A journey

Still going!

2010-02-14T19:18:00.001+11:00

Wednesday 10th feb

Mmm I have been loving my ice cream after dinner :) we are currently alternating between the vanilla and caramel (pictured) and some choc mint. I've prefer the caramel but both are delicious.

Thursday 11th feb

Driving home on a Thursday when I have an RDO on the Friday is a great feeling! Bring on the long weekend :)

Friday 12th feb

The reason for the RDO was the rob Thomas concert at the hunter valley! We arrived in cessnock around 12:30, checked into the hotel and hit the wineries. We had lunch @ the golden grape and trav bought some schnapps. Then we went to Ivanhoe to stock up on the new release and make use of our membership. Ie getting a cappucino, crackers and cheese (but we were too full from lunch to eat) and a 30% discount off any purchases. We stopped via coles to get some rolls and a BBQ chicken for dinner and some rolos for dessert before heading back to the hotel for a snooze and relax.
They had a bus going for $20 each person return, but we decided to drive. My big belly allowed us to get VIP parking literally 10m near the entry, as opposed to on the other side of the vineyard which was great!
We hung around on the hill for a bit just enjoying the scenery.

Vanessa amorossi came on at 7:30 and put on a great show, really got the crowd fired up.

And then rob came on at 9:00 and was fantastic! Such a great show, awesome seats (3 rows back, virtually centre stage) and a really lovely, well set out venue. A great night was had by all!!

Saturday 13th feb

Hot cross bun time!! Ever since I made my own last year, I haven't bothered buying any from the shops (as mine are made how I like them and are much nicer LOL) and I keep eyeing them off when I'm in woolies. I finally managed to pull my finger out and get a batch done.

Extra mixed spice and cinnamon made these extra delicious!!

Sunday 14th feb

We popped over to mums for alyssas birthday (and to give Mads her present from her birthday 2 weeks earlier) so it's been a lovely relaxing day! No lunch to cook, no dinner (thanks to a very big lunch) and no mess to clean up!! I'm currently blogging whilst enjoying a footspa on the lounge in front of the cricket :) it doesn't get much better than this!!

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Photo overload!

2010-02-09T20:24:00.000+11:00

No I haven't given up on the photo a day thing, just haven't managed to post them until tonight :)

Thursday 28th Jan

My poor neglected, unwatered plant benefitting from some rain. It's been cared for and bought inside out of the 40degree heat and is no longer wilted!!

Friday 29th January

Fans: our best friends! Trying not to use the air con as much these days is easier now that the tv is set up in the back room where we have an abundance of ceiling fans.

Saturday 30th January

podium finish! Trav hot a phone call one night to say he had a trophy waiting for him as he came 3rd in his age group for the 3pm swim!! We won't mention the fact that he was 3rd out of 3 entrants in his age group....

Sunday 31st January

Sunday morning kisses :) he's a smart dog and he knows he's not allowed on the bed, unless it's Sunday when the sheets get washed!

Monday 1st February

Geeze i can't believe we are in feb already!! I did this calendar of our Alice springs and kimberleys trip andusef snapfish to make it highly recommended!!

Tuesday 2nd February

Ugh so much junk mail!! I can't get over the ridiculous amount we always seem to get each and every day. Such a waste, especially as we don't even read them...straight into the recycle bin actually.

Wednesday 3rd february

Traffic. The bane of my exustance. And one thing I am looking fwd to not having to contend with for a whole 12 months very soon!!

Thursday 4th February

31 weeks!!!! Belly is starting to get a bit uncomfortable, but I love it!!

Friday 5th February

Dinner for one! Trav had a meeting after work so I got to have a nice, quiet night in. I had a delicious meal with background noise of a huge storm! The rain was ridiculous, belle was hyperventilating due to the thunder, and travs train got stuck at penrith station so I had to pick him up from there. It was the first of numerous heavy downpours over the weekend.

Saturday 6th February

Lazy Saturday. What netter way to spend a soggy, wet weekend??

Sunday 7th February

The 2010 season launch! We picked up our season tickets (upgraded to family seeing as the seats next door to us were vacant and we have no intention of moving from the seats we have been on for 8 seasons straight!). The hood thing about a family pass, is we get 4 tickets which allowed us to get 4 free sausage sizzles!! LOL

Monday 8th february

My best friends! I have had shocking heartburn and these babies fix me up in no time!!

