I got one right....

We seemed to get thru toilet training fairly easily with #1son

but we seem to be doing something not quite right with *Boy....

at least he's getting there 98% of the time now!

Xmas '08 begins

Here are my Gossip Girls...... I think we are holding up pretty well for a bunch of old girls!
Today we dined in the very nice surroundings of the Marriott hotel -where we stuffed ourselves silly (but in a dignified manner) - as we gathered for our christmas lunch celebration. It's now 7.15pm and I haven't needed to eat anything else yet!

So yes today was the day we gave our secret santa hand made pressies and we all performed outstandingly well I think...its true -everyone can make something! My gift included coconut ice, biscuits and some lovely cards. Others made a christmas cake, a xmas tree, a very clever pop out box of fotos, a scarf (well its not always hot here!), biscuits, santa stockings and my gift has been shown previously.

As always, after one of these lunches I feel so glad these girls are in my life, we may not all talk even once a week but the friendship we share has lasted thru the years and its nice to know there's always someone there for you.

GiveAwayAlert - Modish

Wow! Go have a look at this huge and gorgeous giveaway over at Modish -you have until 3Dec to enter and its open worldwide. The whole 39 items are going to just one winner and it could be you!

While you're there have a look around, they have some great ideas to browse, shops to visit, suppliers marketing ideas...... you could be ther all day!

Dragons in my Garden

I have been emailing with WhatKatyDidDesigns about cloth dolls so here are the 2 I have kept for myself, I mean my boys.

The one to the right is my fav, the 1st I ever made but he has a very thin neck which is starting to fail, hence the stick to hold it up.
The one below is my 1st and only attempt at a jointed doll -it went ok but there's something not right with his neck joint - he's cute anyway.

Flower Friday

Not technically a flower but its the red flowers that make the local Flame Trees look spectacular at this time of year. Unfortunately most of the flowers blew off in the storms but they still look great.

Away in a manger

Last night saw the 1st acting role of #1son in the class Xmas play -as a shepherd. I don't think an acting career is looming just yet! It was all so sweet, some Mum's were crying -the kids were soooo serious and they all sang wonderfully and remembered their lines.


Pleased to say the backdrop Mum & I made looked good, got many comments including one from the teacher saying how jealous the other classes teachers were!

I got up to present the teacher & aide with the gift vouchers we collected money for and then, happily, I was given a massage voucher from the other mums in thanks for all the effort I went to thru the year as parent rep. Then we all chatted and ate and hoped next years teachers would be as good.

made me smile

was just browsing thru yesterdays Courier Mail paper when I can across this picture in an acticle about people providing the schoolies celebrating on the Gold Coast with alochol.....
not so funny C... should be frowned upon indeed! Maybe true, but my smirk was directed at the guy holding the cartons - it didn't scan very well but his face has been digitized (to protect his identity?) BUT they didn't do his dorky yellow sunnies!

I know they are yellow because I found the original here on the papers website.......(without the ditigal adjustments!)

storm aftermath

Well the storm I wrote about last week as a lot worse than we thought at the time and we got off fairly lightly here in our suburb. They have called it the worst storm in 40 years and the worst hit region a disaster zone.

There has been at least 1 death and lots of injuries and some wonderful near escape stories. The has also been some stunning photography -I can't catch the lightening for trying!

And it didn't stop on Sunday afternoon -we were hit again on Wednesday night and Thurday evening however again both times our suburb was on the edge of the worst of it. Luckily Saturdays predited storm just blew (&blew& blew) itself out thru the afternoon with no rain.

As I drove out to school on Monday morning I couldn't get over the size of the trees that had fallen or broken. Some huge gums had just snapped -we live along side a bushforest park so there was a range of sizes to see. The photo was taken last Tuesday so that pathway had been cleared a bit by then but you can see some of the large branches.

I was out in Thursday nights storm -very scarey with lightening strikes all around and some power lines I had to drive over and minor flash flooding I had to get my car thru. I think we have been lucky these storms have been short in their violence -each has only lasted 15-30mins.

