Living my dream

Saturday sketch day

Here's this weeks sketch, plus my take on it....

 

 

I have to say I love the ribbon around the semi circle.

I actually started this LO off with a different photo (or set of photos), but they didn't work. I had already decided this was the paper I wanted to use (which is a little different to normal. I usually choose the photos first), so I then had to swap my ideas around on what photo to use. But this one of our old cat Pudding (doesn't he look regal?!) soon felt right and his story is now told.

As it turned out, his story is much bigger than I thought it would be, so on the tag I put 'if you want to read Puds story, please see back of layout'. Then typed it on an a4 piece of paper and attached there. I often do this if the journaling is just toooooo much for the design of the LO.

Well, its meant to be stormy today and tomorrow. I kinda like that. Hope you have a good weekend.

The good news and the bad news

The good news is that Dan is no longer having nightmares about spiders. Our letter worked.

The bad news is that he's transfered his nightmares onto dogs. Last night we were up for hours as he went in and out of sleep/night terrors.

It was our worst experience so far. He wasn't awake. We couldn't reason with him or talk to him. He could see things we couldn't. The whole works. It was so awful as a parent to sit holding him and/or watching him go through this.

It has in the past gone in cycles. Night terrors one night, then nothing for a night or two. I'm desperately hoping he doesn't have any tonight.

I spent most of the day in bed today. I've slept hours and still feel exhausted. Thankfully Linn was here to look after the kids for the afternoon.

I was talking to Andy about being ill this year and said, how long haven't I been sick this time? A month? He thought I was being generous. I did see a homeopath on Monday, so giving the alternative a shot. Lets hope things start looking up soon. I'm tired of being sick! LOL.

Later.

School holidays

So far we've had 1 and a bit school holidays in my childrens short school lives. And so far, I've been sick for, well, all of them! What the?!

Although this time around, I'm not letting it stop me. We've had a great couple of days. Catching up with some of their friends, ferry trips, a visit to the maritime museum (its free if you live on the North Shore for the next little while!!!), and of course swimming lessons....

 

My two little fish have been wanting swimming lessons for a while now, but unfortunately during term time I haven't been able to find classes. They're all full! So it was super exciting to get them in these classes now.

They are loving them.

Dan was most disappointed that he couldn't also get in the pool. After all, its 'his' place for swimming. And he kept saying he wanted to get in. Poor wee tyke. At least his classes will start again after the holidays.

And here's a sight from yesterday. Oh wow. The hail was incredibly strong and big.

Dan stuff

For me, some stuff I want to remember:

• Daniel eating dinner last night, leans over to Matt and out of the blue says:
  

  
  I like you Matty Moo Moo

  Andy replied: Do you like Matt do you?

  Daniel: Hes my best buddy
  
  Ahhhh, love it.

• Dan has been waking up at night with either nightmares or night terrors. I asked the ladies yesterday if they'd experienced this and if so what they did. They came up with a great idea. Write a letter to the 'scary thing' and tell it to please stop.
  
  So this afternoon Dan and I wrote a letter to all the spiders asking them to please stay outside and not annoy Daniel in his sleep.... He doesn't like them.
  
  I then went and posted it in our letterbox. Here's hoping it does the trick.
  
  When I came back in, Andy told me Dan had said "I'm better, I'm better, I'm better" as he walked back inside. How cool. Crossing fingers now.

• Naughty Mummy story. I was driving on the motorway the other day when a guy just pulled in front of me without indicating or anything. I muttered under my breath....Tosser.
  
  Dan in the back seat, had a suggestion: Beep the horn Mum.
  
  Oh dear! LOL.

Oh, and yesterday I created the following LO.

 

I used that Prima sketch from my post a couple of days ago. That is Daniel. And by golly, he still has the same look now when he gets annoyed!

Its one of those LO's that just doesn't look 'finished', but the story is told and that's a good thing!

Here's a close up....

 

Used lots of Prima papers, ribbon, felt, and butterflies. Adore those butterflies! Actually I see they've got some attached to their new vines in the new CHA releases. Sigh. Can't wait to see them IRL.

Later.

Running update

 

This morning I got up early to meet alot of the people running to free childhood slavery in India. It was good. The plan was that our different lengths of runs would start progressively so we could all end together and have a coffee. And it worked really well.

I only ran 3 kms this morning. Which feels so little, but my poor legs are feeling it. LOL.

I remember in the good ole days I wouldn't bother putting my shoes on for anything less than about 6-8kms. Cor, how times have changed!

Anyway, I did it. And I'm pleased. While I've been doing my own small training from home, it was nice to get together with a few others, and I've now made contact with another lady and we're planning on doing a bit more together. Yay!

I found out today that to buy a slave only costs $90. Now I'm not sure what currency thats in, but either way, its just unbelievable that a person can be brought for so little. Its not right!

If you haven't made a donation and would like to, please click on the link in the top left of the sidebar. There is alot more information there so have a look if you haven't already. Any amount makes a difference.

Later.

Saturday Sketch Day

Here is today's sketch

 

I went down to Hamilton today and spent it scrapping with some wonderful ladies. Thanks Vicky and Neen for putting on a great day.

 

Its a great crop room. Lovely and warm, with big windows for natural light.

I had to see the cardiologist for the bradycardia I've had, last week. One of the tests he wanted to do was to monitor my heart for 24 hours.

It wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought.

I hope to find out all is well next week.

Hope you're having a great weekend.

A little something the kids threw together.......