Tuesday 9th february

New table! It got delivered today. All we are waiting on are the recliners which should be here next month and then the back room will be complete :)

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Hump day

2010-01-27T20:50:00.000+11:00

Wish it Friday night though!!!
Soooooo photos. Let's see where I'm up to....

Ah, Monday 25th January. The day I got my stash of cloth nappies delivered!! Well, most of them. I still have a few more which are on their way to me ;) once I get the rest I will spread them all out and take another pic :)

I went to www.nurturenappues.com.au and got a variety of prefolds, covers, pocket nappies, AIOs, fitted nappies, cloth wipes, a little squirt (to rinse the poo away) and other bits and pieces!! Soooo excited, I can't wait to wash them and of course use them once the baby is born :)

Tuesday 26th January- happy Australia day!!

We went to the movies and saw avatar in 3D. Omg the 3D'ness was fabulous :) the movie was also pretty good too LOL. I managed to last the whole movie without going to the toilet! And I took my own popcorn in as well :) thankfully, there were no major incidents this year. Ie no stolen bag, no stolen credit cards and no stolen car!! I wasn't asked to work this year, suprisingly. I think they were probably too scared to approach me ;) I would have said no anyway, on account of being nearly 30 weeks pregnant.

Wednesday 27th January. After a late night (we stayed up plating scrabble on our phones against each other over wifi) I was wandering around work in a sleepy haze all day. It took me a while to get home thanks to the rain and storm, and travis had train issues and was an hour late. It gave me time to get dinner ready even though I was functioing at an uber slow speed. It was delicious...vegetable soup with bacon, red lentils and barley :)

Well heading off to watch Seinfeld and then maybe it's time for bed :o

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Well rested!!

2010-01-24T20:05:00.000+11:00

Friday 22nd jan:
The last of my birthday cake! We had so much left over Christmas snacks, that I put it in the freezer ready for a work day where we had no morning tea. Friday was that day :) it's all gone now!

Saturday 23rd january: change of plan... We were supposed to go out on the boat and have a nice picnic with the family, but on Friday afternoon, belle wasn't walking when I got home. She was hobbling around for a few steps before laying down and wasn't her usual happy self. Because onslow has had so many hip / elbow / knee issues, our immediate thought was a snapped cruciate. I made a vet appt for 9:00 on Saturday. Turns out it was just a ligament strain. Phew! I forget just how much pain tolerance poor onslow must have. When he snapped his ACL he was still up and about walking around the place, albeit with a huge limp. Belle on the other hand, pulls a muscle and can't walk at all! Literally she stayed in the same spot for 15 hours straight. LOL here they are in the car on the way home from the vet

Sunday 24th January. Another day, another race! Trav had his 3km race at the regatta centre today. They swam in a rectangle so I didn't get to wander around and follow them. I parked myself in the grandstand and played iPhone scrabble while listening to linkin park! Haha. I love scrabble :) anyway he wanted to do less than an hour and managed to do the swim in 58 minutes. Well done!!

We popped over to leonay golf club for some lunch at 12:00, had our burger and chips and were back home just after 12:30! apart from the vet trip yesterday, I've managed to have the lazy, restful weekend that I was hoping for :) did some scrapping, had some day time naps and just chilled out. Bliss!!!

We had Scott mount the tele onto the wall, and on thursday night we bought a wireless thingo which allows us to watch foxtel in the other room without needing a 2nd box. It works great and can even change the channels put in the other room, even though the box is at the other end of the house. Saves us forking out whatever if costs for a 2nd box these days.

Well time for me to watch cricket and have an iceblock :)

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Time is flying!!

2010-01-21T23:14:00.000+11:00

I can't believe I have just 11weeks left until my due date. Crazy!

Sunday 17/1/10. travis had his 2km swim race at the regatta. It was so hot even at 10:30 that I had to catch the air conditioned bus to take me the 2km to get to the start! I was able to just wander slowly back as I followed trav from the sideline. He did well, finished in 37:33 which has been his quickest 2km to date :)

Monday 18/1/10: my appetite has grown and I have been stocking up on fruit. Thank god I'm pregnant during summer when all the tasty fruit is on offer :)

Tuesday: 19/1/10 dancing baby belly! It went totally nuts when we pumped the iPhone and played some tunes to it. For a full hour it was going berserk to the music, until I had to get up for a toilet break!

