06.27.07
Lovely flowery mail today
This little package of goodies arrived in my letterbox today. Eight gorgeous little pieces of artwork in the form of ATCs. You can see from looking at these examples that my work still has a way to go!
These arrived from Niella who organised a bunch of us on Scrapbook Outlet for this month. The set theme was flowers and I’m pretty sure it was a universally liked theme.
I also managed to complete a circle journal page for an Australian swap so will hopefully get that away in the next day or two. One more to do for that swap and that one is all done and dusted. The last page I do there is “My favourite technique”. Goodness only knows what that is – I certainly don’t! 
Not too much on the grand scheme of things today…. apart from finishing my current assignment. -And then moving on to the one due for the other course. If I didn’t spend so much time playing, I wouldn’t have the pressure of due dates. But then, I’d also lose the title of *Queen of Procrastination* so that wouldn’t be so hot either! Well, actually, it probably would be a good thing – if I ever got around to it!!
06.26.07
Leg warmers!!
OMG!!! 
they are back! What are the fashionistas thinking????!!!!! I saw them in a window display this morning. I’m still freaking out!!!
Ok, so enough of the Polar blast!
I so cannot handle being cold! I have got a couple of heaters in various rooms at the minute and I know the power bill is going to head sky high – but I need to be warm! For one thing, being cold means I pike out from sitting upstairs to do my study. And most of you know I need to get on with that! 
Ok, so I should just suck it up and do it anyway, but did I tell you I HATE being cold?!!
I haven’t been too creative over the past few days so in order to add a bit of colour to the post, I’m putting up the second of my FLAB pages for the month. Ain’t she cute?
This morning the cold was enough to freeze my hands off between the classroom and my car (yes, another bad mummy bringing the car instead of walking – but did I tell you I’m a wimp when it comes to being cold??) so I gave in and headed out to buy gloves for the boys. Normally I don’t think they really need them – mostly as they seem to get lost pretty quickly! But today I thought I should really do the motherly thing and make sure they have a pair each – for a few days at least! So Mr 3 and I hit Westfield and hunted high and low. Finally we found the right sized pair in Farmers – camo ones! Instant hit!! Mr 3 and I enjoyed a coffee/fluffie and then popped the gloves up to Mr 5 during interval. He loved them – so hopefully that means he’ll keep an eye on them.
While we were at the mall, I also hunted out some goodies for the party bags. Mr 5 will not be having a party this year. I’ve called it quits on the all singing, all dancing performances after the 5th one. Instead he’s taking a few buds along to the movies. Shrek the Third. Of course! But as the loot bag seems to be a thing of the moment I thought it would be nice to get a couple of little things each to go home with. Found some awesome marbles at Nature’s discovery so hopefully they will go down well.
Oh, and remember me moaning about not finding shoes for Mr 5 the other week? Well, it looks like a few have come in. Of course I already settled on a pair of trainers from DressMart! Argh! Still, I think in winter if they can have two pairs it is good. Mr 3’s feet had a wee bit of an *air* to them the other day…. think a second pair might be a good thing at some point. 
The pair I liked the looks of for Mr 5 however seemed to only be the one pair in his size. Or what I think his size is likely to be there. So I’ve hidden them I know, don’t you just hate people like me!!! Hopefully they will still be at the back of the pile by the time I get back today or tomorrow!! My thinking was that the shoes were already in such a mess any way, my putting the pair in the wrong place in a dark little recess wouldn’t matter too much. We will see…..
This morning we had a disco going upstairs. Too cute! The boys were mucking around on the keyboard and found a tune – “jericho” – that they thought was pretty funky. Wish I could have caught them on film – they were having a blast!
Catch you all later – stay warm
06.25.07
We’re surviving, Thanks!