It hasn't just been the storm we have had to talk about this past week -the weather in general has been very erratic -from 31'c steamy hot days (23' at 6am the other morning) down to nights snuggled under the doona (duvet) the next and yesterday the cool wind didn't stop.

After our cool temps yesterday, I saw on the news there was a 20cm snowfall in the snowfields -this in Novemeber....maybe we can start thinking of a white Aussie Xmas!

The weather guys tell us to expect more of the same -and cyclones along the qld coast- so here's hoping we all get thru it!

(bottom image by Paige Rodman -Iron Bark Gullysourced from Courier Mail gallery)

yesterdays craftworks

Yesterday I made thankyou/ Xmas cards for #1son's school teacher & aide. As a class we are giving some gift vouchers in the hope they might find themselves something nice and not have them ending up with 20 coffee mugs and boxes of chocolates (not that that would ever be a bad thing). I think the cards came up pretty well and everyone started signing them this morning.






I also whipped up this heat bag as the last part of my secret santa gift. It was very easy and I even had some dried lavender to add to the rice so it will smell nice (at least for a while). I was glad to find such a nice, simple & useful thing to make with this pretty piece of corduroy amongst my remnants.

I read thru several online tutorials and they all used rice inside instead of the wheat I thought was usual so hopefully it will work 'just as good as a bought one'!


I also came across these 'repurposed' paint sample notebook as I cruised the crafty websites so had to have a go at them too as I had a heap in the cupboard from all my painting forays.

They are nice and pretty but I think I may do some further decorating when the urge takes me....... might make enough for #1son to give in his school xmas cards -better than a candy cane!

I did it too!

Lookee what I just did - I made a KatyDid bag!

While not as pretty or co-ordinated as the lovely bags you can buy from WhatKatyDid Designs I'm quite chuffed with my effort and now have a range of Xmas pressies I can make!

I cheated a little by using a stripe pattern on the fabric instead of getting matching materials but I wasn't sure I could make it work.

The online tutorial I used is here at Pink Penguin and was pretty simple to follow.

Flower Friday

A lovely purple Agapantha

what I made this week

So I can now proudly show you my latest creation - a laptop bag for Le (Third on the Right).

Have had to wait until I gave it to her before posting it and I was very happy to find the laptop actually fitted inside.

I had marked that flowery material for something for Le as soon as I found it amongst my latest remnants and I'm glad to say she definately liked it.

I didn't have a pattern, so just made it up as I went and there are definately some dodgey bits where my thinking didn't go far enough ahead but overall I was quite pleased with the outcome -and its even padded!

So now I really must get to concentrating on my secret crafty santa gift for the Gossip Girlies Xmas Lunch!

GiveAwayAlert - eyelets 4 U

Kristen at Retro Cafe Art Gallery has a wonderfully generous giveaway being drawn Nov30.

For any crafter, scrapper or cardmaker there are unlimited uses for the 1200 eyelets in this giveaway and they come with an eyelet setter & 3 punches just to make sure you have everything you need.

They come in a huge range of shapes and colours and if there is too many for you well I'm sure you can share them out amongst your friends!

Kristen also has an etsy store where I love her skittles bracelet and candy sprinkles pendant.

GiveAwayAlert - Crafty Aussies 7

And the final giveaway over at Third on the Right is from Le herself - a cute blogger T for your young'un.

You can see the full range here - Le has created a T-shirt range full of GenX wit and bags to go with them. The most recent additions are Xmas t's - all with attitude!

These givaways are open until 24 November so go try your luck!

and the weather man says

probable afternoon thunderstorms across Brisbane.......

(now you see the tree......

.......now you don't)

Well they got it right today!

About 4 this afternoon a line of storms came across Brisbane after a 31degree stinker of a day.

We usually seem to miss the storms as they go around us but this on unleashed its almost cyclonic fury on us for about 15-20minutes leaving us ankle deep in water in our backyard and with water in the garage (much to the disgust of YD who has vainly tried blocking all entry points).