Wednesday: 20/1/10 fat feet. As the weather warms back up, my feet once again struggle to fit into their shoes. I have been living in thongs lately

Thursday: 21/1/10 finally got the new tele connected up and mounted on the wall. Now we can watch foxtel and normal tele on the cool half of the house. Just waiting on the swanky recliners to come with the new dining table and the back room will be sorted.

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So busy!

2010-01-16T18:55:00.001+11:00

But first, my photos :)

Wednesday 13th jan - my jewellery tree! Bought with dsome birthday cash to try and organise my collection a bit better.

Thursday 14th jan: waiting at the station to get travis for the first night of antenatal classes. It was soooo rushed! The first woman I saw didn't actually book me in, so when I rang to confirm it was a case of "I have to speak to the organiser and get back to you." this was the Tuesday beforehand. Come Thursday arvo i still hadn't heard! We got the nod to go to it as planned at 4:50. The class started at 7! We managed to rush a dinner and go. Next week will be much more organised!

Friday 15th jan - dirty scabs!!
We went onto town to watch a german production of hamlet. We sat in a park near circular quay for a bit before having lunch. As much as I think ibis' are dirty pests with their scabbing thru bins, I can't help but be fascinated by them.

Trav asked me what I wanted for dinner and all I wanted was mcdonalds. I haven't a burger from there in literally years and OMG it was the best thing ever!!!! I didn't have time to get the apple pie I have been craving for months, but the quarter pounder was bloody delicious!!

Saturday 16th jan: more spending!
We went to baby kingdom as they had a safe'n'sound meridian carseat on special from $569 down to $459 so we decided to laybuy that as well. While we were there I picked up a sleeping bag for winter as they were 40% off so I grabbed that while I could! We picked up the cot which we ordered before christmas and spent the day putting it together. Poor travis had it pretty much done, and I came in and said oh, you need to have the base up on the higher level! So after a big of cursing and carrying on, he undid the whole thing and did it properly!! The room is starting to look like a nursery now, not just a spare room with random baby products strewn around :)

We need to get some sheets and mum is making a gorgeous peter rabbit quilt for it too :) but it's slowly coming along. Got some cute outfits at the target sale too, might put those up next time I'm struggling to find a photo!!

Had some dhal for lunch, which I made a bit hotter than usual and I'm REALLY paying for it now!! Heartburn kicked in right on 20 weeks and over the past 8 weeks it's gotten increasingly worse. I knew the extra chilli was going to be bad, but man it was worth it! Such a delicious meal :) better go get stuck into some tums now!!!!

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Photo catchup!

2010-01-12T21:18:00.001+11:00

Day 9

Mocktails at kims 30th (taken with my phone in very low light!)

Day10

Empty tiramisu bowls at mums! We went for a Sunday canelloni feast :)

Day 11

Start of week 2 back at work :(

Day 12

Lindt balls :)

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TGIF!

2010-01-08T19:47:00.001+11:00

DAY 8 - 08.1.10
Relaxing with my scented candles :)

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Making the switch

2010-01-07T20:09:00.000+11:00

DAY 7:
I have had a plastic tupperware drink bottle for the last couple of years, but I stumbled across a website which has stainless steel ones instead. I looked into the further and liked the idea of them. Turns out the health food shop near work stocked the ones I found online! I bought myself a one litre bottle and I loooove it!!

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Hair free

2010-01-06T19:56:00.001+11:00

Day 6
The annual car clean.

My car only gets a decent clean when it needs to go to the depot for a service. It has it's service booked in for tomorrow morning so I decided I better vacuum the dog hair, armour oil the inside and make it smell nice.
The policy states that we need to keep our leasebacks clean, and according to managment that means washing it WEEKLY! Uh, I don't think so :) but thanks for the car anyway!

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Crazy!

2010-01-05T20:06:00.001+11:00

I came home from work after a huge downpour had passed through. Belle always runs around in the rain and gets soaked. She loves being towel dried and cracks me up with her crazy, over excited antics.