The other day Andy took the kids to see Granny and Grandad. The twins all by themselves, knowing they were going to see their grandparents decided they needed presents. This is what they created for them.....

 

This is Matts drawing. He drew the picture, and wrote the story without help. I was so impressed. He sounded out all the words, thus the small spelling errors (We have been seeing rainbows often because its rainy and sunny), but for a 5 year old, well, hey, we can forgive.

And I LOVE the pot of gold at the bottom of the rainbow. Too cute.

And Sarah's:

 

Sarah's was just the same. All done by herself, without help. She talks about studying bees at school, and drew a bee. She was particularly proud of the 'sting' and so was I. Love it.

And as for me, well I've been creating too. I made this card today for a friend in hospital.

 

I based it on the Prima July sketch:

 

Might just have to see if I can do a LO now. LOL.

Later.

Grateful

I've been reading alot about being grateful recently. How even if you don't feel it, by making it a concious thing, it becomes real. So I decided to give it a go. Here's what I'm grateful for today.

• For surviving the day with 2 kids home from school.

• For listening to my answerphone messages and actually ringing those people back. Two friends that I treasure, and made my day a better day today.

• A husband who knew I might be getting to the end of my tether and came home early tonight.

• A warm fire that I can see and smell and hear crackling, in the hearth.

• A million memories recorded in my scrapbooks, and the million more I will record at some stage.

• For children who enjoy cuddling, talking, expressing themselves.

• For a tv set that kept said children entertained for a lot of today.

• A pantry stocked with food, a supermarket just down the road and money to purchase more whenever we run out.

• Good neighbours that give us bottles of sauce when our kids need it for sausage rolls.

• A big back yard and a wonderful view. I never get bored looking out our windows and often loose 10-15 mins by doing so.

• A weekend to look forward to. Cropping in Hamilton and running on Sunday.

• Health. While the kids have colds and I'm tired, we are generally very healthy.

There's a lot there huh?! I'm one lucky lady!

t

The chooks & our 'other' family members.

I haven't talked about our chooks for a while. They have been very quietly getting on with their lives (laying less eggs now as its winter and there's not enough sun!). Enjoying their new found freedom in that we open their gate to let them out most days. Well, until they decided that we were taking too long and the big chooks started to fly out. Jeepers! When they did this, they also decided that their nesting box wasn't good enough and they are now laying in the hedge. Which is fine. But its the hedge between our one bad neighbour and us. I hope he doesn't realise they are doing that! We may never have an egg again. LOL.

Anyway, these gorgeous silly chooks are now flying out each morning, laying their eggs, then wandering around the property. The last week, they've been really adventurous, coming right up to the house, and clucking about. Telling us they're ready to go back. Which is just as well, as I fear they wouldn't last too long if they got into Andy's vege garden.

But the good news is that they have become a little like dogs, in that as soon as we go out there and call 'chook, chook, chook'. They come running from where they are, follow us back to their house, and as we open the gate for them they happily wander back in.

Its delightful to watch. I really must get a video/photographs of it. And, more importantly, oh so easy.

Our tadpoles, haven't had quite such a nice ending. Two happily turned into frogs, and then they started to die. First one, then another two. Then the last one. It was incredibly sad as we had grown quite attached to them. I don't think we'll be getting anymore quite yet. But a really wonderful experience for the children. They loved seeing them grow and change. Apart from the ending it was well worth it.

And Toast, well, lets just say he's enjoying winter......

 

Hmmmm, what a mess. Can you tell the kids had just gotten changed into their PJ's?

Later....

So still catching up

And back to last week. It wasn't the easiest. But hey, we're in another week. So that's gotta be good right. Wed Dan was sick. One vomit early in the morning, slight fever and extremely tired. Meant he didn't go to daycare. For the first hour he was nearly asleep on the couch, within the next hour he was sitting on my knee, then he was starting to want to sit by himself. Another hour later, he was sitting on the floor. Another hour later, he was walking around the room and by evening he was running circles around the twins. Talk about fast working virus!

Thurs another hiccup. Not major, but meant my two days off, became no days off. LOL. And unfortunately I had work to do. Bugga.

I did see the cardiologist though and that was good. Seems the 'bradycardia' I get under trauma, can be quite normal for some people. And its not so much 'bradycardia' as fainting. ROFL. So next time it happens I just need to get my feet up in the air. LOL.

I still need to have one of those harness things for 24 hours. Will be good to ensure everything is totally fine.

So nearly up to this week. But in the meantime, thought I'd show you a quick LO I did on Thur/Fri last week. It was intended for an article I'm writing, but hey, I didn't like it, so did another. Much happier with the end result.

 

The photo was taken by Fiona Pierson at Daniels daycare.

As you can see, its an ok LO, but not 'great'. But as I'm discovering with alot of stuff I do, it doesn't always have to be perfect. Yeah, right! LOL! So, yep, that LO is the 'dodgy' first one.

And tonight we took the kids out for dinner. Sarah received an endeavour certificate at the schools full assembly. She was so proud to tell us she was the first name called out in front of everyone! She received it for being "a friendly and responsible member of room 1". How cool is that?! 

My sister has this tradition in their family that when a special certificate is received, they go out for dinner. We decided this was a great tradition and have started using it ourselves. The thing is the kids try to put it on when they bring home all sorts of certificates (including home made ones!). But the rule we have is that they must be the endeavour certificates.

Ok, just looked out the window and saw the skytowers amazing new lights. They're red and blue and are flashing with cool patterns. Like it.

Later.