Wow, I'm getting slack aren't I? The past couple of weeks have been pretty full on, and I'm amazed that I'm here as sane and stable as I am at this point in time! So just a quick wrap up of what has been going on ...
Mum was hospitalised last week, with chest pains - she's ok now, following up on some Dr's appointments, but it was very scary seeing such a strong and capable woman lying in a hospital bed scared and helpless. Thanks to everyone who sent well-wishes to me, I really appreciate all your thoughts and prayers. So that was monday - she was home on Tuesday, and Kieran was in hospital for his orthodontic surgery on Wednesday. The surgery itself went ok, but he doesn't react well to anaesthesia (spelling??), so it was very scary to see him laying there, semi-conscious in recovery, and not to be able to do a thing to help him (can you sense the theme of my week?) Still welling up a bit at the thought of it actually!! That whole night was not great for him (despite the spectacularly funny face plant as he tried to stand up and tumbled over the lounge, then went back to sleep completely oblivious) but by the next day he was getting back to his usual obnoxious self. I did take the rest of the week off work though - I think the stress of it all just got to me, and my body shut down. SO, I was more than ready for the weekend, and the Scrapgirls retreat!! I had a total blast, and it totally reminded me how much I love my friends - they are just awesome, and I'm so grateful for them. So here is a copy and paste version of my weekend, taken from the post I made at
LSBS.
The weekend was SOOO awesome, you won’t even believe it. We did some great classes – a cool altered clock class run by
Sheree which was great, a calendar class (I think Nic might have been the only one to do this though out of us lot!!) and a couple of other kit type ones – the BEST by far, though, (sorry Sheree!!) was
Alison Shearer’s mini book/folder class … it’s too cool for words, really! Alison is such a great teacher – Nic and I are becoming her groupies!! Lol I haven’t taken pics of my projects yet, but I know Nic’s clock, plus some of her other layouts are already in the
gallery.
So that’s the serious scrapping stuff … now for the rest. We played bingo … Sheree was no good at calling out the words (she kept calling the wrong ones) so Kylie was put in charge. Friday night was an early night for me – I went to bed at 3am, while Cath and Nic powered on till 4. I say powered on … what I mean is, Nic powered on, while Cath shuffled papers around and kept her company. LOL. Not much scrapping went on there!! Saturday arrived, and so did Sharon … and you would have thought that Nic won the lottery! You’ve never seen anyone more excited in your life – we joked for the rest of the weekend that they were conjoined twins, and Cath and I felt bad for separating them. They slept on opposite sides of the same wall on Saturday night, and you would have thought that woodpeckers were invading, or someone was trying to send morse code signals … LOL. We didn’t get to bed on Sunday morning until we heard the roosters crow – it was about 4.30 when we headed to our rooms, and much later than that when the tapping stopped and the snoring started.
You have never seen musical chairs in your life like we played it at Meroo. It was combat musical chairs. Bodies were flying, private parts were groped – it certainly needed an M rating. And that was before we saw the prize that Nic got for winning – otherwise the rest of us would have fought harder! I do know that Cath was NOT impressed with the choice of music (Hi-5), but you couldn’t tell from the enthusiasm with which she was grooving and shaking around those chairs with. Maybe she was just trying to put us off!! Lol Sheree got some pics, so hopefully she’ll share them with us.
I demo'ed my first SU card!! It was pretty simple, but a few people made one, and they seemed to really like it, so I was a happy camper. I don't have pics of that yet, but I'll find them when I eventually unpack my scrapping stuff.
Our motto for the weekend??? Scrapping is a contact sport. There’s nothing soft about it!! I know I’ve missed a LOT of stuff – but I’m at work, and I should probably go and earn some money. Some other highlights included a demonstration of Cath’s superior negotiation skills, Sharon and Nic doing their best on-stage performance of a Robbie song (of which there were MANY over the weekend!!!), and my ever-so graceful tumble UP the stairs as we were packing up to come home. I tell you, I can’t WAIT for the Little Scrapbook Shop retreat – it’s going to be totally awesome!! It's at the same venue as Scrapgirls, and I know that Cath is going to have some AMAZING stuff organised for us. Check out LSBS for some info if you are interested in joining us!
So after the retreat, it was back to work for the week - lots of running around, not much of a chance to organise anything meaningful though, and I got to the athletics carnival on Friday with a sense of relief. It was a great day - I was on Shot Put with a good friend, so we had a fun time. Friday night drinks across the road are becoming a bit of a regular event which we all enjoy, and after running around on Saturday to soccer, Kieran's high school for a uniform sale (OMG, what people will do for half price uniform, it put the Myer Boxing Day sales to shame!!!), then dancing with Kelsey before heading to Cath's for a great afternoon - no scrapping, but lots of great conversation. Love you, Cath!!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! I hope all you mothers out there had a great day, and all you aunties, god mothers, good friends who help and support other people with their kids, school teachers, child care workers ... it takes a village to raise a child, as somone famous once said (who WAS that???) and I'm so grateful for all the women around me who help me out, so I'm celebrating all of them today, not just the ones who are biologically mothers.
I had a great day - breakfast in bed (which I normally hate, but minimal crumbs on the sheets this morning, so that's good!) The classic quote for the day:
Kelsey: Mummy, you're going to have a surprise breakfast! We're having muffins.
Kieran: Good on you, Kelsey, you just told her!
Kelsey: It's ok, she doesn't know about the bacon and egg....
I PMSL at the look on her face when she realised that she'd given it away - she's too cute!
I got the most beautiful framed portrait of the kids for mothers day, which I didn't even know had been taken - Dennis had organised it while I was away last weekend. He even got extra copies in a few different sizes, so that I can scrap them - what a gem! Plus an assortment of handmade cards, and an address book and pen from Kelsey from the school fete - I'm a happy camper. We had lunch at my sisters place with my parents, and my sister in law's family, and it was great - really relaxed and fun. Home to a nap on the lounge, and to watch TJ get evicted from Big Brother - what could be better?
Wow, this has turned into a very long post ... I'll finish off with some layouts that I did last weekend. Totally loving everything I did, which is unusual for me!
This layout was made with the challenge pack that we were given - can't remember the papers, but I really like them. This was also made using a sketch from Little Book of Sketches - LOVE the resources there!
This second layout was done using the scraps left over from the first layout, and this is one of my faves - I love these pics of Kelsey!
This one is a pic that I know some people will recognise -I think it's about the third time I've scrapped it. Yes, I know, with the amount of photos I have I should really scrap something else. This is the first time I've used Stampin' Up! papers, and they are VERY nice - this layout is all SU stuff, the pp, cs, chipboard (yes chipboard in the new catty -very very nice!!) and of course stamps. Cool, huh??
And this last one, a quick and fun one of Tay splashing around - she's such a cutie!
K everyone, that's it from me today - if you've read this far, give yourself a pat on the back, and leave me a comment, I've got some lovely cards I've made here from the retreat that need a home! I'm going to pick someone at random to send one to. Take care, and have a great week!
Love Elsie stuff ... wasn't in love with it when I first saw it, but it's easy to do this kind of funky, whimsical layout with the products. Tayla loves them!
Reminisce range - too cute! I couldn't resist scrapping this pic of Kieran in his Mickey jumper with these papers. 
Tayla was so excited to give Kelsey her flowers after the ballet concert last year ... why do I think it's a good idea to cut out patterns from pp? I don't know, but every time I do I say that's it - the last time! Hmmm. This one is all American Crafts.