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Decorations

2010-01-04T19:49:00.001+11:00

Day 4:

I'm a jewellery fanatic. Not expensive jewellery though. Just fun, funky, colourful stuff :) I even got a tattoo on my bracelet wrist just to add a little "something" to spice things up.

The wrist was my 3rd tat, and afterwards I remember an older work colleague tut-tutting at me. He said "your body is a temple, you should respect it". I just want my "temple" to reflect the person within, and to stand out from the crowd. How boring would it be if we were all the same?

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Early Sunday morning...

2010-01-03T13:25:00.001+11:00

Day 3: burrowing spider thing!

I woke up at 6:00am and saw Travis stumble out of bed, fall to his knees and hold his head.

Turns out he woke up because some bug crawled into his ear and he was trying to keep his head to the side.

I got up and poured some olive oil in there, and made him tip it out asap. Nothing came out. We went back to bed and I googled "how to remove a bug from ear".

Just as i found the instructions he complained that he could hear something. It was a crunching sound, just like the website said.

So we got back up, poured more oil in and left it for the specified 2 minutes to kill it, then tipped it out and flushed with water. Still nothing came out,
although the noise had stopped so we assumed it had drowned and wouldn't burrow any further.

At 8:30 we made our way to the medical centre as it was the only place open.

Dr couldn't see anything but he syringed the ear anyway, and this little bugger came out.

No idea what it is, but it soiled our plans of sleeping in and staying home all day!!!

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Project 365 take II

2010-01-02T18:43:00.001+11:00

So last years attempt lasted to mid february... Let's see if I can at least make it further than that this year!

Janaury 1st: day one

Not quite my birthday, but the day the family came over to sing and give me my presents :) this is the delicious cake Leanne made!

January 2nd: day 2

I love this! It's a weather station from Germany. When humid and wet, the boy pops out. When it's dry the girl comes out :)

Had a lovely birthday that spanned two days, and got spoilt! Travis got me tickets to see Rob Thomas at a winery in the hunter valley in February. I'm looking forward to that!

Off to watch the twenty 20 cricket and have a mango now.

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iPhone to the rescue!!

2009-12-30T16:53:00.000+11:00

So I was going to blog more often but obviously that plan fell through the arse. However, when browsing through the app store, I found this nifty app where I can blog straight from my iPhone and upload pics too :) sweet!

So since my last post nothing toooo exciting has happened. The most exciting thing has been the 20 week ultrasound. We have a very cooperative baby on board but we didn't want to find out if it was a boy or girl so we had to turn away from the monitor. I was sooooo tempted to have a sneaky peak but I was good :) anyway here is the 3d pic of the mini mr(s) bean:

Travis went over to Germany for a few weeks for the celebrations of the Berlin wall anniversary. He had a great time and came back with a few gifts for me and the baby. My favourite is this awesome hand made nutcracker:

It's going to stay on the entertainment unit all year round!

Christmas has come and gone. We didn't do anything fancy. Travis enjoyed the stein I got him. So much that he had a debut beer in it at 8:00am!

we went to mums and had lunch there. So many presents and so much food and so many laughs. It was fantastic.

We hit the post Christmas sales and grabbed some fabulous bargains. A maclaren rocker for the baby reduced from $180 down to $80! A cot mobile reduced from $95 down to $45. A fabulous sleigh cot which came with a free boori mattress and tidy drawer, a strider plus pram reduced from $800 down to $560, and finally a new hp monitor for $300 down from $500!
I also bought myself a new watch and a new purse with some Christmas money.

I still have a few more days off work, we go back on the 4th. Then I've only got 3 more months left until I go on 12 months maternity leave :) I'm already counting down for that!

Well i am heading off now so I can go and cook dinner. We are having dahl tonight, recipie from my new Food Safari cookbook :)

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Blogging again!

2009-11-13T10:21:00.004+11:00

Well I was reading a thread on a forum, asking what comes up when you google yourself and I found my blog :) So I have spent the last while reading over it and wishing I had stuck out the photo-a-day thing... It's actually great now to look back and remember all those little things. Next year I will get back into it and hopefully stick it out for more than 1.5 months! What a pathetic effort that was.

