DR ABC, it's easy as 1,2,3

So yesterday I spent from 9-4 at a Level 2 First Aid Course for work. I have done this before (a long time ago) and man has everything changed. The CPR is different, bandaging is different. But it's good different. No more of the fancy bandaging and stuff, it's all about whatever works. And I love that. I'm all about whatever works.

Went to Church this morning - one of the teenage girls in my youth lead the worship and she was brilliant. So proud of her. And I got to cuddle a couple of the new babies at church after the service - CLUCK, CLUCK, CLUCK!! They were just precious and so warm and snuggly. I don't want to wait much longer now! Spent the afternoon in the garden weeding - it so badly needed it and am so impressed with my efforts. Still have a bit more to do and will hopefully get to that later in the week.

Still have not managed to get any scrapbooking done since the retreat which was 4 weeks. Am not happy Jan. I haven't had a lot of free time but when I do get some time, I'm not in the mood or there is something else to be done. Am determined to get some done this week. Must find the hidden mojo.

Anyway, gotta go but first

5 things I am grateful for today

1. A gorgeous afternoon spent in the garden
2. The opportunity to worship God without fear
3. Newborn babies - for reminding me that life really is good
4. An awesome group of teenage girls at church who are growing up to be awesome women
5. Souvlaki from our local fish and chip shop - seriously the best ones i've ever had this side of Greece!!

Till next time

It's not always good

I feel sad. Sad that there again is war in the Middle East. Sad that the world is not at peace. Sad that innocent people are dying - women, children, the elderly, are dying because of where they live. On Ch 9 news last night, they showed a reporter come very close to the bombings and he ran and took shelter in an aged care home. The look on the faces of those elderly residents moved me to cry for them. The confusion, desperation and fear in their eyes. These people who have lived long lives and just want to see there last few years out peacefully. They were to old, to fragile, to be evacuated, so they wait. Wait for the end - whatever that may be - death, peace, ceasefire. Who knows? Their world has been destroyed. I feel so removed from all this turmoil, on the other side of the world. I'm in my own little world here, safe and secure. It doesn't really affect me at all. But it should. And it has. I will not stop turning off the news because there are those who are living this news first hand. I will not stop praying that peace will come to the Middle East and the freedom and love will ultimately win over. How grateful I am to live in such a blessed country.

All this has caused me to think of the many things I have cause to be grateful for. Therefore each time I post, I will post 5 things that I am grateful for on that day. There is so much.

Today I am grateful for... (in no particular order)
1. The opportunity to live in a country where war is something we only talk about on ANZAC day
2. My mum and dad for loving me and being proud of me (and for reading my blog and commenting)
3. A loving husband who cooks me tea most nights!
4. Scrapbooking cause it allows me to be creative and gives me an opportunity to express myself
5. Cadbury Hazelnut chocolate - cause it just tastes so good!

Till next time, pray for those in the Middle East (regardless of your faith!)

It's going by so fast

Another great weekend has come and gone. Seriously cannot believe how fast the year is zooming past me. Saturday I spent most of the day at my friends (Marina and Pete) house in Olinda. We had a Christmas in July dinner with the young adults from church and Marina and i did the cooking for it. It was so much fun and the food was pretty darn good (if I do say so!!). We prettied the place up real nice and Christmasy as well. Love just hanging out with people for dinner. Just eating, talking and having a laugh. Photos are of Marina cooking and their bannister all Christmased up.

Last night I played my first game of basketball in about 3 years. Was so much fun but man was I stuffed after the first ten minutes. It did get better as the game went on though. Had a great time - even though we lost by 3 points. Feeling a little sore today, but not too bad.

Seriously want to get some scrapbooking done in the next couple of days. Haven't managed to get much done since the Scrapanalia Retreat (if you click on the Scrapanalia link under my websites, you can check out some photos from the retreat!)

Anyway, tea is cooking away so I better get back to it.

Before I go, I want to leave you with a funny photo. Found this on my computer while I was doing some reorganising. It was taken of me and a couple of kids, quite a while back, using the Photo Booth function on my friends Mac Computer. Gotta love that. I think it is the alien setting. Do I look like an alien to you guys!! What a classic!!!



Till next time

Ice Ice Baby & Childhood Memories

Man was it cold this morning. Had to de-ice the car this morning - not once, but twice. That's how cold it was. Went out the back a took this photo of a leaf on the ground, covered in frost. Poor little thing.
Am going sneaker shopping tonight. Am starting to play basketball again on Monday night and I am in dire need of some new shoes. I have had the others ones since before I was married (5 years) so they have done me a good service.
Then tomorrow the young adults group at church is having a Christmas in July dinner at one of the couple's houses - up in Olinda. It's going to be cold enough to make it feel like a Northern Hemi Christmas. They have a nice big fire too so it should be tons of fun. Will definitely be taking photos.

