Project Life: Week 41

Hi everyone :)

Well it’s certainly been a full-on week… actually it’s hard to believe that this time last week we were just getting home from the retreat!

I’ve had a bit of a drama with my photos today.  I had them all ready to go… loaded on my memory stick… BUT Mark is off sick and nobody else knows how to work the machines!  I know Mark must really be sick because he NEVER takes a sick day. 

So I came home and printed my own photos… nope they were absolutely terrible!!!  So I did the next best thing and apart from the ‘rounded corners’ I’m super happy with it.  What I actually ended up doing was down-loading Becky Higgins digital template from Jessica Sprague’s website (it was $1.99 US) and loaded my photos into it.  I wish I’d thought of doing that over winter when it was really difficult to get my photos due to poor lighting!

Anyway here’s my full week spread:

On Monday I was pretty tired and Mr Toby decided that curling up with Mumma in front of the fire was the thing to do!  He was super cute after me being away for the weekend.  I definitely had a shadow because each time I moved Toby was right there behind me!

Toby has also decided that everything Mikayla has he must have too!  If she has a frozen L&P then he wants some… if she has juice he wants some… and if she has an ice block then he wants some… although he wasn’t too sure about the grapefruit flavour!

Here’s the first half of my week:

Krystal has always been competitive but now it turns out that Mikayla has a competitive streak in her too!  This week they both went to the ‘Checkout Operator of the Year’ Regional heats.  Krystal did hers in Hamilton and Mikayla did hers in Tauranga.  They had both independently told me that they didn’t care where they came so long as they beat the other one.   End results: Krystal scored 48 seconds and Mikayla got 47 seconds!  As far as Toby and I are concerned we’re calling it a TIE!!!

On Wednesday a couple of teachers and I got together at my place for a planning session for Term 4 (which starts tomorrow) and Susan brought along morning tea with her.  Somehow it made doing school work a little easier!

Mum also had a trip up to see Auntie Daphne early this week and she got the chance to see her new ‘Dental Therapy Clinic’.  It’s been purpose built and it’s a bit flash really.  Mum was hoping to get a photo of Auntie Daphne working on someone but that wasn’t going to happen so next minute Mum was in the chair herself to get a photo LOL  (Next time that happens Auntie Daphne should give Mum a filling with no anaesthetic!)  Oops… did I say that out loud??

Quickly moving along to the second half of the week:

Our HRV man came on Thursday to change the filter.  We’ve had the HRV installed for two years now and I was gob-smacked at how dirty the filter was!  Apparently a lot of that is because we have a wood fire in the house.  One thing I do know is that thanks to the HRV the house is certainly warmer and drier in winter and we don’t have any condensation at all… good stuff!

My nephew (Aidan) had his 10th birthday back in July but he was having a celebration with his mates this year so we didn’t get together as a family.  Since then we’ve tried to get together a few times and it just hasn’t happened so I decided to take the risk and send him his present on the courier.  Thankfully my sister had the camera ready and now Aidan is very happy with his own personal subway art!

Here’s a close up of how it turned out:

It’s filled with all the things Aidan says on a pretty regular basis.  Thankfully the courier was pretty gentle with it and it arrived with all the glass in the frame intact so both Aidan and Auntie were pretty happy :)

Yesterday Toby was asleep on the sofa… all curled up and looking cute… and then when I turned back he was completely stretched out… I have no idea how that could have been comfortable but he stayed in that position sound asleep for over two hours!

Today it was time for another nail trimming session.  Up until now I’ve been taking Toby to the vets for his toe nails and he HATES it.  He growls… he cries… he whimpers… and last time he peed himself!!!  A friend of mine had told me that the ladies down at Barkers Corner did toe nails so I gave them a call and in we went. 

Kelly spoke to him really gently and kept telling him what a good boy he was but he still wasn’t keen so I ‘cuddled’ him while Kelly did the business and apart from one tiny little growl it was all good… to crying… no whimpering and he didn’t pee himself!  The bonus for me was that it only cost $5 instead of the vets charge of $20 so buying a few treats was ok with me.