It's been so busy over here since I last posted.... lets see...

we went to Central Oz and drove around in a campervan (a 4WD pop-top) in April :)

We saw Pink in June and I got some fabulous photos of her.

We enjoyed Central Oz so much that we went to Western Australia in July, got another campervan and explored the Kimberleys. Now that was awesome! The places were so remote and you really were in the middle of nowhere.

Then in August I got pregnant, and I am currently 19 weeks, baby is due in April. This pregnancy has been an absolute breeze so far, and I hope it continues along that path! I had hardly any morning sickness. From about week 6 through to week 11 I would feel a little bit "off" in the afternoon and lost my appetite for dinner. Which Trav loved because he essentially had 2 dinners every night hahaha. I also couldn't stand broccoli or cauliflower and have gone off teas and coffee, but no real sickness to speak of.

We had our 12 week scan and it was great to see it moving around, waving it's little stick arms and kicking its little stick legs! hahaha.

Next scan is coming up in just under 2 weeks. I will be having the 18-19 week U/S at almost 21 weeks, but Trav wanted to be there for it, and they were happy to push it back.

It's all been happening over here!

Trav is currently in Germany on holidays, went over for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, and is catching up with some old friends along the way. He has been gone for a week and will be back next week.

So for now, it's me and the dogs at home and it's actually been quite nice! As soon as I got home I start cooking dinner, and as there are no station pick-ups to interrupt I have eaten and cleaned up the kitchen by 6:30 :) Which means a lovely, relaxing night and early bedtimes!

Of course, I am looking fwd to him coming back home next week, as it's pretty hard to have interesting conversations with the dogs. They are great listeners, but don't really contribute to the conversation much at all.

Speaking of the dogs, the toe and elbow WEREN'T the only dramas for Onlsow for the year. That bloody toe will be the death of me! They cut the cyst out, and it was healing beautifully until the stitches came out. Then he decided to lick it. And lick it. And lick it some more. So much so that it went feral and turned into a "Granuloma" which required us putting a special, disgustingly potent solution on it.

That didn't work, so he had a few cortisone injections and they didnt work, so it got cut out AGAIN. We had to keep it bandaged for a few months so it would heal without him licking it. It was fine up until last month but he started up again and it's doing my head in. Next step is to amputate the toe, but after having been under general anesthetic EIGHT times in the 4 years of his life, I really dont want it to come to that.

Apart from the toe, he also had another brush with death at the end of July when we got back from WA. Poor boy ended up with bloat!! We rushed him to the vet at 7:30am, he was rushed into emergency surgery and it was a case of "we dont know if he will survive the op".

His stomach had started twisting on itself, cutting of circulation and causing huge amounts of pain. So they ended up removing his spleen as it was damaged so much, and they had to cut open the stomach to relive the gas and the blockage, and then it was sewen in place.

He survived that, but the crucial period was the days after the op, where the toxins are released from the dead parts of the stomach and could result in death from toxic shock. He was left in hospital for 3 days with 2 drips. One was his fluids, the other was a concoction of antibiotics directly into the blood stream. He did get a bit of a temperature on day 2, which wasn't a good sign, but he's a fighter and he bounced back.

He now has to have ALL his food mashed up with warm water. NO more broccoli stems, carrot ends, or bits of dropped vegetables for Onslow anymore! Good thing we now have a Food organics bin!

Well I WAS going to upload pics, but it seems like such an ordeal now with this mammoth post. I will put them all up in the next post. Either tonight or over the weekend :) Lets see how long this sudden new-found interest in my blog lasts! I give it a few months :P

yet another catch up...

2009-02-18T20:00:00.013+11:00

...But at least I have been remembering to take these pics... although I seem to be getting more and more just before bed-time! haha!

So, here we go: My life from the 9th - 19th February 2009 in photos...

1: Rain! After a few weeks of high temperatures, our grass had turned to straw and the plants were wilted. The start of the rain was a welcome relief!

2: Beeeeeer :) We used the excuse of going to the club to get a replacement card to have dinner and a couple of drinks!

3: Washing up. It just never ends.

4: Bed time! Seeing as I am up at 4:20am to go for a run or do my aerobics, I need to make sure I am in bed before 9:30pm each night.

