while to play it! She's requested my homemade lasagne for dinner so I also best get started on that shortly too!

I also wanted to say a big Happy Fathers Day to G, he is a great dad to our brood of 3 and puts up with alot from me at times as well, but he is loved and appreciated in this family for all the things he does for us...even if none of us listen to him :)

2006-09-01T08:50:00.000+09:30

And Here's The Proof!

This here is my chick Amanda (on the right)....just to prove we really did meet!

We had a great time and she is everything I thought she would be, I miss her so much already and I wish she lived nearby so we could hang out a lot more often, though if that were the case I would probably get even less done around my house than I already do!
I was nervous in the couple of days before meeting her but I think on the actual day I was just excited and couldn't wait to actually get there and see her, my nerves disappeared and I knew it was going to be fine. We met in a play cafe and my three super polite kids didn't even stop to say hello to Amanda or Piper (her two year old daughter) they just raced straight to the play equipment and ran amok for the next two hours!

So after that highlight for the week everything else has just been average :)

As I sit here blogging I am awaiting a phone call from a local sports store to see if they have managed to locate Abbey's birthday present that we went to get off layby last night and it's gone missing! Honestly how easy can it be to lose a basketball hoop? Not only that but they mucked us about for 40 minutes yesterday trying to figure out where it was (although the first 20 minutes we were waiting they weren't even looking!!) Her birthday is on Monday so they better sort something out VERY quickly. Last we heard they were going to deliver a hoop to our house today from their city store but I have yet to hear when that is due to arrive. Wish us luck on getting Ab's present here in time for her birthday!

So Monday is Ab's birthday but on Sunday we are taking her to the Royal Show, well that's the plan but she is home from school a little under the weather today so we will have to see how she goes. The Show is on for 9 days but Sunday is the only day we can take her due to G's work, and also I have booked in some other stuff for her to do next Saturday. She will be gutted if she misses the Show as she has been looking forward to it since the start of the year.

Haven't managed to scrap or design a thing all week, it's been hectic and G has been unwell also with sinusitis and had a couple of days off work so I am well behind on anything scrap-related!

I did take some pics of Scarlett yesterday which I am pretty proud of...

She's so easy to photograph (most days!) I would love to get some great new close ups of Joe and Abbey too but Joe moves pretty fast and seems to have no attention span at all at the moment, and Abbey tries too hard to pose. I shall have to catch them unawares I think.

Abbey has decided this week she wants to learn piano so we have let the school know and will wait and see if they have a spot for her in piano next term. I think she will be really good at it (so long as she practises!) and I think she will enjoy it very much.

I also won a "Best Rock Chick Wife Of The Year" Award this week when I not only learned to play some Deep Purple on the guitar (what can I say I had a very cute and talented teacher) but also bought G tickets to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert next year! I am in the good books for a while now :)

2006-08-28T15:40:00.000+09:30

Oh My..It's Really Going To Happen!

About a year ago I met this super crazy chick online. We have spoken almost everyday (pretty close to) since. We have a lot in common, both come from a family of 3 kids, both have twins, both have 3 kids, both mad scrappers (though she's a paper-chick) both have husbands whose names start with G and both live in the same state.
Tomorrow we are *finally* going to meet face to face!! I can't wait, I adore this lady and we have so many laughs together, she is a truly wonderful , wonderful person to know, supportive, full of great advice, funny and so caring. It's an honour to know her and have her be part of my life.
I am really nervous..but knowing that she is too makes it a little easier. I don't know how I will sleep tonight or how I am going to make it through the day tomorrow until we meet but it is going to be so worth it just to meet this amazing person.
Love ya chickie!

2006-08-24T22:17:00.000+09:30

Ooooh and...and....and....

As I was posting my last entry I had a very special visitor to my blog

How sweet is she??

I also forgot to add that I finally got a CD I ordered from Ebay recently, but it was so worth the wait, I just love it and listened to it ALL day!
Check out Michelle Branch and Jess Harper, better known as The Wreckers

2006-08-24T21:46:00.000+09:30

Getting The Snip!

Oh don't worry girls, G is just fine..I'm talking about Joe's new haircut! We were out at the shops today and we decided Joe's hair was getting a little too long so dropped by the barbers while we were out. I never dreamed I would have a son who would require more haircuts a year than both his sisters combined! I can't believe how fast his hair grows, but I love it when it flops in his eyes like he's a scarecrow..unfortunately it gets too long at the sides and starts to ducktail out to the sides a bit and that just irritates me so hence the cut today.