Just want to leave you with another photo I took yesterday. Was driving home and along the fence line of our house in the next street over from us were these flowers. Now I know they are weeds but they reminded me of my childhood. You see these would grow everywhere in South Australia (where I did some of my growing up and also where my grandparents' houses were). I remember visiting my Nanna & Grandpa's house and walking up the street with my sister to pick some "flowers" for Nanna. She called them sour sobs (don't think that is the correct horticultural name for them! LOL) Yes they are weeds (I didn't know that at the time) but I still think they are kind of beautiful. They look so happy! Even in the most nasty of things (weeds are nasty!) there can be beauty.



What are some things that make you remember your childhood?

Why not relieve a little of it today?

Till next time (Merry Christmas!)

Oh Happy Day

So it came today. The book I have been waiting for, oh so long. The much anticipated Ali Edwards book was in my letterbox this afternoon (thank you so much Jess!). I can't wait to get stuck into it but won't be able to till at least tomorrow - I have to go out tonight. I really do love Ali!!

Not much else to say really. Except that you should all check out Cathy Z's blog (a famous scrapbooker!!) and read the comments on her 'perspective' post. Read some of the fearless, courageous things that people have done. Be inspired and then and ask yourself - what's the most fearless thing that I've ever done? Why not post me a comment and tell me some of the fearless things you've done

Till next time

A good weekend

Had a really good weekend. Nice and relaxing. Andrew and I made it to the drive-in on Friday night. Didn't end up taking any photos - little bit dark! The movies were quite good - Superman Returns and Poesidon. Didn't finish till 1:45 though and we didn't get to bed till 3am. Felt like I was 2o again (but felt a lot older when i woke up the next day!!!)
Saturday night we watched the footy together - our teams were playing against each other and unfortunately the Eagles just got over the line by 2 points. Although if the Swans had won I would have had to contend with a grumpy hubby so it wasn't all bad.
Sunday we went to church and then at night we went to the movies (again) We has some Gold Class tickets we had to use up so we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean. It was quite a good movie - very far-fetched and pretty gross at times, but it was fun to watch.
It was such a fun weekend, just hanging out the two of us and doing stuff together.

This week looks set to be pretty busy with tonight being my only night home all week. It's only Tuesday but I am looking forward to the weekend already!

Till next time

Photoshop play

So I've only just worked out the whole brushes thing in Photoshop. For those who are even more clueless than me (there can't be too many of you, cause I have no idea), you use brushes to place borders and stuff around your photo. I've been playing around with this function on some photos and it is totally addictive. Love messing around with stuff, downloading brushes from the web and playing with them. Above is a picture of Katie, Donna and I at the Scrapanalia Retreat and I just added a whole bunch of brushes and shabbied it up a little. I really like it.

Aside from photoshop talk, how freakin' cold is it today. My hands and feet have not felt warm all day. Got myself another haircut today. My hair just grows so quick - what's with that!! So it's still spiky at the back but evr so slightly different at the front. Much more manageable when it is shorter.

Andrew and I are off to the drive in tonight and I am sure we are going to be freezing but it wil be so fun too. Gonna take some photos. A definite scrapping experience.

Have a great Friday night

Till next time

I finally worked it out

Thought that while I was in the reorganising/spring cleaning mode, that I would give my blog a fresh new look. Have really wanted to put my own title banner on here but could not for the life of me work out how to do it. Well after a good few hours (that's time I ain't getting back) I've worked out how to a) create a banner in photoshop and b) add it to my blog. Man was it frustrating but I am so stoked I can do it now - expect regular banner changes and hopefully they will get better as I get better at making them (fingers crossed)

In other news, there isn't really any. Toe is going really well - taken the splint off and am hobbling around home with no crutches - still using them when I go out.

Not much planned for today - hopefully get some scrapbooking done later now that my space is all up and ready to go. Haven't scrapped since the retreat but am so ready to get into some now.

Andrew and I are planning to go to the drive-in on Friday night to see a double feature - Poseidon and Superman Returns. I am soo excited. Haven't been to the drive-in, in years. Last movie I saw was Innerspace with Dennis Quaid in it. You know, when he gets shrunk and injected into someone and I also saw 101 Dalmatians. Think I was about 10!! So it should be soo much fun - will definitely be taking some pictures.

Anyway, will post tomorrow

Till next time

New stuff in my scrap space.