5: Onslow has taken to jumping on the lounge and squirming around like a worm while he gets into a comfy and cozy position. The rain and cooler weather suits him perfectly.

6: Alyssas birthday! She was so excited by the lighting of the cupcakes.

7: The rain from the 9th is still going! Last weekend, the air conditioner was working overtime, this weekend the clothes dryer was working overtime.

9: Yep. I'm on the obsessed bandwagon. My whole life has started revolving around charms.

10: Everytime I open the fridge the dogs get in the way. I was intending on taking a photo of the contents of the fridge, but Onlsow just happened to make this pic much more interesting!

11: Blue sky at last!!! The first time it has appeared for over a week.

too hot!

2009-02-08T19:33:00.010+11:00

wow 3 days of 40 degree heat.. we basically haven't left the house all weekend. The curtains, the blinds, and the awnings have all been locked up since about 8:00am! We did got for an early morning run on Saturday. We left at 7:15am and it was already sitting around 25 degrees.
I was doing my photos for the Project 365 thingo, and I realised that I named them wrong last week.. the one for the 31st should have been for the 1st. The 31st pic was on my phone camera, but I cant be bothered right now to fix it up! So... he we are, starting from Wednesday the 4th:

Dinner for one: Travis' German lessons started back today and I always take these nights to either experiment with new dishes, or cook up some Tofu for myself. Travis hates tofu, and even though I marinate it and make it really tasty, he just hates the texture. But that's fine, more for me!

Pre-packed lunch: Every night I pack my lunch for work. We have: Bircher museli for breakfast; Yoghurt - half goe son the museli, the rest I have with lunch; sandwich with turkey and cheese on Garlic and herb bread and a container of chickpeas for lunch; Black muscatel grapes and a banana for snacks.

Persistent - This plant keeps growing so tall it almost hits the roof. I have tried 3 times to cut the lead shoot off, and every time, it just keeps growing back!

Gimmicks - We were in woolies doing our grocery shopping, and we needed fly spray. At the same instant, we both spotted this particular spray. Travis saw the words "Energy Ball" and rolled his eyes, reaching for the normal mortein. I, on the other hand, squealed "oooh energy ball!!!" and snatched it off the shelf in one quick manouvre. Any kind of gimmick or fancy advertising technique, and I fall for it!

Yep, a whole weekend of temps around 42. All we could do was put the AC on and flop around inside. What better weather than this for laying around on the couch watching cricket?!

On Saturday night we headed up the mountain to get some coolness and to just get out of the house.

I drowned myself in aeroguard but I still managed to cop a few bites on my legs. It was nice and peaceful though, listening to the sounds of the bush and just enjoying the stillness.

Oh, i made some more hot cross buns today! But, instead of putting the cross on just before they go into the oven, I put them on waaay before that and they kinda splattered out by the time they went into the oven! hahaha. They taste sooo good though. This time I doubled the amount of mixed spice, and cinnamon so they are just bursting with flavour!

Anyway I am heading off to watch the rest of the cricket now :)

PHOTO'S!!!

2009-02-04T08:21:00.013+11:00

1 - I picked 250g of chillis and the trees are still full of them! Some were put in Olive Oil and most have been frozen to see me through Winter :) The chillis this year are HOT! OMG I used to be able to put 3 chillis in whatever meal I am cooking, with this years crop though, one is generally enough.
2 - Bored and hot. This is a typical bored photoshoot in our house.
3 - When the sun goes down, the candles get lit. Travis hates having the lights on when we watch TV and I hate being in the dark. Candles are a nice compromise.
4 - Not the best Australia Day (see previous entry).
5 - I did get this swanky new phone from work though. The one that was in my bag was about 8 years old.. a super old Nokia 3310: Anyway they wouldn't replace it for me becuase it was still working.. even though the battery would last all of 6 hours LOL
6 - The beast of a car that work rented for me :) Apparently they couldn't get anything smaller and I was well pleased!
7 - Sitting side by side while we watched TV.
8 - I had the day off work and baked hot cross buns. Donna Hay is my hero. Whenever I need to bake something, I reach for her Modern Classics 2. Whenever I need dinner ideas I reach for modern Classics 1. Whenever I have random ingredients in the pantry, I reach for Off the Shelf. She's my go-to chef!
9 - We had our first beer explosion. Not sure when it occured, but it was discovered on saturday. I had been smelling a berry/yeasty type of smell in the spare room for a few weeks now, and just thought it was from all the brewing equipment. Obviously not.
10 - I snapped a shot of the dining table before going to bed. My sister gave me this wine holder for Christmas and it's adorable! She gave Travis a matching dog one and they look great together.
11 - Reunited!! My car has no damage to it, and was in perfect condition. As much as I loved the green car, I am so happy to have this one back. While it's not technically "mine", I did pick the type of car, and I did pick the colour. I'm quite attached to it :)