Prior to his haircut today we went to the Telstra shop to renew my mobile phone contract. I swear my son was flirting *big* time with the sales girl, the charm just poured out of him as sat on the chair, grinning and smiling at the girl and just saying "yes" to everything she asked him. She of course thought he was adorable, and he just lapped it all up even more. At one point she left the desk to photocopy some stuff and I swear he was staring at her butt as she walked off!
While she was gone the phone on the desk started ringing and Joe got really panicked and he didn't know what to do...he kept looking for the girl, then back to the phone, and then for the girl again like he didn't know if he should answer it for her or not. When she came back to the desk it had already stopped ringing and Joe just started repeating over and over "phone, phone" and pointing madly at the phone on the desk, it was so hilarious.
Unfortunately it wasn't all good with him today, I came out of the study at one point to find him standing on his and Scarlett's table and dancing (okay so maybe it was kind of funny but I couldn't let HIM know that!)

Okay so aside from Joe being quite a character today my other exciting news is that one of my layouts was chosen as "Layout Of The Week" at Digiscrappin.biz (soon to be DigiScrapShak)
My layout of Scarlett is right on the homepage which is cool AND I get a coupon for the store...very exciting!

Last but not least "Amoureux" is now instore too!

2006-08-23T14:46:00.000+09:30

Coming Soon To The Pickleberrypop Shop!

A sneak peek for my all my faithful blog readers (yeah right, coz I know there are just *squillions* of you.)

This is my new kit which should hopefully be landing in the Pickleberrypop Shop in the next couple of days.
I am so thrilled with how this kit has turned out, and amazed how fast it went together..it was great to design and just flowed so easily. Originally intended to be a paperpack it just kept growing....

Here is "Amoureux" (translated to English it means "in love"....awwwww!

2006-08-19T11:46:00.000+09:30

Breathe, breathe, breathe....

I am so furious I could explode. Once again our house has come under attack from outsiders..well if you ask me I know exactly which outsider but again I have no proof.
I had a cardiology appt yesterday, and lucky for me it all went well (other than the fact the cardio was running late and we waited 2.5 hours to get in to see her)
I was exhausted when we finally got home so while I cooked a super quick tea for G, Ab and I it was decided Mum would go home as she had been here babysitting.
We got the kids into bed about 7.40pm and I settled down in front of the TV and G took up position on the PC in the study. Less than 10 minutes later he came and asked if I had made a noise, I said no and he wandered down to the front door area and poked his head in the front room to see what the noise was, he switched the light on..saw nothing and assumed it was just the TV he had heard.
This morning he went shopping and didn't take his keys and when I opened the door to let him in on his return I noticed something sparkling on the ground behind him. Upon further investigation we found this....

Yeah nice. Thanks a freakin' lot. There goes any chance of enjoying Saturday as a family as we now get to spend the afternoon waiting for a glazier to come fix our window..oh and paying $100 of our hard earned money to our insurance!
You disgusting piece of filth, be sure I know who you are and I am waiting for you. Do *anything* to my house or family again and you are going to be in a whole pile of trouble. Be sure we will be reporting this to the police, and everything you do to our house will be reported to the police..you will get caught eventually. Be sure we are also talking to the neighbours about having all their damage and incidents reported to the police. Your time for terrorizing our neighbourhood is almost up.

2006-08-16T10:48:00.000+09:30

Middle Of The Week Syndrome

It's Wednesday, I am tired and it's not been a good morning thus far. Joe was being so difficult about getting through his breakfast and getting dressed so we could take Ab to school that I gave up and called a friend to collect Ab and drop her at school for me. It was a gorgeous morning weather-wise too and I had been looking forward to the short walk but Joe pretty much nixed that plan!
To make it even better Scarlett and Joe decided to take turns throwing tantrums for the next 40 minutes..all I can say is lucky they are so loving normally or I would have just given up completely and gone back to bed to let them scream. They seem okay now...not sure how long it will last.
Nothing else to report really, just been doing some scrapping this week which was fun to do, no designing going on at the moment...will have to wait for my next wave of inspiration to hit!

2006-08-12T17:01:00.000+09:30

My Artistic Husband

Just to prove I am not the only artistic (and I do use that term very loosely!!) one in the household here is what happens when G gets busy on my Wacom tablet.

Hmm..don't ya think he would know better than to leave his artwork lying around for it to end up on the world wide web!?!?

2006-08-10T20:20:00.000+09:30

Introducing "Plumdiddlyumptious"

This is my newest kit available instore right now at the pickleberrypop shop This kit was so much fun to do and I learned some really interesting stuff while making it so I am very excited to see it in the pop shop!

Not a lot else happening at the moment, we brought a tripod for the camera today so fingers crossed we may be able to take a family picture soon. The weather is due to be gorgeous this weekend too so I may try to head outside and take some photos if time (and kids) permit.