Our yard is a mess with small branches everywhere, our Bouganvillia has leaned over the fence, another plant has bent over out of the dirt and one of the big palms shed a section of old leaves onto the 'work' car.

Our local Woolworths shop lost their roof - maybe there will be a flood sale this week! We did get off lightly with reports of golf to tennis ball size hail and black outs.

The boys were delighted with most of the whole storm with the rain coming onto the decks and the winds making them crazy.... And afterwards we wandered down the road with some neighbours to see our park now underwater. It was still warm so it was nice to let them run around getting wet after such a hot day. It was a nice neighbourly get together as we all inspected the damage too!

GiveAwayAlert - Crafty Aussies 6

Again the clever WhatKatyDid Design is Le's giveaway donator over at Third onthe Right.

Today she is offering a beautiful wire & bead bracelet which is so very pretty.

So for a chance to win your own go visit Le....

flower friday

today, my frangipanis which started flowering again this week....

GiveAwayAlert -Crafty Aussies 5

Hello to any new visitors here, welcome to my ramblings.

Yes I am todays part of Le's givaways. Happy to do it and hope to a smile to the winner.

Go have a look thru my gallerys over at Revised Images to see what I've been creating and if you like what you see go back to Le's and get yourself entered!

New Happy Me Day!

Last night I think I finally understood why some girlies love doing the whole hairdresser thing....its never really been my 'bag' with my straight hair getting about 6monthly trims from any local salon or even my Mum -except for the '80s when I had the compulsory spiral perm which really just wasn't that fun to get (but I loved the bouncey springs holding up my head off the pillow those 1st nights!).

Anyway last night I visited a lady who has set up a home salon and I have been going to her a few times now and have always been very happy with the cuts she has given me soooo last night I said why not to some colour and while we're going how about waxing my brows and tinting my lashes.

So while the colour is just a little lighter than I expected and am just soooo happy with the whole thing AND she even tinted my brows (which no-one has ever offered me before) so I now have lovely shaped brows that you can actually see for the first time in my whole life!

So in a brave move here is the 'real' new me without any posterizing to hide behind......

I got nice comments from some school mums & even the male teacher(!) this morning and just had to visit a friend to show off my 'new head'.

And just to top off my happy day I am the featured Crafty Aussie on Le's Third onthe Right giveaways where there are already some nice comments about my digital art.......... 8-)

GiveAwayAlert - Crafty Aussies 4

Today Third onthe Right Le's starring crafter is again the talented & generous WhatKatyDid Designs.

This givaway is one of her wonderful Australian bird decals. There's so many places to put these, and ways to decorate with them.


For your chance to win, go visit Le......

Will google ad!

So my new dedication in visiting blogs that I may not comment on - yes I am an eternal lurker- will be to try to remember to click on a google ad if they are present.

This way I get to read guilt free and they will have a bit extra in their purse. I think this is a comendable and noble action which should be upheld by all!!!!

On with the day! (yes I am writing early which is uncommon in itself and my brain is not fully in gear!)

Lord of the Rings online (LOTRO)

While browsing / wasting time today I Googled Windscreamers and what do you know, it comes up in relation to a 'trophy' in the LOTRO gaming world!

Windscreamer's Claw is a trophy from Windscreamer which can be used in the crafting of jewellery, metal, clothes and/or weapons. A versatile thing indeed- a wonder of great uses!

Windscreamer himself, seems to be a wandering member of Bestiary whose spawn must be killed.

All sounds very interesting!


Apart from *Boys definition of Windscreamers (windscreenwipers) my other thought on the topic has been 'what you become when you are so frustrated you just scream into the wind as no one else will listen!'

I made me one

todays time waster -


My

New

Button!






You can grab it for your site way down the bottom of the side bar.