So it's been a week since the retreat and I was all inspired once I got back to make my space more user friendly and also prettier!!! So I went in search of some funky storage and found these cute black locker tins at Target. I bought 4 and attached some tags so i can tell what is in each tin. Also painted a little set of drawers I've had in there of ages - nice meadow green color. Was inspired to use green black and pink from the little Beyond the Page frame that I made up on the retreat (see pic above)

So I am now loving my space again. Really feeling like getting some serious creative juices flowing and just scrapping up a storm.

PS Toe is still very sore but getting better, little by little. Have moved off the couch a bit more today so that is a positive!!

Have a great weekend.

Till next time

This little piggy went to hospital

So I've fracture the middle toe of my left foot. I know - what a pathetic injury and it's my first broken bone as well. Walked into our lounge room last night and whacked my toes into the chunky wooden leg of our coffee table. It hurt so much but I could still get around on it. Woke up this morning and I couldn't walk on it without being in a substantial amount of pain. So Andrew took me to the hospital and I've come home with a half cast splint on and crutches. I tell you what, hurting your toe sounds really pathetic but you'd be surprised just how much we rely on these little things. Suffice to say, I am at home today with strict doctor's orders to keep my foot elevated.
And getting used to crutches is not the easiest of things to do. It really is just a pain in the butt (and the foot).

Am supposed to start playing basketball in two weeks so I really really hope all is well by then.

Till then, I'm off to lay down some more and take a couple of Nurofen.

Hope your day has been slightly better than mine.

Till next time

2 more layouts.

So I thought I would post pics of 2 more LOs I got done over the weekend. One is of my dad and I (and it's inspire by an Ali Edwards LO in CK June - LOVE THAT WOMAN!) and the other is a photo of Andrew's family at our house for a family BBQ.
Am totally in organisational mode at the moment- still working on my scrap desk. I hope to have it finished by tonight and then take some pictures of it. Also cleaned up my office at work, filed a whole heap of stuff, chucked a whole heap of stuff and man does it feel good.

Not much else happening around here - same old same old. Looking forward to a night at home tonight - been out every other night this week. Love being home, chilling out, bumming around in my slippers and not having to go out in the cold. I used to want to go out all the time when I was 20-21 but now I am such a homebody.

Till next time

My weekend's work

Been home today. Cleaned the house (first time it's been completely done - have done bits and pieces - for about 3 weeks). Been sick, been busy, you know the drill. Feel so much better now that it is done. The floors are shiny, my carpet looks cream again. AHHH. All is now good in the world. It also means I can organise my scraproom and do some more scrapping, without feeling guilty about housework. Came back from the retreat all inspired, not just to scrap but to reorganise how I store my stuff. So many different ways that people do this. Went to Target tomorrow and bought some cute black tin boxes and am trying for more organised look for my scrap desk. Will taked pics tomorrow once I am done.
Thought I would post a couple of the LOs I did over the weekend. The one up the top is of me and some of the kids from church at a rubgy match. Love that Boho paper - picked that up at the retreat. The one below is of me and my best friend Cath. Got some bad news from Cath about another friend in Adelaide on Friday night - our friend Chris was diagnosed with Cancer the Friday before and it was discovered that is was all through her body and she passed away suddenly last Friday. She was only diagnosed a week prior to dying. Was really shocking. She is only in her 30s and has two small children. So the first layout I did at the retreat was one that celebrated the friendship that Cath and I have. Made me feel close to her even though she is in Adelaide.

Anyway, I will post more LOs tomorrow

Till next time - Make sure you tell your friends and family that you love them. You never know which day will be your last.

Scrapanalia Retreat

I have just had the best weekend at the Scrapanalia Retreat at the Cleveland Winery in Lancefield. It was soo much fun. Jess and Donna did such a superb job and if they have another one I will definitely be going. The accomodation was brilliant (there were some other guest there - not scrapbookers - who certainly enjoyed themselves and made full use of the spa in their room for most of the night!!!) , the food was beautfiful and there was so much of it - almost no room for chocolate snacks The scrap room was big and bright and we each had lots of room to work. It was great meeting new people and sharing together. Checking out other people's work, seeing how they create was so inspiring. It was brilliant sharing the drive and a room with Katie. Great to get to know her even better and just hang out together.

I managed to get 5 LOs done and two beyond the page items which I am pretty happy with. Will post some pics of the stuff I did over the next couple of days.
The photos above are of some of the scrap room and also a picture Katie, my new friend Donna and I. Really wanted a photo with us and Jess but unfortunately Jess went home early cause she wasn't feeling well - hope your feeling better Jess.

Anyway, gotta run - still have to unpack my scrap bag from the weekend and organise some tea.

Till next time