2006-08-07T22:25:00.000+09:30

Move Along, Nothing To See

Well I just thought I better write something..anything just so I could say I updated my blog!
It was a hectic week last week but the launch of Pickleberrypop seemed to go well, there's a whole bunch of fab new people that have joined who are just jumping right into everything with such enthusiasm it is truly inspiring, and so much of the work in the galleries is just incredible! I am so proud to be on the team there, and even if I wasn't I would join in anyway as the happy vibe there is very cool.
I managed some layouts this week which I will show off tomorrow as quite frankly I am too darn tired to sit here for long, my nice big warm bed is just screaming my name!
I took Abbey out tonight to a Musical Instrument Trial night tonight as she has been saying she wants to try the flute and clarinet to see if she would like to learn them. The night was a complete shambles and very poorly organised, I was certainly not the only frustrated parent there with an over tired child who had to wait ages to get a turn on an instrument and was too tired to care about enjoying it when she did get a turn. I am hoping we can get past this as I think Ab would really love to play something and be quite good at it.
I am very excited that I managed to start designing a new kit yesterday, seems ages since I had the design mojo and I am thrilled with how this kit is looking already and where it is headed..stay tuned for a sneak peek here when I am done!
I also have some other big and very exciting news (well exciting to me anyhow) which I can't share yet but to say I am stoked is an understatement! It may take a few weeks before I can announce it but you can be sure that once share it you will not hear the end of it.

2006-07-30T09:31:00.000+09:30

Grand Opening Celebrations Start Today!

Yep, it's finally July 30th which means Pickleberrypop is now officially OPEN!
There is so much going on I don't know where to start but here's all the info you need to know.

Firstly a quote from our Picklehead Leader, Kate.

"Let me say this very loudly and very clearly for you all to share around at will! Anything that you can remotely call scrapbooking or was once scrapbooking or might one day be scrapbooking is welcome! Paper, digi, off the page, pure photographics (digital or film) graphic design... anything! I really am not going to be restrictive at all. I want to see it all, I want to learn it all! Yep we are primarily a scrapping site and mainly a digi site but I think we all have so much to learn from every other style of scrapping and other related creative things that I just think it would be a great loss to restrict people to narrow categories!"

So as you see *everyone* is welcome so I hope you drop by and say hello and show off your work in our gorgeous gallery and take a peek through our shop while you are there.

Secondly, we have come up with a gorgeous Multi-Pickle Pack for you all to download, this is a collaboration from all our designers and is called "Brand New Day", doesn't it look gorgeous?

The kit is broken up into 7 pieces, one for each contributing designer and will be available for download one piece a week for the next 7 weeks.
This week's piece will be from the very talented Annette Farrelly.

Oh and did I mention the Brand New Day kit will be absolutely FREE??? That's right a bunch of gorgeous papers and elements all for nothing! Oh and while we are talking FREE why not stop by the store and check out some the the great designer samples so you can see for yourself the quality of a designers work...again for nothing! Make sure to check out all our designs and see if you can grab that perfect kit for your next layout!

And that's not all... there will be two chats hosted in our chatroom this week, the first on Tuesday August 1st at 9pm (AEST) and another on Wednesday, August 2nd at 12 noon (AEST) these are aimed just as some fun and a way to say hello, and maybe you could win a random prize just for being there!

Our August challenges will begin on the 7th and run through to the end of August, so be sure to check out both the quote challenge and the colour challenge in a week or so when we have settled into our new home.

Last but not least I want to say again how great it is to have a new Aussie-based site to hang out on, we welcome everyone from everywhere and chats will be timed to cater for our international members when possible, we want everyone to feel welcome here!

Hope to see you there!

2006-07-27T10:28:00.000+09:30

You Wanted It..Now It's Here........

Opens July 30th..be there..or be somewhere else a lot less fun!

A full service, Aussie based scrap site! Forums, shop, gallery, challenges and best of all great people! Not enough for you? Then how about a Mega-Multikit..absolutely FREE! With 7 parts up for grabs over 7 weeks you are sure to use this kit over and over again!

2006-07-26T20:22:00.000+09:30

What A Week..And It's Still Only Wednesday!

It's been a somewhat stressful week, mostly stress created by myself so I have been pretty busy since Sunday re-doing a whole heap of design work which is now thankfully pretty much complete!
G has also been working late shift at work which has been quite a change for us as he has never had to work nights before. It's actually been quite enjoyable as he doesn't leave home until 2pm so we have been able to spend lots of time together and with the twins. I guess the downside is with Ab back school she has missed him a lot, she sees him briefly in the morning while she is eating breakfast and getting ready for school and then doesn't see him again until the next morning. He walked her to school this morning which apparently was the highlight of her school year thus far judging by the delight on her face when I said Daddy was taking her.
Next week should be a little better as he will finish at 3.20pm and be home not long after she gets in from school so she can catch up with him then.
Not a lot else happening actually, I got my Kasey Chambers concert tickets in the mail yesterday. so I am looking forward to that concert in November and today I discovered The Dixie Chicks are coming in October..so yep..will be going to that too! Can't wait!

Not long now until PBP is up and running..very exciting and very nerve-wracking at the same time.

2006-07-21T11:53:00.000+09:30

From The Mouth Of Babes.....

Scar: Muuuum! Muuuuuuum.....Doey has a'mite. Doey has a'mite in ear

(translation: Mum,Mum..Joey has vegemite. Joey has vegemite in his ear)
I go over, take a look and let her know not to worry.