He actually chose his own bone to chew on… and he’s been chewing on it solidly for a good two hours now!  Mind due look at the size of it!!

I’ve been feeling a bit artsy today so I made my little creative card using some Tim Holtz resist paper and some inks and sprays.  I also cut an umbrella man from felt and added a Tim Holtz word band to complete… love how it turned out!  IRL the blue on the background has a bit of a sparkle to it.

So that’s it from me… we’ve had a busy day today with Toby and then we went to the laundrette and dried SIX LOADS of washing… my washing machine is a 9kg one so there was heaps of laundry to do!

It’s back to school tomorrow so I’d better go and make sure I’ve got everything prepared.  I hope you all have a great week and take care xx

Log your Memory: Week 41

Hi everyone :)
This weeks prompt for Log your Memory is all about being a bargain hunter.  I’ll admit, that being a creature of habit, that if something I USUALLY buy is on special then I’ll sometimes grab an extra can… but in general I just tend to buy the same things each week.

When the girls were little and I was a ‘poor student’ I must admit that I would usually buy the cheapest of everything just to make ends meet.

I remember one time, Oak spaghetti was on special so I bought a few cans knowing that it would make a quick dinner on nights when I’d been at Teachers College and just needed to get dinner into the girls as quickly as possible.  The only problem was that it had lots of ‘watery’ sauce and hardly any spaghetti and the girls wouldn’t eat it… so much for a bargain!

Here’s my layout for this weeks prompt:
There are some things that I just won’t skimp on like:

• flour
• pasta sauce
• laundry detergent
• shampoo and conditioner
• chocolate – hey a girl’s got to have standards! LOL

And there are some things that I’ll often buy the budget variety of like:

• fabric softener
• sugar
• dishwashing liquid
• chips – I actually prefer Pams potato chips
• and of course toilet paper

When the girls were little we always seemed to go through a lot of toilet paper and as they grew older it just got worse… how many families go through a 12 pack a week for three people???  When Krystal moved out I thought the toilet paper ‘consumption’ would decrease but nope we were still going through a 12 pack every week… crazy!

When it was just me and Toby living at home the toilet paper went down to two rolls a week and I was just starting to think about buying some of that really nice stuff… you know the one that’s ‘quilted’ and smells really nice:
Then Mikayla moved back home and we were straight back to 12 rolls a week!  I guess I’ll just have to be patient and wait a little longer.

I hope you’re all having a good week and enjoying some of this lovely spring weather xx

Project Life: Week 40 and the retreat!

Hi everyone :)

WOW!  What a week it’s been!  Most of the week was spent getting ready for the retreat and for the first time ever EVERYTHING was ready before everyone arrived… thanks to a really wonderful team of assistants :)

Here’s an overview of the week:

On Monday I got really inspired to create my mask for the retreat.  Over the course of the day I had my mask in varying states including a LOT of drying time but by Tuesday morning I had something that I was super pleased with.

Here’s a closer look at my mask:

On Tuesday night ‘Nana Chris’ came to visit and she bought Toby a new baby… a lovely white teddy bear.  While Chris was here Toby played ever so gently with his bear… he carried it around, licked it and was really gentle… BUT… within 5 MINUTES of Chris leaving the nose was off and stuffing was coming out of Teddy’s face!

Have a look at the photos and  you’ll see what I mean:

We kept cleaning up the stuffing but it kept coming… it’s quite surprising just how much stuffing goes into one small bear!

The last couple of days were spent packing up the shop and doing all those last minute things in between visits to the chiropractor… and my back is definitely improving!

Here’s a better view of the end of the week:

After being cooped up at home with me for three weeks Toby was almost beside himself with excitement when he went to Holden’s Bay on Friday morning.  He ran… he jumped… he played… and he even went in the water all by himself!  When Mikayla came back with loads of photos I wasn’t surprised… I think she takes after me like that!  Her only comment was “Toby’s got sand all over his bits”.  She comes out with the funniest things sometimes.

On Friday morning Loreen and Esther both arrived and we picked up the trailer and got everything loaded.  We were a super efficient team and everything went pretty smoothly.   A huge thanks to you both for all your hard work this weekend!

