Log your Memory: Week 34

Hi everyone :)

I’m still playing the ‘catch up’ game with Log your Memory but at least I’m not getting further behind!  The prompt for this week was all about floor plans, how you arrange your furniture and the way you use space in your living areas.

This is the first time that I’ve lived in one house since I was a little kid and as my girls have grown into young women it’s seen some changes!

One of the things that changes regularly is how we use the living spaces.  We’ve had times when all three of us lived here… then it was two… then it was me on my own… then me with Toby… and now Mikayla has been back for almost a year.

Here’s my layout for this weeks prompt:

As you can see from the photos the furniture tends to stay the same but the placement of it certainly doesn’t.  Sometimes I think I’m quite mad taking photos of my living areas for no particular reason but when it came to this weeks prompt I was pleased that I had!

After looking at the photos, the thing I miss most is having the dining table in the lounge… last winter I got so much scrapping done because I could come home from work, light the fire and scrap in front of the TV with Toby curled up on the sofa.

So that’s my living areas… how do you use yours?

I hope you’re all having a really good week xx

Project Life: Week 35

Hi everyone :)

Somehow my clock went from 4.30 to 8pm in a blink of an eye!  How did that happen???  Meanwhile my whole week has been like that… it’s been busy!

Here’s a look at my week:

My week has been all about multi-tasking!  I’ve felt a bit like an octopus with all my arms busy at the same time.  Early this week I needed to get my maths books marked and I also needed to get my laundry dry… the solution?  Take my books with me to the laundrette and hey presto I got everything done!

This week at school we also had the Wearable Arts competition and the school disco.  Toby has decided that he doesn’t like school discos because it means Mumma doesn’t come home in time for him LOL

The disco was to raise funds for the Rippa Rugby group going to Wellington for the big NZ finals soon.  It was all hands on deck.  We had dads cooking the sausage sizzle, teachers and parents in the kitchen making toasted sandwiches and selling drinks and popcorn and Ashley and Connie were in a separate kitchen cooking hot chips… the end result was lots of happy kids and we raised more than we needed for the kids in the Rippa team :)

When I got home Toby decided that ripping up lots of newspapers would be a good welcome home… the poor boy couldn’t understand why I wasn’t impressed!

On Thursday we had our interschool sports against Saint Michael’s school which went really well.  My hockey teams played awesome games!

After school on Thursday Peter, Wendy, Glenn and myself all headed down to Gisborne to visit another school.  It ended up being a REALLY long day!  Peter (the principal) took us all out for dinner and I had one of the best steaks I’ve ever had… super yummy!

We stayed at the Captain Cook Motor Lodge in Gisborne and it was wonderful… super clean, lots of space and very relaxing! I’ve got an insert to show you soon all about our trip to Ilminster Intermediate.

This weekend I’ve spent lots of time with Toby.  We went to the canine supermarket and he got to pick some treats.  He ended up coming away with some more meat medallions, pet bones which is had one last night and thought it was wonderful, some pet ‘ice block’ treats and a really big tennis ball!

We also got the backyard mowed.  It took most of the afternoon because the grass was so long!  I got tired of emptying the catcher but the end result looks fantastic!  Toby treated the lawnmower exactly the same way as the lawnmower… lots of barking and chasing!!  He was super funny!

As promised here are the inserts about our visit to Ilminster Intermediate.  We saw so many good ideas and being a visual learner the best way for me to remember is to take photos to remind myself later.

Here’s the front:

And here’s the back:

And here’s my creative piece for the week:

Wendy and I went for a walk on Friday morning while we were in Gisborne and we bought our Daffodil Day stickers. Unfortunately they weren’t very sticky and wouldn’t stay on our clothes so I saved mine to use in my album. I made the background using an embossing folder and adding lots of ink :)

So that’s been my week… I hope you guys are all having a restful Sunday night and that your week ahead is great xxx

Log your Memory: Week 33

Hi everyone :)

It’s time for another instalment of the Log your Memory project… actually I’ve fallen a bit behind with it but life is like that sometimes.