Me: It's not vegemite Scar, it's earwax!

Eeeeeww!

2006-07-19T22:53:00.000+09:30

It's Coming...The Big Reveal.....

Stay tuned!

2006-07-18T21:53:00.000+09:30

Whirlwind of Activity

It's been all go here for the last few days and frankly my head is spinning. On Saturday we sold the twins cots.. it hit me hard to think that's it for us..no more babies. G says we can always buy a new cot for another one but I don't think he believes there will be anymore babies for us either, still I can hold it over his head a while right? The two high chairs are leaving later this week too...my heart feels heavy about it all.
On Saturday night G went to his friends place so they could jam on their guitars a while. I was looking forward to a nice cosy evening on the PC doing scrap stuff....but the neighbours directly across from us decided to have a party with blaring music going on until 1am and teens/ young adults running up and down the street and banging car doors as they left and arrived. They also decided to pull up one of our trees from our front yard..yeah thanks for that!!!
So Sunday I was exhausted after very little sleep but we had lined up a babysitter already so went up to Toys R Us and started some shopping for the birthdays/Xmas seasons ahead. I usually get manic about the Toy Sales when they start at this time of year but nothing really impressed me with the catalogues this year and I didn't bother with the Kmart sale and won't be bothering with the Target one when it starts on Thursday, even Toys R Us was not that inspiring. Looks like the kids won't be getting much at all this year the way we are going!
We then headed off to the cinemas and saw Pirates of the Carribean 2, a good laugh and lots of fun and I think it was quite different from the first. Afterwards we headed out for dinner and still got home in time to put the kidlets to bed.
Monday was another busy one, Ab had a party to go to in the middle of the day so my Mum came and watched the twins so I could take Ab out. While she was at the party I went shopping (but came back empty handed!) and then that evening I went to dinner with my Mum and a bunch of her mates. We have a Girls Night Out every 2 months or so and I just make it as I can depending on G's work schedule. It was great night, we went to a place we hadn't been to before and I have to say the food was fab..though a little exxy...and it was nice and quiet so easy to chat and to have a bit of fun on the pokies after dinner.
Anyhow that leads us into today..which was quite a mixed bag. Joe hadn't been quite right yesterday, he kept getting a temp, going pale, looking flushed etc etc and then being completely fine. G said he ate all his dinner and went to bed fine last night and this morning he looked normal when he got up. He seemed more anxious for his morning cup of milk than normal but I didn't think much of it. Gave the kids their normal weetbix for breakfast and Joe wouldn't eat. I told him after a while that if he was done he could get down so he did, then he started to cough, (SPOILER WARNING: IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH NOW IS THE TIME TO STOP READING!) put his hand to his mouth, started gagging and next thing I knew he had thrown up everywhere. Now you would think that having dealt with a very reflux baby for the first 9 months of her life I would be pretty used to vomit but wow I had forgotten just how bad milky puke is! Joe just stood there transfixed and staring in shock at what had happened while his twin sister helpfully squealed "Oh look at da mess!!" She was actually quite distressed by the whole situation but wanted it to be very known that she had not contributed to making that mess in anyway "Doey make a mess!"
I then had the pleasure of rounding out the day with treating Ab's hair for nits, learning that a friend of ours has terminal cancer and comforting Scar after she whacked her head on the floor.

Anyway..I did have good news today (coz frankly I would be in my white coat with the long sleeves on by now otherwise) firstly I won a scrap competition!! I won 100 eyelets, yep very helpful for a digi-chick like me...oh and do I have to confess I was the only person that entered the comp!?!? Ah well..a win is a win right??

Secondly and most importantly there is a new full service scrap site, based in Australia coming very very soon, and I am thrilled to bits to announce that I will be on their design team with a bunch of highly talented and very creative girls and also an inspiring Creative Team as well. There will be a gallery, forums, chats , a shop and tutorials and even more excitingly there will be an amazing megakit for FREE when we open. It's going to be massive!

2006-07-14T10:29:00.000+09:30

Totally Stoned

G didn't finish work until a bit later and said he wanted to bring an Indian takeaway home for us for dinner for our anniversary so to go ahead and feed the kids. It was about 5.30pm and there was a couple of weird noises on the roof, I didn't think much about it, until it got louder and even though it was sporadic and would start and stop it started to freak me out, sometimes it was a small noise other times a real BANG and Abbey started to get pretty frightened too. It was dark but I went out the front about 6.15pm and looked up at the roof and couldn't see anything, looked out into the backyard still nothing..I was getting pretty sure by then it wasn't cats up there or a branch blowing along. It stopped for 15 minutes..and then started up again..I was pee-ing myself by now and knew I couldn't wait for G to get home so I called our neighbours. S was home and said she was just about to call the police as it was a kid (she suspected the troubled new kid across the street) throwing rocks at BOTH our houses. G arrived home a short time later, and I spoke with him out the front with S and her hubby J, who came out to see us, we spoke a few minutes and came inside. The police came to the door during dinner and said they would stay close by for a while but nothing else happened.
I just went outside this morning and found 14 stones in our front and back garden, all in line with having come from the house across the street (I was trying not to assume it was him just coz the neighbour thinks he is trouble and despite the fact he burned a bible out front of my house the other week with his friends) you know benefit of the doubt and all that? The good thing is the rocks are very specific type stones, not random found on the street kind, they are like smooth black landscaping stones..I might do some investigating and see who may have some of these in their garden.
I don't know why we seem to be such a target for rock throwing lately, a few weeks back we had 23 large rocks (also the landscape kind but much bigger than last night's) thrown into our backyard, we know who the culprit was and I know the kid, he's not a bad kid but perhaps he and his mates were being a bit silly that day..no harm done, I know the family and it was taken care of..but now to be attacked again!?! What if they had hit one of my cats out there?? It just shits me completely thatI was made to feel so unsafe in my own home, and frightening my kids is just plain wrong!