Thanks to all that wrote in support of yesterday’s post! Thankfully, I’m not the kind that suffers too much if Mr 5 is proclaiming those things loudly. It happens far too often for me to take it seriously! Usually as a result of not getting his own way. But yes, the onset of winter, the grey skies, the lurgies, and all that general run-down feeling that winter brings with it, I find myself thinking that he is probably more right than he realises. Still, I am the only mum he has and I happen to be one that yells when I need to let loose: he better just put a happy face on it and deal!!
Things have gone much better today. Largely due I’m sure to the fact we are not in each other’s faces. The hubby is at work, Mr 5 at school, Mr 3 at kindy. Oh and that’s where I hung out today too! It was actually quite fun. It’s been a while since I have done the parent help thing and I quite enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong – I definitely don’t want to make a habit of hanging out there!
Today I guess with it being so cold and maybe the last week of term there would be lucky to have been 20 kids there. So it was comparatively quiet. Mr 3 got on an played with his girlfriend (yes, yet another in quite a long line!!) and a couple of mates. I got stuck into some cleaning – and must have done a good enough job as I was treated to a hot cuppa while I worked. Normally it would have been me making the drinks for the teachers so there you go!
Tonight we have the first Parent-Teacher interview for Mr 5 for the year. We know a bit of what we think she will be talking to us about. She is not having trouble with him getting distracted any more (so, at least he behaves for others!) so fingers crossed it won’t be a surprise. Some time next term he will have his 6 year old tests so more in-depth discussion will take place then too. Yes! Mr 5 will become Mr 6 in little more than a week’s time! My, where does the time go??
And if there is bad news about what 6 year old boys are like, do you wanna give me the heads up now??? Thanks!
06.24.07
Say Hello to the world’s worst mother!!
That’s what Mr 5 thinks of me. He’s thought that all day. He might actually have a point – having been yelled at for pretty much the entire day. Night time arrives and it’s eerily quiet – sort of like a truce at the battlefront!
Exactly why we are locking horns at the moment is anyone’s guess. He and I have always managed to raise the volume around here. I don’t have any patience just now – largely due to attempting to keep the lurgy at bay still, plus everyone else still has colds/flus/lurgies – and I’m feeling like I’m the only one attempting to keep some semblance of normality round the joint. That and the fact I know I should be doing stuff. So, I guess I just caved in to the inner child and have been playing his game. I know, I’m the adult. Yah-de-yah. See, I can’t even remain sane here and now! Sometimes it just feels good to blow my stack once in a while. People round here start actually behaving like they might want to keep me on side for a day or two. Yep, that’s about all the currency I get out if it. But hey, I’ll take it.
But you know – even the darn biscuits seem to be on Mr 5’s side…. the chocolate chippies all spread and seem undercooked. Even though they were in a little longer than usual. And then dinner burnt a bit. Yep, truly the world’s worst mother today!
06.20.07
June FLAB
They are due in at the end of this week and I must say I had fun bringing a couple of things together for this one. Looking forward to seeing some other neat artwork in return.
This is one of my pages – this month I did two different ones. A whole lot of fun was had trawling through images on google. It’s amazing what you can find! These two party girls were from a vintage ’50s dressmaking pattern. I’m sure the patterns would never have actually worked – look at their waists!!
06.19.07
Sneaky Peek Tuesday
So it’s Tuesday and this morning I said good bye to the next in the circle journal cycle. This round I had a “Blue Day Book” – what sort of things make you happy when you’re down.
Talk about good timing just now hey! Just let me say a very quick, very sincere thank you for all the messages of support that have been sent. It is truly appreciated. Grandad is so far doing OK – and I’m still working out the whens and hows of getting down there.
In the meantime, I realised Sunday night that this CJ round was meant to be ready for send off the next morning….. and I wasn’t quite there yet. So I kept it for an extra day and managed to get it finished. I think I liked the result! I ended up using papers out of my stash that I liked at the time but never knew what to do with it. So I’ve ended up cutting out the cute little butterfly, and some of the pink flowers…. and a little bit of doodling here and there. Plus some bling. In the end a happy result.
I also got good news in the form of a returned assignment with 86%. Woooohoooo!! I was late getting it in – and had struggled a bit with whether I had found the correct informtion. By and large, I would say I did!