The final photo is of everyone dressed up with their masks on Saturday night… it was such a fantastic weekend and wonderful to catch up with everyone again!

You might think that after scrapbooking all weekend I wouldn’t have any creativity left but today I woke up with an idea in my head and here’s the results:

The paper is some that I had left over from another little project and the flower is a gorgeous Prima one that I found when I was tidying up… love it when that happens!  The mask is a resin piece that I painted with Glimmer Glaze.

Here’s a close up view:

And now for the insert!  On Saturday Mum came over and took loads of photos in between being busy with classes and she actually got a shot of everyone at the retreat so I made up mini photos so that everyone is on the insert.  I’ll probably have to start paying Mum and royalties she mentions soon LOL

I made sure to include all the classes too… the layouts from the classes were absolutely outstanding and I had such a good time listening to everyone’s comments.

Here’s the back of the insert:

Tina made a fantastic mask!  Absolutely outstanding effort so she received a stamp set.  Here’s a close up of her amazing mask:

The challenge pack was super popular this time!  The range of layouts made using the pack were so varied it was mind blowing and there was no way I could choose a winner so when Mikayla came to visit on Sunday I got her to choose and here’s Raewyn’s winning layout:

So it’s over… the retreat has been and gone and it’s VERY quiet around home today… I think I’ve gotten used to the conversations, laughs and general chatter of the weekend.

I hope you’ve all had a great week and I’ll catch up with you again on Wednesday xx

Log your Memory: Weeks 39 and 40

Hi everyone :)

This week I’ve got two prompt for my Log your Memory project and then I’m finally back up-to-date again!

Week 39

This is the last prompt in the “Life’s Challenges” section and quite frankly… thank goodness!  I’ve had a few to many challenges during September!

This time it’s all about that eternal thing we’re supposed to strive for… Balance!  Over the years I’ve heard people discussing the need for balance so much… and it seems in this day in age it’s something we all strive for… but personally I think balance can mean so many different things.  Take this for instance:

For me balance is all about being able to do the things I HAVE to do and still finding time to do some of the things I WANT to do.  When I have time for both I’m a happy girl… and when that balance is off and I’m working too hard I know I need to make some changes!

Here’s my layout for this prompt:

Since Toby has come into my life I feel a lot more balanced because basically you can’t reason or bargain with a puppy.  The need (and deserve) attention and they want it right NOW! 

When I spend time with Toby going for a walk it actually gives me a chance to talk about my problems and he’s a fantastic listener!  It also makes me take a few moments to breathe… to slow down without feeling guilty.

I especially notice that when I go for a walk with Toby after school it makes a clear cut break between the ‘have to’ and the ‘want to’ areas of my life.

Adopting Toby was one of the best things I’ve done in my life :)

Week 40

The month of October is all about shopping… when I saw that my heart sank because I’m really not a shopper.  The idea of going to try on clothes ‘just because’ is one of my worst nightmares.  I’ve got a friend who loves spending the whole day trying on different clothes… but she very rarely buys anything… what’s with that???

When I need new clothes for school I psych myself up for it a few days ahead of time and then I drive over to Merric (we don’t have one in Rotorua) and get all my clothes in one go!  It actually works for me pretty well.

Here’s my layout for this weeks prompt:

Buying groceries is certainly not something I look forward to but I’ve been patting myself on the back lately because I’ve got a good routine now.  I pick up Mikayla from work on Saturday and we do the groceries straight away.  It forces me to get into a routine and it’s actually working out really well.

Shopping for craft goodies though is a completely different story!  I can spend HOURS looking at paper, scrapping tools, embellishments and glitter. 

I love seeing new products and getting ideas for how I’d use them.  Going to SENZ is like letting a kid loose in a candy store… there’s so many goodies to see and new techniques to learn!  It’s my very own kind of ‘happy place’ :)

So that’s it from me… I’m off to work on all the ‘little things’ on my list that I need to do before the Scrapbook Dreams retreat starts on Friday… SUPER excited about that!

I’ll be back on Monday with my Project Life update so until then enjoy the rest of your week and have a wonderful weekend xxx