2006-07-13T16:25:00.000+09:30

11 Years Ago Today...

I went online for the very first time. My cousin hooked me up with a modem one evening so he wouldn't have to keep printing out copies of BH90210 spoilers for me when I saw him, little did we know that would have such a profound effect on my life.
He took me to a chatroom on IRC, #adelaide and introduced me to a few people he knew there. During the course of chatting a lad from Cambridge, England turned up in the room and started talking...and that was that. Nine months later he arrived at Adelaide Airport and within a few hours of that first "real life" meeting we were engaged.
Now here we are 11 years later, married with 3 healthy children, a nice sized house, 2 cats and G in steady, well paid work. Most importantly I have my soul mate with me each and every day, through everything that life throws at us we have come through it stronger and more in love with each other than ever. G still manages to make me laugh everyday, I still get all tingly when he smiles at me and there is still no better feeling than being wrapped in his arms at night. I still pace the house when it's time for him to come home from work as I just can't wait to see him.
So just for a bit of fun here's our very first photo of us together in 1996...

G - I just want you to know I love you big time...but if you make fun of this blog entry when you get home from work tonight I am going to punch you SO HARD!

2006-07-09T10:06:00.000+09:30

Next Stop....Three!

Well it's official my "babies" are 2.5 years old yesterday. Only seems 5 minutes ago they turned two, and in just a few weeks my other "baby" turns 8 years old..where is time going?
Well I haven't blogged all week as it just seemed to race past so will try a quick catch up now while Ab and G are at swimming.
The twins had their first bus ride on Wednesday which they enjoyed immensely! It was actually funny how quiet they were on the bus just taking everything in, looking out the windows and all around the inside of the bus. We went to the bigger local shopping centre and spent a couple of hours there with my Mum before heading home again. I renewed my passport, posted some cards, bought some treats for the kids, some fresh bread for lunch etc Nothing too wild really..but they sure slept good at afternoon naptime! They actually slept 3 days straight this week I think, so we aren't quite having a nap every day but pretty close to it. It's all better than the previous week when they went with NO sleep!
Yesterday we took Joe and Scar into the city for new shoes, leaving Ab behind with Nana. Of course Joe got his new shoes in 5 minutes but the girl version of the same shoe they didn't have in her size (typical) so I am hoping they can order them in for me fairly soon before she wears completely through the bottom of her current ones.
After shoe shopping we headed back towards home and decided to buy a Playstation 2. We have wanted one for ages, but couldn't justify the price but have finally given in now they are less than $190. We had been waiting for the Toy sales to start to see if anyone offered a good package with games or extra controllers but so far the best we could find was the console and a controller for $186. We ended up going store to store for hours as everyone had boxes out for this playstation deal but no-one had any stock..and for some reason the silver playstation was $10 dearer..we eventually went back and bought the silver one and they even let us have it at the cheaper price, and we got a half price controller! Sothen of course we went and splurged on games...oops!
Saturday night was spent smashing up buildings, racing cars (at which I completely suck!!) and playing 18 holes of Disney golf! Quite fun actually and Ab is so excited to have some games to play and it will help keep her occupied now she is on two weeks holidays in awful weather. It also helps her behaviour as she knows she won't get to play it if she is a crankypants!
Did some designing during the week which I was pretty happy with and am hoping to get some more done soon and will hopefully be able to show it off soon.

2006-07-03T17:37:00.000+09:30

Love is.....

a husband who understands that my scrapping mojo comes well before any housework. When I have the design bug..I *must* design, housework will still be there later right? Not only that but he offers to bring take-away home for dinner too!!
Actually the house isn't that bad other than stacking the dishwasher and cleaning up the kids toys that is!

We had a great weekend..Saturday was D-Day..Dank,Dark,Dull, Dreary, Drizzly and Dismal. It was miserable weather so we decided not to go to town for the twins new shoes and will go this coming weekend. I cleaned our bathroom instead which made me feel heaps better as it's a hard task to do when I am home alone with the twins.

