Reason or excuse???

Where did the last two weeks go???

I was talking to a fellow teacher the other day about the excuses kids give for various things... you know like... the dog ate my homework, Mum forgot to write the note, I gave the newsletter to Dad but he forgot to fill it in etc... and she said one of the kids in her class said: The difference between a reason and an excuse is that it sounds like a reason when we say it but it sounds like an excuse when you hear it! Hence the title for todays post: I've been really busy sounds like a great reason as to why there have been no posts from me in the last two weeks (although I have commented on other blogs!) but it probably sounds like an excuse when you read it.... I'll let you decide. In the meantime, grab a coffee, sit back and relax and I'll catch you up with what's going on.

First of all... the girls and I have come to a big decision! We moved back to Rotorua (from Katikati) in January and bought our first home after years of renting. This was going to be the best thing we'd done in a long time but it hasn't quite worked out the way we expected it to so we've put our house on the market... the sign went up yesterday and we've got an open home tomorrow afternoon. It's been a really difficult decision and we've been thinking about our options for the last 5 months but the reality is that we're not overly happy in Rotorua so we're selling up and moving on! I'll let you know how things develop...

Even though we've been really busy with getting the house ready and taking Miss 13 to hockey tournaments I have managed to get some scrapping done. I've been in a couple of ATC swaps but can't show you the results just yet cause not everyone has received theirs... pop back later in the week for some ATC eye candy! I've also just completed my first greeting card swap. The theme was girls birthdays and I tried some peel craft for the first time and really liked it! Here's the cards I made although I'm still not sure that card making is really my thing.

I also did a tile swap with Glamour Girls... basically we each made 9 tiles that were 3 x 3 inches using the theme: black and silver and then we swapped with others in the group (just like doing an ATC swap) The results are pretty amazing and I'm thinking about putting my ones on a canvas so that I can display them on the wall. Since we only had 6 people in our group we decided to make 6 of one design and 3 of another so that we all got 9 different tiles back... Here's a photo of the ones I did and I'll share the others when I've done my canvas!

Finally I've been checking out some really great blogs and stumbled (in other words I just can't help clicking all those links!) across a couple I want to share:

First is Neen's new The Music In Me blog. She's setting up 2 challenges per month based on song titles & lyrics. The first challenge is up and I've got something I'm working on but if you get a chance go and take a look cause she's done a fab job!

Also thanks to Neen's regular blog I found this Deck of Me blog. You may have heard about Emily Falconbridge (I know some of you have from reading your blogs!) Emily posts a prompt on her blog once a week and creates each 'page' on a playing card (ATC size). She's currently up to Week 35 but the prompts are amazing so I've decided to join in. If you're ever looking for some inspiration for a scrap LO this is a very cool place to go!

And finally I've been lurking on Ilka's blog for a while and loving her LO's. She's done some awesome LO's for Scrap the Teenz and with Miss 15 growing up so quickly I'm thinking about joining in. If you've got teens and you're short of ideas I'm sure you'll find plenty here to inspire you!

Right I'm off to continue doing gardens... if anyone wants to join the working bee you're very very welcome!!!