Happy Birthday to you

well, my little boy is now offically 4.

I'm a bit sad really. Where did those 4 years go, and where did my cute little baby go? Who is this young boy in his place?

Max was sooooo good at his party. I had had my concerns and thought we might see a few rude comments over presents, tantrums, fights etc. He was perfectly behaved. A little overwhelmed at the flow of presents at the start, but aside from that was really a good little boy.

I must say, Max has managed to find himself some really lovely little friends. Every child that was there had lovely manners and played wonderfully the entire day. Anyone with a 4 year old knows that this doesn't always happen, especially with the excitement and sugar rush of a party thrown in the mix.

The kids loved the Pinata and the treasure hunt. My wonderful sisters and mum helped me so much with the party. Bekah did all the games and even arranged little lucky dip presents for each and every child (and they were great presents, it must have cost her a heap - I offered to pay her but she refused), Beth brought a heap of face painting stuff with her and did beautiful face painting for any child who wanted it, Mum brought 'grown up food'. Beth and Bekah both flew here especially for the party, and Beth's help this morning while I was icing the cake and doing other preparations was invaluable. I'm lucky to have them, and I hope Max will one day appreciae how lucky he is to have a family who loves him so much.

Max was given some wonderful, and very generous presents.

It was great to have Grandma, John, and all the vdb's there.

My fears of a home party being declared 'boring' or not fun enough were far from being realised. Every parent there gushed over the home made cake, pinata, lucky dip prizes, DIY face painting, food etc etc ... I think there's such a tendancy these days to pay someone else to do everything else for you, to see someone doing it themselves is a novelty!

Anyway, I'm declaring the day a great success. I'm exhausted.

Aside from the success of the party, Max has croup. He's coughing like a seal, and has barely any voice. Poor little fella. The dr wrote a script for Prednisone (sp?) which is quite concerning - such a strong steroid. This is supposed to be if his breathing becomes laboured - whatever that means. Dr said Maeve will probably get it ... He was ok at the party, but what could we do, couldn't exactly cancel it could we?

I'm off to bed because I plan to run 6.6k tomorrow.

catch up

OK, so I haven't done a real post here for a while - there's more to life than scrapbooking ... yeah, like running!!!

Ahhh, ummmm, what have we been up to?

Last night took the kids for dinner at Decks (southbank) - Maeve absolutely loved the huge albino fish they have in a tank at the front, of course, this meant she didn't want to stay in her seat at all and wanted to keep getting down to look at the fish!

As far as seafood goes, it's a pretty crappy resturant - we won't be going there again. But it was quick and easy and the kids were tired, so it was ok I suppose.

Uni is gearing up with major assignment topics released this week ... arghhh, who am I kidding?! I have so much on my plate right now ... I really have to get better at managing my time and not wasting it fluffing around on the computer. I'm managing to keep up with most of the readings and required on line comments ... just, feels like I'm treading water a bit and any minute now it's all going to go under! I so prefer to study on campus though. But that's not going to happen, so I guess I just stop whinging about it and get on with it.

I've decided to take a break from scrapping for a while. Perhaps a few months. I just feel like I'm not keeping up with everything at the moment ... study, housework, spending time with the kids ... I just feel so disorganised and my life feels a bit out of control. I need a bit more order and organisation. So I'm packing all my stuff away - which means we'll have a dining room table again!!

Feeling a bit unmotivated with the gym lately. Most days I'd rather go out for a run than work on the cardio equipment at the gym - this means good things for my running, but I just paid for a 9 mth membership at the gym, so that kinda sucks, not that I want to stop going, I;m there 4 days a week and I'm a bit bored of it at times I suppose.

I'm going to do a 5k fun run at sanctuary cove on the 15th of April - mum's going to do it with me - my first ever - and a lead up for my first ever 10k race at the GCM in July - I didn't want to go into that without having ever lined up on a starting line before. So that's in 3 weeks - it shouldn't be hard as I'm running 5k at least once a week now anyway.

Max is 4 this week - thursday - can I believe it? Nope. I look at him sometimes and wonder what happened to that little baby boy ... He's having his first ever real party next saturday - a million kids, face painting, junky food, pinata, games, the works. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. SHould be fun though. I hope he behaves himself and is gracious in receiving gifts, remebers to say thank you and I hope there are no tears and no fights - am I asking too much?! I've got my brother lined up to take lots of pictures on the day - so will come back with a party report and post some pics!