Sunday Abbey had another double swimming lesson and then G picked up my Mum and she came to watch the twins for the afternoon so we could take Abbey to the movies to see "Cars" We popped into the shops first as Joe was desperate for a new rain jacket and I hadn't found any in the nearby shops, we went up to Myers and found a nice enough jacket which we got him that was reduced from $40 to $15..BARGAIN! Best of all Joe loves it too......

Scar was happy with an Abbey hand-me-down jacket!

After the movie we decided to have a big late lunch which was really nice just the 3 of us. We don't get to treat Abbey to that kind of thing so much anymore so was nice to have time with her. It's hard to get out with her during the school holidays with the twins and the fact I don't drive so we told her it was her school holiday treat a bit early, school holidays don't start here until next week, can't wait to sleep in!

Nothing much else happening, managed to do some scrapping late last week which I will show off here at some point, it's not due to be a busy week here but we'll wait and see what crops up I guess!

2006-06-29T22:12:00.000+09:30

Hallelujah!

Today the twins slept for almost 2 hours, the wave of relief that swept over me when they dropped off to sleep is too enormous to be able to express. The afternoon and evening went well, no fighting, no biting, no tantrums and no screaming. I could not have asked for better considering G was working late tonight and I knew he wouldn't be likely to be home in time to see them before bedtime. Everything went smoothly, Joe was still being a little ratty when G came home but after G went to see him he settled down nicely to sleep and all was well by 7.45pm.

My mental health status has hit an all-time high for this week! I can't describe how much I just needed those two hours of peace. I am not going to count on it happening again tomorrow, but at least I feel a little rejuvenated.

2006-06-28T09:17:00.000+09:30

Just Say NO

Too many things I want to blog today so will most likely forget 95% of them as I go!
It's been a few days since I blogged but have been kept fairly busy. Saturday night I went to a Quiz night up at Ab's school while G watched the kids. I went with Mum and a couple of her friends plus another mum from Ab's class and her husband, everyone else ditched us at the last minute so instead of having a full table of 10 we only had 6 of us. Not to worry though we did quite well considering we were the smallest table there. We came 8th out of 17 tables so I thought that wasn't too bad really, it was the Sports Round that killed us! We didn't have a clue!

Monday was a pretty good day, spent the morning doing some bits about the house and then at lunch G came home with my Mum so that G and I could head into town to see an Allergy Specialist about the reaction G had back in February (see here and here for details if you missed it) He had some skin prick tests done ie they covered his arms with 35 or so drops of goo ranging from cows milk, peanut, pollen, canola, lupin, shrimp etc etc and then poked him until he bled on each spot and then waited to see what happened. In short nothing very much happened but they charged us over $200 for turning him into a human pin cushion. Our next step in the investigation is to buy another pizza and see what happens when he eats it..yeah now that's something I am looking forward to..NOT!

After the appointment we headed out to North Adelaide and had dinner at a super-yummy Indian place called Beyond India, the food was truly mouth-watering and the restaurant itself has been done up quite a bit since we last went there 4 years ago. It's actually moved premises to the opposite side of the road from what it used to be and is much roomier now, the food and service was really good and we used our Entertainment Book vouchers and got 25% off so even better. We then got really decadent and popped next door into a nice cafe there and had a huge slice of rich chocolate mudcake with some type of nut through..couldn't decide whether it was hazelnut or walnut but it was extremely yummy just the same!

Only other thing going on here now is the twins have decided to say NO to daytime naps..I am not ready for this step at all. I still really feel like I need that break in the middle of the day to gear up for the afternoon rush, but Joe keeps jumping into bed with Scar and they end up playing toys which is okay for a while but then it all gets physical and argumentative and one or both ends up in tears. Of course by 5pm they are both cranky and over tired so it's going to mean some changes around here if they are truly going to give up naptime but I think I may try and fight it a bit longer and at least see if we can get naptime back..I don't like my chances after 5 days straight of missed naps. I should try to look at the bright side, now we can go out on day trips etc more and not have to make sure we are home in time for naps!

2006-06-23T08:56:00.000+09:30

A Post About My Son's Doodle

Okay move along nothing rude to see here! I was letting Joe play around with my graphics tablet the other day and here is what he doodled!

I don't think somehow he is an artist in the making, he really doesn't have the patience unlike the girls who will both sit for ages drawing on anything, megasketchers, paper, colouring books etc. Abbey is seriously into a set of books called The Rainbow Fairies, it is all she wants to read all the time, she and her friends even play their own version of it at school and it's all I ever hear about! I am so glad her school library now has a huge range of these books as trying to keep up with Abbey reading them and actually having to buy them was costing us a fortune. She's taken to drawing the fairies a lot so here is her attempt at my Wacom tablet too.

Scar hasn't had a turn yet but will get her to do something too, she generally draws spiders or people but will see what she comes up with and post it back here when it's done.

