All is well.........
Well we are all fit and healthy again - YAY!! Thank you all so much for the well wishes you sent last entry, really meant alot ....so thank you!!
Has been a busy week trying to catch up on all the things that go undone when your busy tending to other things. The housework was a huge job after being left for a few days, but it's all sparkly here again and you can just feel Spring coming. Love sitting in the scraproom in the evening and feeling the breeze that floats through - so very refreshing.
Saturday was a big clean up day whilst Steven was at work. Is sooooo frustrating trying to clean with all three kiddo's home. For the most part they were helpful - Ry was particularly helpful in pulling things out after being put away and saying 'this Mummy?' Yes Ry, that has to go away sweetie lol, that's all he did - pull things out to ask if he should put it away. But on the bright side, at least it kept him occupied.
Saturday night Steven went round to the Russells to have a little game time on their new playstation 3 he'd recently bought, so being unable to head down to the shoppe to scrap with the chickies they came here instead. They are just the cooliest aren't they? So glad to have friends like these ladies - they make living up here in Rocky so very easy.
Sunday morning was a little more cleaning and then in the arvo we all headed over to the Russells for a little fun in the sun. Stuck the sprinkler out on their huge lawn and let the kiddo's run amok - they all had a total blast. Was just a beautiful day for it. Here's some pix of the kiddo's at play.
not sure why the first two pix are repeated at the end of the collage - but oh well, they're cute anyway lol.
Have added a post to the Designers at Embellished blog today, just sharing a little technique that I'm loving at the moment. Am also running a little comp there for this as well - SO GO CHECK IT OUT - is a cool little prize. Here's the link for it -
BUBBLEWRAPSo have a go at this fun technique and leave me a link in the comments section so I can check out your work. Comp finishes Monday 3rd Sept.
Am loving being able to get back into my scraproom at nights. After feeling so 'blah' about my scrapping recently/plus not being well, have really been getting back into it and having fun. Well that's all for now, time to go feed the starving kiddo's here - mind you afternoon tea was only about an hour ago lol - but will leave you with some layouts that I've done over the last few nights:
take care and will chat soon
Julie xx
GOOD,BAD AND THE OH SO TIRED......
Well my mind is just moosh at the moment, so hopefully if I go with the title categories above then I'll be able to make some sense this week lol.
First off the good from the last week.
Maddy aced her spelling test - she was so excited and proud of herself. Should of grabbed the camera out to capture the smile on her face as she showed me her test ...but just wasn't thinking at the time.
Steven has heard word at work about a change in work schedules - should this go ahead then he would be one of the first forkies in line to choose his days, thus elimenating Saturday shift - yayyyyy!!!! Fingers crossed that this evolves into more than just talk.
Both the boys - Nick and Rylan - are back to full health and sleeping through the night again. lol - this will also feature in the 'BAD' category.
And finally - the big 'GOOD' news for myself is ........ last Tuesday I recieved a call saying that I had made the shortlist for the Masters comp!!! WOOHOO!!!!Was so excited and for a second there just dumbfounded and couldn't speak. Now apparantly it will take a little while before the next stages - so will have to keep myself busy and not think about it. It is the first time I've entered the Master's comp though, so that may prove a little difficult lol.
Now for the bad this week.
First Nick came down with Fevers at night. Was fine through the day, but come evenings he just went down hill fast. Five nights of little sleep for him and the scary part was that every night he would go through a stage of what I guess are delusions. He'd be crying out and trying to 'get away' from whatever it was he was seeing - really scary stuff. He went to the Doctor but they put it down to a viral infection and his body trying to fight the bug off. Lasted five nights and then he was fine.
Then Ry caught it. So again, another five nights of no sleep - think I saw 3am most nights before I could finally get him to settle and in a good sleep. Nurofen was a great help with the temps and such, but it's hard to sit there and see a child freaking out about something that you can't see - he too was seeing/talking something when the temps were at their peaks. One particular night after giving him a dose of nurofen his temp spiked even higher - got to the stage where I was putting shoes on for a hospital trip and then when I came back to get him he had finally fallen into a good sleep. Was still quite warm but he had settled for the night, so I decided it should be fine and then just crashed into bed myself.
And now finally, me. Seems I too have got what the boys have had. Last night was just crappola for me. Temps, headache, couldnt' sleep - don't think I was doing any of the delusion side of it though - well hopefully any way. So that is night one down for me, just another four to get through. It really was like clockwork with the boys - five hard nights and then nothing, so hopefully should do the same for me.
And so that leads into the 'oh so tired' category. After so many sleepless nights with the boys - they overlapped for a couple nights there, which helps i guess - and now not being well myself, I am about as buggered as they come. Wish I could sleep through the day to make up for it, but with Ry home it's just about impossible - and besides, am thinking it should help me to sleep better at night if I'm tired.
So that's my week in a nutshell. Really am excited to make the shortlist ....... lol, at this moment though I think I could 'almost' trade it if they promised me a week of non stop sleeping.