(image credits to 'Ir' (globe) & 'rolve' (grass) from www.sxc.hu)

GiveAwayAlert - Crafty Aussies 3

Todays Crafty Aussies giveaway over at Le's Third on the Right is from Nadine of the Pendant Factory an etsy shop I'm happy to say I discovered !

These bright and fun pendants are made from Scabble tiles - you can still see the letters on the backs.


This one looks like a popular prize so get over to Le's for an entry... And you get to chose your prize design!

GiveAwayAlert - Crafty Aussies 2

Todays giveaway at Third on the Right is this cute basket by another clever Queenslander WhatKatyDid .

This talented lady makes all kinds of things including some original bird decals, jewellery, and other fabric crafts.


For your chance to win, go visit Le.

Gifts with Lurve

Inspired by Frugal thoughts at ColdPeas
I decided to let the boys create a masterpeice each for the xmas gifts for the grandparents that don't get to see them so much.

'Rainbow & Red ZigZag' by#1son -who signed his name backwards a la daVinci

'Racetrack' by *boy -a mixed media work

The paint was on hand and the canvases only$2.95ea -can't beat that!

hopefully the last post re -horror house

So it is all finally sent off with a whack on its bum.....
We had new tenants take rental possession yesterday with full knowledge of what had happened -and it didn't seem to daunt them at all.

No we didn't do a tell all -I just mentioned when I met them that there had been a Domestic Violence 'issue' with the last tenants and the police had been involved. He then twigged that he thought he'd remembered something on the news and good old Googled it, finding the most in depth coverage from the ABC.

So even with all the facts they were prepared to sign a 2 yr lease and start their family there which is a great thing -and makes me like them even more!

Away in a Manger

This time last year we were deliberating over which school should we send #1son to. We decided on the small local Lutheran school mainly due to its size and the friendliness we encountered. It seems, in this instance, we have made a great choice and while it has hit our wallets our big boy has thrived.

There has also been the added bonus of #1son learning about God -this has provided some interesting conversations and given me a new answer to the eternal 'why?' questioning (-because that's how God wanted/made it)

So Xmas has arrived in the classroom with its nice emphasis on Jesus and the class is all set to perform for us at the end of term.

What I am enjoying the most is all the practicing of carols -I sang carols to the boys as babies as I knew no lullabies so it is nice they are finally teaching songs I can sing with them. I may even attempt to play a few on the ol'piano in the coming weeks to encourage the carols.

Anyway the picture is to do with my involvement in the class performance - as we are the 'new' class we have no pre-used props from past years so I was asked if I could possibly make a backdrop. So in yesterdays heat my Mum & I created 2 halves of the backdrop - blue sky, cream 'sand' and the brown stable. I think it has come together quite well. The kids have been making stars and glittery angels which will hang in front I think. .....I now await 'the performance' where #1son will star as an angel !

GiveAwayAlert - Crafty Aussies

My own dear Le @ Third on the Right has jump started the Xmas giving by organising some clever Aussies to donate their wares. This is a lovely thing to do as the winners get something and the givers are getting some exposure -always needed.


First up is AlmaB from Brisbane - each of her sweet images tells a story. This one is 'A Strong Attachment' -Annabella's love for her home town that she has never left.


For a chance to win your own piece of art go see Le!

flower friday

Again, I don't know this flower, it was at the puttputt on Sunday,
looks to be some type of gum but there was no gum nuts.......very pretty tho

out of the mouths.....

on the way to school this morning.....

#1son have you got your shoes on yet????

no, I have one sock on.

get them ON!

I can't do it on a curvey road, only on straight road

just get them ON!!!

I can't move on the curvey roads - I can only blink!




had to smile then......(& not mention his motor mouth!)

the put out

So I'm looking thru the pics from Sundays puttputt golf and there in the background is the sign -
the requirement of a player to put out on the last hole may change my thoughts on this being a nice family game.........

product review

Anatomicals Shampoo & Conditioner

I was given these for my birthday from one of the Gossip Girls this year, who admitted the purchase was strongly influenced by the funny, creative labeling (well done advertising dept) which I think you can read if you click on the pics.