Anyhow it's been up a rollercoaster week as I struggled with a headache/migraine for pretty much the first 3 days of the week, didn't want to watch TV, didn't want to sit at the PC and didn't want to do anything but sleep..not very do-able with twins toddlers in the house all day!
Yesterday I finally felt better and got on with some digi-bits that needed doing, the house got some much needed TLC and I even managed a quick visit from my Aunt so in all a good day!

Mostly looking forward to the weekend though the weather is due to be pretty rubbish to say the least! We have nothing too much planned. Ab has a double swiming lesson on Sunday morning and then G is due to head into work for a few hours so will be a quiet one here!

2006-06-18T16:14:00.000+09:30

Easy Like Sunday Morning

It's been a reasonably nice weekend despite me feeling quite under the weather for most of Saturday. We popped in briefly to Harvey Norman's on Saturday and had 3 photos of the kids (the ones that are in the previous post) printed out in a 12x12 size so we could frame them for the hallway. They look amazing printed out and I can't stop looking at them, we also bought 2 frames which they gave us just over $4 each off for no real reason other than I think the girl must have felt bad that she had to order the third frame in for us as they only had 2 in stock!
I can't wait to pick the frame up during the week and get them hung on the wall. We'd been talking lately about getting new Pixi Photos or similar done but now don't feel the need which is great as last time we had some done the freebie they gave us was awful so we ended up having to spend about $200+ just to get some of the decent poses. We worked out the ones we did at home cost about $120 and are much nicer shots of the kids too! I still want to attempt a family shot though.
This morning Ab finally went back to swimming after a 4 week break due to illness and other committments, she did great and was nice to get us all out the house at a decent hour. We ended up heading to a park not far from Ab's swimming complex afterwards as we had been saying we would for ages. We played in the park for an hour or so in the gorgeous sunshine, I wish I had taken the camera but it wasn't a planned trip so was a bit unprepared. Joe had a blast on the swings I think I spent most of my time just standing there while he giggled and grinned like a maniac. Scarlett was a daredevil on the slide and Abbey took great delight in squealing her head off on the flying fox. We eventually left to head down to the shops so I could get a pair of jeans and I swear I got the bargain of the century..a new pair of jeans in Target for $17.40 and they fit perfectly..yay. Jeans shopping is something I normally despise, along with shoe shopping!
Other than that I have been busy designing and finished another kit this week, the preview is proving difficult though as I can't seem to fit everything on one page..so may need to do two previews on this one, we'll see. I'm hoping to get some scrapping done too this week, my Mum is over here on Tuesday as she hasn't been here for a week or so while she's been in Melbourne visiting my brother, I also have to take Ab for a hearing test, go to a Quiz night and G has his allergy specialist appt early next week too for his reaction that he had back in Feb!
Ah well .....off to bath the kids and make homemade pizza for tea!

2006-06-13T14:30:00.000+09:30

Little Super Models

Well one of the few things we did on the weekend was to do a mini-photo shoot with the kids which was a lot of fun but in all honesty the twins didn't seem to want to co-operate..especially not both at the same time! I had been hoping to get a nice shot of the 3 of them but I was lucky to get two kids in any one picture let alone three. It was nice to give the camera a bit of a work out and see what we could get out of it though we still heave heaps to learn.
Anyway here are some of my fave shots that I took.....

I must say we got several stunning shots of Ab who was more than happy to play up for the camera. She's growing up fast and in my opinion..very beautiful! We didn;t get many of Scar, she started off happily enough but was more interested in playing and running off after about 5 minutes. Joe started grumpy and wouldn't even sit near the backdrop but I did manage to take quite a few of him and tried to get the backdrop in as much as possible.

2006-06-11T09:20:00.000+09:30

The Days Go By

Again it's been nearly a week since I updated but I have been keeping busy enough.

Credits:
Flowers and papers: Shabby Spring by Jeri Ingalls
Paper tags : Retro Metro by Mommyish
Bling Fasteners : Heather's DREAM
Alpha: Sweet Sprinkles Kit by Shabby Princess
Fonts :Angelina, Adobe Caslon Pro and Gigi

This week I did the above layout as part of a Book Of Me project I am working on with some scrap friends. We had the whole month of June to do this layout based on the theme "10 things I love about me/being me" I was pretty sure it was going to take the entire month of June to think of the 10 things but luckily it didn't, and I am actually fairly happy with how this turned out.

I also started a new kit this week, not sure how it will turn out in the long run as it was only supposed to be small but it's grown somewhat and I know it doesn't feel finished so will see where that takes me.

I also had sometime out for me this week which I feel did me the world of good. My Mum came up for the day and so I decided to go get my haircut at a new hairdresser's as the last couple I have been to hacked my hair to pieces and stuffed up the colouring completely leaving me with a mish mash of blonde,red and caramel foils in chunks and stripes.
I am now one deep brown colour all over with a hint of mahogany, and the cut was one of the best I have had in a while since I stopped going to the guy who had been cutting my hair since I was 17. Having the twins made it too hard to travel all the way into the city to get my hair cut by him.
Anyhow after that I went for a wander around the local shops to look for a couple of bits and pieces, and then I treated myself to a Happy Meal at McDonalds..oh so quiet all by myself...absolute bliss!