So in line with getting more organised and cutting out a few things to make room for others, I'm not sure how much I'll blog here. I'm going to keep the other blog going, so if anyone wants to be submitted to my ramblings about running, trying to lose weight and get fit, feel free to head on over to : http://fattyboombaladah.blogspot.com/ which is on the sidebar here too. Your comments there will be as welcomed as they are here. I'm sure I'll update this page occasionally, just not as often as the other one...

I'm out

Not surprisingly my otp item didn't get me through to week 7 of the comp.

In a way I'm relieved. Uni has slipped behind and we're only a coupld of weeks into the semester, my housework is piling up and my kids are being neglected. So at least now I don't *have* to worry about scrapping, although I'd like to keep playing for minor prizes etc... but it won't be a priority.

I never expected to make it to the end anyway. I wish everyone who is still in the game all the best and I truely hope the best, most deserving person wins, despite the twists and turns (which, although I wish no one ill will or anything of the sort, has been a source of annoyance to me - but that's the game I suppose)

Now, off to catch up on some housework! yay ...

Week 6 - FNG and challenge

So FNG was to make a thank you card for our team mate, had to be a 2 fold card, had to have sewing, 3 buttons and couldn't use the phrase "thank you"


here's what I came up with - It didn't really come out the way I wanted it too ...



The challenge this week was an OTP thing - had to be something to go on or on top of the fridge - which kinda put me off to begin with - our fridge isn't magnetic and is surrounded by cupboards ... in addition to that I'm just not a fan of OTP. Don't get me wrong - I love what some people do with altered stuff etc, but for me, scrapbooking is about preserving memories on the page. My house is cluttered enough without adding OTP stuff to the chaos!! My house is very simple, clean lines, neutral colours, and I just don't see a place for OTP stuff in it - IYKWIM????

Plus I had that essay due, and just couldn't even think about scrapping until that was done.

So, enough excuses - here's my effort - very simple, and I don't think it'll get me through this week ...

This week I bought a pot of Gesso and a pot of texture past from Bunnings - I used the Gesso to paint the bills container white and will hopefully get brave enough to useteh texture paste on a LO sometime soon!!

Had a bit of a cruisy Saturday today - went out early for a run at new farm park as I was meeting some girls from church there for a picnic breakfast. Came home did a bit of tidying up outside in preparation for the big birthday party for Max in 2 weeks (arghhhhhhhhhhhh!!) and that was about it really!!

A's at his brother's watching the football and the kids are in bed ... I'm all on my lonesome tonight!

quick entry

I have to drop max at kindy on about 10 minutes ...

I've started my OTP project for the comp ... but I'm not sure it's going to get me through this week anyway ... I'm sure of them will be fabulous. Anyway, whatever, I've done what I can in the time I had and the other committments which unfortunately took a higher priority.

Some idiot nearly rear ended me in the car yesterday. He was following me so closely and I had to stop rather suddenly for a car which entered a round a bout and didn't indicate. Well, the guy behind me had to slam on his brakes and pull up to the side - then he had the nerve to toot his horn at me!!! Needless to say I had a few words with him via my rear vision mirror. grrr.

Submitted my first assignment for uni yesterday. Major essay questions are released today. Must start some research in the next week or there will be nothing left in the library. The plan for uni this year is just to pass. Distinctions and high distinctions would be a bonus, but I just want to get it done and finished, then I'm not sure what. I don't really want to work right now, but at least it will be done.

Today I have to tidy my house. My housework has suffered significantly during this week ... and seeing as though I'm not exactly a domestic godess, that's saying something. The place is a mess and I'm feeling very disorganised.

Off to the gym this morning for Box. I love that class! The running is going well - but that's all on the other blog.

Well, I don't really have anything much else to say. Max's lip is better and the dentist gave him the all clear (after a bill of $200, thank you very much - barely got anything back from extras either - what a con).