Here are some layouts to share.
A couple are older layouts that I never got round to sharing - think they were 'maybes' for the FK ET call up ('sweet perfection' and 'Never doubt'). A couple were done at the end of last week. The only one I have done in the last day or so is the 'doughnut' layout - and that's pretty basic and simple. It's my sample for the latest Elsie challenge I've put up in the forum at Embellished.
So not alot happening round here scrapwise. But thats ok, cause my mind is moosh and it really couldn't be bothered LoL.
take care and will chat again soon
Julie xx
Bit of a share coming up..........
Monday morning - worst part of the week for me at the moment I think. Usually Steven lets me sleep in Sunday mornings so I tend to be up late Sunday nights before I'm feeling tired. So come Monday mornings, the alarm goes off, hit snooze, alarm goes off, push the snooze limit one more time and then, well alarm goes off and I'm running round like the proverbial headless chook yelling -"we're late, we're late - let's get to it". So its a hectic morning, kids are rushed, I'm running round kitchen fixing breakfast then lunches, finding Nick's shoes (cause he NEVER remembers where he put them), doing kids hair and then bustling them out the door - only to pull up in front of the school just as the bell's going ...... mind you the bonus to running late is that I can always find a carpark right out front near the school crossing. But I hate the late and rushed feeling of the morning, makes me grumpy and I don't feel like I've given the kiddo's a really good send off for school if that makes sense. Really need to work on fixing this up and getting some proper sleep the night before - sadly it seems I must give up Sunday morning sleep ins - Steven will love this I'm sure, he'll be the one to get the sleep in then lol.
Not much else has happened here in the past few days since we've been home. Taught a class Thursday night and then again Friday morning, Saturday was ........well a normal Saturday lol, full on and hectic and then yesterday we headed up to the Botanical gardens with the kiddo's to meet up with Ali, Glenn and little lukesta - kids had a total ball running round and letting all their energy out. Didn't take my camera up with me though - do I dare say it?? ....... but I really just couldn't be bothered to worry about taking photo's ..... shocking isn't it LOL. Just wanted to sit back and enjoy some peace whilst the kiddo's ran rampant instead of trying to keep up with them to snap some pix ....was great for a change.
With the get away last week - I hadn't scrapped for about a week, so since we've been home I've been feeling the need to get into my room and make a dent in all the holiday pix taken. Last time we went away to the Gold Coast -2005- I had planned on making up an album just for the trip layouts ..... never happened. Think I did like three, maybe four and that was it. Really want to get it done this time and have a whole album for this latest trip. So it gave me the perfect excuse to get in and scrap at nights and here's what I've come up with.
This first one is the counter part of the layout I did a little while ago about being too scared to get up on the ferris wheel. Well I did it at Seaworld - YAYYYY!! Man was this one high, went up like 60 metres in the air, scary stuff lol. But I did it and here is the layout for it.
This is just a super quick and simple one. Only had to add the pix, tittle and journalling strips, everything else is the background paper.
Now I absolutely love this layout - the pix are just beautiful. Showed Steven when I had finished it but he said he didn't really like it, was too plain. That's ok though, I love it and am really happy with it - yes is simple, but I felt it needed to be.
Just another simple one, love the photo of Ry and just wanted that to be the focus of the page.
Okie, this one did not turn out like the image in my head lol, don't you just hate when that happens. Love the cherryArte paper, and knew it would be perfect for the starter page of the album, but just couldn't get it to quite gel, oh well maybe nextime lol.
Looove the photo in this one, took it whilst waiting to get onto the giant ferris wheel. It's right up close and personal, you can see the difference of texture to their skin - Ry, soft and smooth and steven all rough and sharp - really do love it.
This layout totally cracks me up, just makes me smile or laugh everytime I see it. As soon as I saw this little fish in the aquarium the first thing I said was -"Oh my gosh, it's ry as a fish" lol.
Just the round, soft chubby look to it made me think that - so hence this layout. Totally love it!!
Now I mentioned last post about Ry loving to hug all the characters and not too worried about his mummy taking 'nice, posed' photos - well this is the layout for that lol. He is just the cutest sometimes isn't he?
This next layout is a Scrapgenie layout using the Office Supplied range by Imagination Project. The soft, earthy colours to this range are just gorgeous, and there is a large assortment of ledger styled papers and embellishments.
Layout is just about how since our move up here away from family and friends I've had to really rely on myself and the need to make routines up and stick to them, about finding my balance. Man it's been hard to do so, but i've gotten there finally i think.
Now these next lot of layouts were going towards my For Keeps Elite Team entry, started them back at the start of July. But I have made the decision to not carry on and complete my entry. I just don't think my mind is totally into it and I know that I wouldn't be able to give it all i have to produce my best. The other thing to it as well is that I don't like the whole worrying and thinking about it once I have entered, happens to me everytime I've entered - this would of been the third year - so decided to just not put myself through it.
I did enter Masters, but to be honest I haven't really thought about it since I sent my entry off. Maybe because I'm not holding out any real hope for it, not sure really - just am not worrying about it.