So while I’m checking out what I need to catch up on, I see I have a couple of envelopes that I need to get in the post. ATC swaps, a pin swap (yikes! I thought I’d posted them 
) and I need to get to work on the June FLAB page due this Friday. A BOM page to complete (based on Ngaire’s *Beautiful* theme…. yikes! I haven’t missed one yet so want to get this done…..) Plus, I have a mission to scrap a photo of some good friends – taken just a couple of weeks ago. I have the papers, I have the sketch in my mind’s eye…. Oh yes, another study assignment to complete too.
It’s good to have things to occupy *down* time.
06.17.07
A tough week – and more to come
Well hi! Goodness knows who will see this…. I’ve been absent for a few days and I’m still not quite with it. This week turns out to be a not so good one for me and my family. Starting off with nothing too major, moving towards just plain old yukky as Mr 5 was sent home from school – having vomited in the class. Oh yay. Soooooo glad I wasn’t there for that performance! So sorry for the teachers and the visiting grandparents enjoying their afternoon with the kids of JBlock.
Then I get the news of my own grandad. Admitted to hospital for pancreatitis (sp) only to discover he has a large aneurism on his heart. I’m gutted. I so want to be down there – my grandad means a whole lot to me. But the cost of flying down there is so prohibitive…. I could get our whole family to and from Australia for the same amount – no joking! So, I’m looking into other options…. and hoping I can get down there in time.
Trouble is – time. He could have 5 minutes left or 5 months. Or years! I think that is what I’m having touble coping with most just now…. it’s a timebomb and it would be so much nicer to just not know. Time is up when it is up and you don’t have to think upon it each and every day….. supposedly living life like normal. Normal life where a cough or just bending over might be enough to decide that that is it.
So, yes, I might not be around too much over the coming days…. but then again I might. Avoiding RL as much as I can hey?! One thing it has sharpened up my focuson though – I have been lucky to have my grandparents around as much as I have. I’m just not quite ready to do without just yet
06.13.07
An ATC for June
OK, so I’m fairly sure I mentioned a while back that I did my first ATC – and I’m hooked! So I’ve put my name down for a couple of swaps around the place – and am running what looks to be a small one over on Kiwiscraps.
For the June swap the theme was flowers. I was a bit stumped at first – and then looking around at a lot of collage examples – I came up with this. It’s a bit lighter and brighter than a lot of the examples I have seen around on the net…. but then again, I’m still learning. Oh – and see I managed to use my new Stampin’ Up stamps. Don’t worry, you’ll be seeing more of those as time goes by! And my collection grows
As for the quote….. I’m not 100% sure that is true. I’d probably be quite happy with diamonds round my neck. Then again – you could give me both …. just to be on the safe side!
06.12.07
Hmmmm
Well that was a super imaginative title wasn’t it?
I got my first delivery of some Stampin’ Up stamps over the weekend and I’m so itching to play with them. I have plans to get a whole lot more – which will make my friend Keryn very happy as she as just signed up as a demonstrator. I just know I’ll make a pretty decent customer!
We have just finished swimming lessons for this term with Mr 3. Can’t say I’m going to miss them over the next few weeks. Mr 3 has decided to go backwards for a bit. Very frustrating as both me and the teacher know that he can do the stuff he needs to – but he won’t. And tells us so in a seriously LOUD manner. Another term in the same class and then hopefully if nothing else his age will dictate he needs to move on. But without mum in the pool too. I like the sound of that!
The creative urge is on a bit of a backseat at the moment. Trying to get hold of some motivation to complete another round of assignments – and move forward through the course work. Although I’m finding the reading interesting when I get into it, I’m finding I also have serious motivation issues at the moment. Or would that be serious lack of motivation issues??
One thing that should assist – Bones and Heroes finished last night and Prison Break only has a few more weeks to go. Ahhhh winter time! Seriously, I think hibernation should be compulsory.