Gotta go or we'll be late for kindy. Oh, I've decided to do cupcakes for Max's birthday - I spoke to one of his teachers and she said they'll have one cake & song at morning tea and the other at lunchtime, so 2 seperate celebrations. So now I have to find a cupcake recipe that is good. Anyone got a failsafe tried and tested one??

wwek 6 reality scrap

well, trudi & I made it thorugh another round and now they've split the teams up and this week's challenge is an OTP. I suck at OTP. I can't think of anything to make, it's really stressing me out!! I think I'll be packing my bags this week ...

some weeks are just crap

for seemingly no real reason.

Scrapping has been a real challenge this week - just not feeling into it - I'm just glad the comp is a road block this week and it's up to Trudi to get us through (no pressure Trudi!) because if I think it was up to me, we'd be in certain trouble.



Just been feeling really flat this week.


We had an interesting morning on Thursday - long story short - Max slipped over inside whilst running and smacked his face on the ground, split his lip open and gave his front teeth a bit of a knock. Spent a good hour at the doctors with one very upset little boy. Thankfully A had only just left home and not on the bus yet and he was able to come home and look after Maeve while I took Max to the Dr. His lip is pretty swollen and we have a dentist appointment on Tuesday to see if there's any damage to his teeth. Lots of blood, lots of tears, but I think he'll be ok. Here's a pic from last night:

Onto other matters ... It seems A & I never really get to spend much time together these days. Between work, kids, church, scrapping and my obsession with exercise, we're like ships passing in the night. It's not good, but I don't know what to do. This week we've spent only one night at home together (monday night). Tonight will be no different, the weekend will see a bit of a change, but it's just not enough really is it? It's all about balance and at the moment I don't feel like we have much balance as a couple.

I was a bit annoyed with one of the mum's at Max's kindy this afternoon. I saw on the roster that she & i were in on the same day (which is Max's birthday) and it was her son's birthday too. So I approached her and asked her if she was planning on bringing a cake, to which she said yes and indicated it was going to be a big one. I said it was Max's birthday the same day. at that point I suppose I expected some effort at collaborating cakes/celebrations etc, but no, nothing. I think I'm just being oversensitive, but I'm reserving the right to be a bit peeved!! So now I don't know what to do. I think I'll talk to Max and see what he wants to do. He's having a party, so the whole kindy day thing is a bit secondary, but I don't want him to feel left out.


I really ought to go and try and finish this scrap page (it isn't supposed to be this hard y'know?).

Finished the LO - I am constantly frustrated at the lack of picture quality we have to submit due to having to reduce the pic size. If anyone knows how to reduce without losing so much detail, I would love to know.

Journalling is the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Poem "How Do I Love Thee" ...well part of it anyway because I couldn't fit the whole poen onto the page! Reads:



How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Finally ... !

Finally found out we made i t through to the next round of the comp ... yay! This week is a road block challenge, which means only Trudi's LO contributes to our group points ... I ahve every faith in her and know she'll come up with something great. It's a Basic Grey challenge this week, using their Blush papers, so will be great to work with papers that I love.

Took the kids to the library this morning and Maeve had a total melt down as we were leaving, then when she got over it, Max decided it was his turn to throw a tantrum. I was very embarrassed. He was hitting me and throwing himself on the floor, screaming and just being plain silly. All because I wouldn't buy him a cheese & bacon roll from the bakery (because the ones they made at that particular bakery were horrible in my opinion) - instead I bought him one from Coles. I don't know what to do with him these days. He's so defiant and disobedient and talks back and shouts at me and hits me ... where did my sweet little boy go??? I hope he gets through this stage very quickly.

You can't help but think you've done something to create this little monster ... my parenting skills must really suck or something. I don't know. I just feel terrible about it. I can see that people get quite sick of him quite quickly - he's so bossy with other kids (and adults for that matter) telling them they're doing it wrong, or "that's a bad idea" is another favourite. I'm extremely frustrated with him and myself for my lack of being able to deal with him.

Just had a call from my brother - him and his 2 flatmates got an eviction notice last night - the unit is on the market and they want them out in 2 weeks!!!! For some reason they want to sell the unit vacant - which seems very strange to me. I think one of his flatmates is OS for another week as well. 2 weeks to find an affordable, decent 3 bedroom appartment in this part of town is just ridiculous. I told him to call the RTA and find out what their rights are. Anyway, I told him he could crash at our place for a few weeks should he need to. He should just buy the unit ...