Yesterday we took G and Joe to get their hair cut as Joe was looking quite a bit like a scarecrow, he was so good sitting in the chair having his hair done. It was as though he had done it every day of his life since birth and the lady cutting it couldn't get over how good he was. When he was finished Scarlett decided she wanted her hair cut!! She went marching over to the chair saying "Scar's turn" and so we decided to let her have hers done too despite the fact I had been going to take her next weekend to get her curls lopped off. Now to wait and see if her baby curls stay or whether they were chopped off forever.

Anyhow best go get dinner started as my Aunt and Uncle are coming for dinner tonight and I am making my signature dish of lasagne. If I cook it up this morning then I shall have all day to do nothing much else!

2006-06-05T10:37:00.000+09:30

'Tis Monday!

Wow the weekend flew by but feel happy with what we got done around the place so that is the main thing.
Saturday we managed to finally get rid of the single bed in the storeroom/lounge room which had been there for about a year. My Mum would stay over sometimes when G was away to help with the kids but now he isn't away so much (hardly ever in fact!) and the kids are older now and I have no troubles getting them into bed by myself so it was time to get rid of it and keep de-cluttering the front room.
I have decided to sell off my Coca Cola collection too, it's just taking up space and I don't even have it out on display anymore anyhow. It needs to go to a loving home so I spent the afternoon unpacking it all, taking pics of it and re-wrapping it all again.
I did good with housework yesterday, I washed, ironed, bathed kids, put away massive piles of ironing from the last few weeks, did dishes and so today I am scrapping..well I should be..but haven't quite got the inspiration bug yet today!
You may have noticed a new little blinkie to the right which is now proudly showing off my designs, under my new name of Poppy Monkey Designs!! I was going to hold off on announcing it on my blog but most of you know anyhow and once the World Cup is out of the way I can set G to work on my new site!
Oh and for any of you that fancy a fun World Cup prediction competition check out G's site Watching Brazil It's free, it's easy and lots of fun. Just sign up and enter your tips for each game and see how you go.
Nothing much else to talk about, we have started the kids on a new bedtime routine now they are in their beds. We are trying to get all 3 of them off to bed at the same time and have Abbey help tuck the twins in now rather than the other way around. We started last night and though Scarlett tried to resist she sort of went a long with it so will see how it goes.
One last thing ..we laybyed the twins birthday presents on Saturday..how organized is that seeing as their birthday isn't until January!! We were in Target (and were child-free) and saw some scooters for 3-5 year olds, they had a Dora the Explorer design and also one with the new Disney movie "Cars" design, they also had 15% off storewide..bargain!

2006-06-02T13:13:00.000+09:30

Feel Like A Teenager Again!

You know when you want something soooooo bad and can't wait to get it. Well I have just bought my tickets to go see Robbie Williams when he plays Australia in December, and I am beside myself with excitement. I am stoked with the seats (this rock chick is far too past it for that general admission malarky with the youngsters ;) ) we have gotten and I was so stressed about getting them, I was sure I would jinx myself and get crappy seats!
So I know this isn't huge news to most but I have adored Robbie since his/mine Take That days. I am very over him and his attitude over the last several years, you know the constant "poor misunderstood me" thing is really very boring now, and his looks are not what they used to be (I know MANY who will disagree) but I love his music, and I honestly believe he is one of the few, extremely rare, natural born entertainers in the world today, and I can't think of many off the top of my head..though Justin Hawkins from The Darkness springs to mind..but not in the same way as Robbie.
I last saw Robbie when he toured in 1997, at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, a nice small venue where I think I paid 12 pounds for my ticket, it was his first solo tour since his split with Take That and he was amazing then. In 2001, when he played Adelaide we were ironically in UK at my sisters wedding ...in 2003 he never played Adelaide..so this has been a long wait for me..and I have no doubt in my mind it will be worth every second!!

2006-06-01T22:20:00.000+09:30

Blah

My day has just been so blah. I have had no motivation to get anything done, I couldn't scrap, couldn't design, couldn't choose an avatar, the kids were being ratbags before the day had really started and it was bloody cold all day.
I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day.
I caught the twins this afternoon making a strange noise in their room and was horrified to go into their room and find that they had each pulled out a drawer from their brand spankin' new underbed drawers and were standing in them and jumping up and down!! I am amazed the drawers survived the experience..the twins nearly didn't!
I am feeling a bit nervous about tomorrow, can't say why just yet and it's a sorta good excitement but that's all I want to say as I don't wanna jinx myself. I'll check back in tomorrow.

2006-05-29T15:34:00.000+09:30

FINALLY!

I can post pictures of my babes in their big kid beds! This was after naptime late last week and they were both completely knackered!

Nothing more to say right now, have been trying to scrap all afternoon and it's just not working for me! I hate this kind of day, it's very frustrating.