This week the prompt was all about your backyard and the exterior of your home.   When I bought my house I had a big checklist of things that I really wanted but it pretty much all focussed on the inside of the house.  The only thing I had written down for the outside was a garage… which I have but don’t actually use for my car!

Here’s this weeks layout:

From the roadside you would never guess that I even have much of a backyard but in fact it’s quite big.  Initially I had thought that the girls would enjoy ‘playing’ in the backyard and when we first moved in they did like that space… but very quickly I realised that they really weren’t ‘outside girls’.

Since I bought the house we have put in a patio area and we’ve moved the clothesline to catch the sun.  We’ve fully fenced the patio area and along the driveway.  We’ve also gotten rid of a LOT of ivy!  We’ve built a retaining wall and done a little bit of gardening that has never really been maintained… and then we got Toby!

At first we had to keep Toby inside pretty much all the time and then it became necessary to put in a proper back fence.  One to keep Toby in that would also keep everyone else out!  I spent ages looking for recycled materials and was lucky enough to find a large amount of dark green colour steel which looks fantastic as a back fence.

Now the backyard gets used every day!  Toby loves playing outside (so long as someone comes with him to play with!)  He loves digging holes and jumping around in the grass… and he loves barking at whoever is on the other side of the fence!

I’d love to have it looking nicer and actually being used more… it might have to be my summer project this year!

If you have any good tips for my backyard or how to have gardens that Toby won’t dig in I’d love to hear them!

Have a great week xx

Project Life: Week 34

Hi everyone :)

Well it’s been another busy week in our household and thankfully yesterday I got most of the photos printed for Project Life because this morning I woke up with a horrible headache and now feel like I’ve been hit by a freight train.  There’s lots of bugs and things going around and it seems that I’m not immune!

Here’s a look at my week:

This week I’ve done quite a bit of cooking… trying new things like the chocolate lava cake I saw on Pinterest last week.  I also made my first green curry… not a roaring success but I know how to make it better now :)

I got a GREAT deal at Briscoes too!  A Hampton and Mason stock pot that was originally $149.99 for just $39… pretty happy with that!

We also had a funeral… Toby’s lion had become a stinky, manky, horrible thing that really needed to go so on Tuesday night we got the fire going nice and hot and then put his lion in… and he went mental!  He was definitely NOT a happy camper however he seems to have forgotten all about it now!

Since it was the middle week of the term my top group had their reward of a McDonalds lunch.  Thankfully we're able to walk up to McDonalds, eat and get back again within the time frame so it’s quite a good incentive to use with the kids.

On Wednesday one of the middle school teachers had a wee pony at school.  I didn’t get to actually go and see it as I was being observed for part of my appraisal but Norm was able to get some good photos for me :)

We’ve been doing more art in Room 4 as well.  This week we created our ‘BFG Dream Jars’ and we also did some more work on our banner art… I’ll be pleased when those ones are done!

A few of my friends have commented on the fact that petrol is cheaper here so they tend to fill up before heading back home.  I have to admit that I thought petrol was pretty much a standard price everywhere but it seems not.  Hitting the headlines in our local paper this week they announced that Rotorua has the cheapest petrol in the country!  Over at the Gull station at Te Ngae petrol is currently $1.99 (9) per litre… and if you have a voucher you can get another 4 cents per litre off that!

I also decided to include my Lotto ticket this week… I don’t get one every week but this week I did and I actually won a small prize… yippee!

Here’s my creativity for the week:

I made this wee card using some Graphic 45 paper from the Wizard of Oz collection.  Lion is one of my favourites because he’s always so scared… and quite frankly he reminds me of Toby :)  Toby is really brave when he’s hiding behind his Mumma but the rest of the time he’s a big marshmallow!

So that’s my week… I hope you’re all having a great weekend and getting set for school and work tomorrow. 

As for me… I’m off to have a lie down and get better for school in the morning.