Just popping back in to add some tags that I have forgotten to add to my last couple of posts
Thanks to
Karen,
Cat and
Carole for tagging me as a 'rockin' girl blogger'. I am so happy to read that you ladies think my blog 'rocks'. The idea originated from
Roberta Ferguson and now I have to tag 5 girls that are rockin'!!!! I'd love to tag
Lisa,
Lusi,
Maz,
Mardi and
Kelly S. I always love checking out these ladie's blogs, they all produce some awesome work and love to read the stories they share - I think your blogs 'rock' guys!!!
take care and will chat again soon
Julie xx
BUGGERED!!
Well, after five action packed days we are home. Very tired from the long drive and all the walking around that we did but still on a high from all the sounds and fun from our get-away.
We spent Friday arvo and most of the evening in the car on the 8 hour drive down to the coast - chuck in quite a few toilet breaks as well lol. I think we arrived at our unit at about 10.30 that night. The place we stayed was just gorgeous!!! We got really lucky on a last minute deal and it cost us less than a $100 a night - BARGAIN!! They were double story Mediteranean (sp?) style self contained units set on a mini island - so we had gorgeous views of the lake from all our windows - was a very relaxing place to come back to after a full on day to just chill and prepare for the next day.
Saturday - we decided to head to SeaWorld to check it out -we've never been before, and it was just awesome!! LOOOOOVED the dolphin show - they are truly magical creatures aren't they? They are a whole lot bigger than I thought they would be - so very graceful.
Ry loved the Polar bear - I think he could of stayed at the window watching him for hours.
Nick loved Shark Bay ..... he was in awe as to the size of the sharks they had swimming around in the tanks. He was quite impressed that he could easily fit inside the belly of them LOL.
I finally tackled a ride that I am forever putting off - the giant ferris wheel. This one goes up 60 metres into the air but all the booths are closed in with glass, so I didn't think it seemed too scary .....WRONG!! Seriously, I was crapping myself - there is no elegant way to phrase that LOL.I think the only reason I managed to contain myself was because there was another lady and her son in the carriage with us - couldn't let her think i was a loony LOL.
A GREAT, GREAT day though:
On Sunday we decided to head to Movieworld - this is one of our fav places on the Gold Coast. Don't think I could ever get tired of visiting it. It's always exciting to bump into the characters as you walk around the park. Rylan was a little scared when he meet his first one for the day - Daffy Duck - but he got used to them after a while, and everytime we bumped into one he would run up and give them cuddles .....he is just the cutest. There are not too many pix of him face on with the characters - he would run up and give them a big hug, say goodbye and then just walk off LOL. He was hanging out to see Batman, but unfortunately we never got round to seeing him on the day ....... missed him by a couple of minutes at one time bugger it.
Steven tackled the Superman ride - guy's nutso I reckon lol. I stood beneath this ride and man is it huge! At one point it just drops straight down ....you'd never in a million years get me on a ride like that. I did tackle the kiddy's Roadrunner coaster thought - that was scary enough for me.
Monday - the last themepark on our list was Dreamworld. This place is huge, but we managed to cover the areas we really wanted to see in the one day. Walked through the Big Brother House - that was really cool. It is sooooo much smaller in real life that what you see on telly - they must use wide angle cameras for shooting I think. It was hard to imagine that sixteen adults lived together in such a little place - I would go bonkers within the day or two. By day three we discovered that Maddy is a little adrenelin junkie - she tackles all the big rides and there wasn't much that she walked past. I went on one of the little coasters at DW with her and my gost I think i was deaf by the time I got off - her screams are just ear peircing lol - but as soon as you get off she's wanting to go around again.
Nick is a little more sedate - quite happy to stick to the slow little kiddy rides in the Cartoon network area. The Wiggles farmyard was a big hit with the kiddo's as well. You can handfeed the animals there, even Ry was ok with the little animals eating from his hand - too cute.
Tuesday - we were going to do another half day at Dreamworld to fill sometime before coming home, but decided to head to Pacific Fair shopping centre to walk round and check out. Steven took the older two kiddo's to see the Simpsons movie at the Cinema and Ry and I just walked round looking at all the shops they have there - shame I didn't have a little more time here, so many gorgeous shops to look through.
So there is our getaway in a nutshell. TOTALLY AWESOME time away for us all. Drive home seem to take forever - we were all a little tired and a little grumpy - but give us a day or two and we'll be back in the swing of things - hopefully LOL.
Oooh, photo tally from the trip was just over a 1000 photos, so hopefully I'll have enough pix to keep me busy for a little while. Was able to pick up a 2G memory card at Movie world for only $70 - which is really a reasonable price i thought - also saved me the stress of trying to find somewhere to burn photos to disk to clear up room on my other cards.
Will leave you with this layout that I did up for a sample of the sketch challenge for Embellished's CC the past weekend.
Thanks for dropping by and will catch up again soon
till then, take care
Julie xx