I've painted all the kids windows and the first coat of gloss on 2 of our windows. 1 big window to do in our room - will do the undercoat tomorrow morning and then gloss on thursday morning and then again on friday morning, with the weekend to dry totally and then the blinds go on on Monday .... woo hoooooo!!! You have no idea how long I've waited for these!!! It's going to make a huge difference to the bedrooms and look of the house. Now if we can get the lounge room done and get our wooden blinds back on this house would be almost finished!!!!!

Better go think about what's for dinner tonight.

oh, I was very bad today and bought myself a polar HRM - should arrive tomorrow - I can't wait.

A good weekend

We're back from our family reunion weekend at Sommerset - it was really enjoyable. In fact, I enjoyed it more than being at someone's house for a day - at least at the camp we had our own space and could escape the madness for a while if we wanted/needed to.

I think the general consensus was that we should make it an annual event, although next time make sure there are a few more structured activities and a timetable, and perhaps make it 3 days instead of 2.

The kids had a ball, although the vdb kids and the waters kids didn't really mix much - hopefully that will change as they grow older. Mostly Liam, Max, Joss, Ellie and Maeve palyed really well with minimal fights and arguments, so that was nice. By the last day everyone was a bit tired and ratty and I was very ready to go home!

Still no news on results from this week of Reality Scrap ... they're having some technical issues (again) with the forum, so we're waiting for that to be resolved. The LOs this week were amazing though and I think it'll be a tough week to make it through. It's a little frustrating that the voting/scoring isn't a little more transparent - I'd love to know how the DT scores each LO (i.e their criteria) and I'd love to know what effect the winner of the FNG has on who goes through (like, are they told the scores before they choose who to take a point from etc) ... but I'm trying not to get too worried about all of that and just scrap. It's just a game and I'm not going to get caught up in the twists and turns and voting and scoring etc etc ...

2nd week of uni this week and I already feel like I'm behind in my reading - thanks mainly to my textbooks not arriving in time - Boy there are some whingers in the world. The units I'm doing, one of them is purely on line - they post electronic versions of the study guide and readings for you and all communication and tutorials take place on line ... there's this one guy who keeps complaining about how long it is taking him to access these documents (cos he;s on crappy dial up) and how much it is costing him in time and resources to print stuff - Man, get a life - you enroled in an ON LINE UNIT - what do you expect????? pffft.

Still haven't sold the other car - no one wants a V6 these days. Wish we could sell it then we might just be able to get a builder to come and do our deck and bathroom and finish this palce off. I would soooooo love to have the decks done.

Our blinds get installed next monday - YAY!! I have more painting to do before then ... boooo! I don't mind the painting, but it's the cleaning the brushes with turps and stuff after that bugs me. But there's no getting around that. We bought some good brushes this time - it makes such a difference.

Anyway, I'm just procrastinating I really ought to go and paint or put children to bed, or clean my house, or do uni reading, or do anything other than this!!!!!

challenge 4

Just thought I'd quickly post my week 4 challenge for the sbc comp. The challenge guidelines are below.

I'm really pleased with the way this came out in the end.

Now, off to pack for our weekend away - I have 1 hour in which to do everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Reality Scrap Survival Kit contains two Pink Martini papers. These are the preferred papers for this challenge. Requirements: ABC-123 (Challenge inspired by Nancy Kupec, USA) EASY OPTION The following are your required inclusions. You may also add other items to the layout, but are restricted to the clauses below (meaning that if it says two patterned papers, you may only use two patterned papers, for example). * A - Adults, topic of layout must be concerning adults - siblings, parents, friends, etc (NOT children, animals, etc) * B - Bling, use some bling on your layout - gems, rhinestones, glitter, etc (unlimited amount, it just has to be there) * C - Chipboard, use THREE (3) pieces only * 1 - ONE Photo, any size * 2 - TWO Patterned papers, preferably from the Pink Martini Range. * 3 - THREE x 6" lengths of ribbon (hint: they do not have to remain in three lengths, you may cut them, but still have to use all of the lengths on your layout somewhere; they do not have to be from the kit) DIFFICULT OPTION * ABC-123 as above PLUS... * Go "Freestyle" - Make it arsty, lots of doodling and interesting journaling style. * Add some random machine stitching. * Finally, NO paper or photograph can be 'square on' on the page. 'Square on' meaning parallel to the edges of the layout.