Anyway, I like to start me day with nice smells in the shower (and have nominated nice soaps as my luxury item in this vein) so I was a bit disappointed with the shampoo (the green one) scent as it was a bit minty but with a pine-o-clean disinfectantish after smell. It did a great job in the shampooing tho, leaving my hair squeaky clean and while not quite tingley my head felt good.





The conditioner on the other hand had the most wonderful peppermint smell and like the cold burn you get after brushing your teeth, my head was feeling like I'd stuck it in a fridge -and this is a good thing, with the weather heating up I'm looking forward to more!

SO to sum up -a good product, my hair has felt nice and soft and the minty smell lasted all day!

out-law gripe

Now I'm going to have a whinge -so if you just don't care move to the next post.....
Its about the out-laws, hence the title, who came for an overnite visit on Saturday for their sons birthday.
Fair enough, I need to give the house a good clean again, what time will you be coming?
"after Lunch" which is great cos again the house needs a clean and that will give me the morning to complete the task, feed the fam and be ready for their arrival
So I clean, eat then wait...wait...wait...finally get out my photos to put in the albums...and yes they arrive at the after lunch time of 3.15
The next day, after talking them into it, they stayed to play a round of puttputt with the boys before rushing off to see friends on the other side of town (the same friends who they had to rush off to see last xmas day!). For some unknown reason I had thought they would be around most of the day and had nothing planned....

Is it really unreasonable of me to think they should be staying longer, especially when they say stuff like how much they miss seeing the boys? what is their constant rush away from our house in their semi retired lifestyle, their non communicative stance on anything we may be able to help them with, and to me at least, their lack of offers of help when I just spent the past month dealing with 'the house'........ is it me???


well that was somewhat theraputic and I even deleted a whole heap as boring....an when its written down it really doesn't seem so bad..... still I feel like the whole weekend hd been given over to their visit and they said thanks & left without using up even 1/2 their allotted time...

and A winner is...

Wow, my first award via the blogosphere! and of course it came from my dearest Le from 3rd on the Right & ColdPeas & touch life (ie the life where they can be hugged).

Now to accept this award I need to answer the following questions:

1. Do you have the same friends since childhood?

Yes - wouldn't leave them behind!
I have managed to pick up a few new ones along my road tho....

2. What do you value most about your friends?

They put up with me

3. Are your friends sounding boards?

sometimes

4. What is your favorite activity to share with friends?
nothing in particular -just being in the same room is good


And in the generous spirit in which it is given I should be passing it along to 4 blogging friends...
which I lack so I must

1. return the honour to my lovely Le - found in grade12 and not to be left ever

2. pass it on to Ally & Graeme - from G-Trove - also touch life friends/cousins in-law who have been a lovely addition to my friends list -even if they do insist on living in Sydney!

3. make honourable mentions to the non bloggers of my Gossips Girls (who won't know but it doesn't matter)

4. make honourable mentions to many of the blogs in which I lurk, occasionally leaving a comment but mostly just feeling glad that others feel like me or have interesting things to say or great links to sites where I can feel inspired.


Now I have to admit, Le gave me this award last Wednesday and I was chuffed but just hadn't got around to writing all this - mostly due to #4 honourable mentions.....yesterday I spent my blogging time browsing wonderful handmade / from recycled stuff sites.....so many great ideas!!

happy birthday dear Daaaaddy

So it was YD's birthday on friday but with the sugar overdose for halloween we didn't have cake until Saturday afternoon......and as we were expecting the out-laws for the evening (who would bring more cake) we opted for cupcakes. everybody blooooow!!

happy halloween

So I figure blogging is a self indulgent thing, so where else can I put up pics of myself, with my face painted by myself, which I thought looked pretty good -if I do say so myself!





All for #1son's school class halloween BBQ last night. The kids all had a ball....


oh and here's some pics of the kids..... with my little batman and dragon boy.