Absolute Mayhem

2009-02-03T16:24:00.001+11:00

Well things are slowly getting back to normal. It’s been one majorly hectic week! It all started on Australia Day when I offered to work and help out with the celebrations. Council was putting on a big event with dog fashion parades, special guests, rides - the whole shebang. I rocked up at 12:15 and my job for the day was to take the registrations for the dog fancy dress parade. And it just so happened that I got to play with a lot of dogs ;)

Anyway as soon as I get there, I get whisked away to help put up a marquee, and was told to just put my bag in the Council tent along with everyone else’s stuff. There were 4 people in the tent, cutting up temporary tattoos, and decorating the stall with Aussie flags and streamers.

About 45 minutes later, I am done putting up the marquee, and I wander back to the un-attended Council tent. I notice my jumper on the footpath about 5 meters away and think it’s been blown away by the wind. I pick it up, and go to put it back on top of my bag, just to discover that the bag was gone. There were cameras and other bags sitting in the tent, but my bag was the only thing that was missing. Everyone split up and helped look in garbage bins, in the small crowd, and in the parks, while I borrowed a phone and rang Travis to tell him to cancel the credit cards.

In the space of 25 minutes, the bag was gone, and 3 transactions were rung up on the cards. We called the Police, and they came out and I was able to give them my statement. Not only was my wallet and all my ID in the bag, so were my house keys and car keys. The car was still where I parked it, and I told Travis not to leave the house at all.

At 4:00pm Travis’ parents came in to drop off my spare car key so I could get home. The car was still there, waiting for me, and it didn’t even occur to me to move it. I should have, because at 6:30 when I went to leave, the spot was empty and the car was long gone. Another phone call to the police, another statement and I managed to get a lift home with my work colleague.

That night was a bit scary. Knowing the thieves had my car which had a full tank of fuel AND my work fuel card in there along with my address and house keys. We bolted all the windows and doors, made sure the dogs were kept inside the entire night and turned on the front and backyard sensor lights, as well as the sunroom lights.

The locksmith came first thing the next morning and we got the locks changed. The car was a company car, so I took the train in to work and they gave me a ute to come home in. LOL I have never driven a ute before and I was a bit lost when it came to trying to operate the column shift for the first time! The next day, they hired me a car from Avis for me to get around in. No news about my stolen car, but the funky, bright green SV6 Commodore with the Body Kit was a nice supplement!

We went to Katoomba on Saturday night and came back home to a message on the answering machine to say that the car has been found “in tact” and the police have towed it to a secure location. It was going to get finger printed on Monday.

On Monday (yesterday), I rang the mechanic at work and he picked it up, checked it all out, and sent it back to Toyota to get the locks changed. Then they washed all the finger print dust off, and detailed the inside before delivering it to my office on today (Tuesday).

Surprisingly, there is no damage. There are a few small things missing – my new Pink CD, my water bottle – a funky bright pink Tupperware one with a secret bottom to put keys in when you go walking – My cancelled E-Tag and my cancelled fuel card. Most everything else was untouched… Funnily enough, the house keys were also in there, which I was VERY excited about because they had a special key ring on them. The keys are of no use, but I was a bit sad to lose that key ring!

So that’s been my week. I’ve ordered a new E-Tag, and I can’t wait to get that because this whole needing $2.75 x 2 everyday and having to stop to pay the toll is doing my head in!

In amongst all that, Onslow has still been having his arm dramas. Turns out he also has Elbow dysplasia in both elbows and it is something can not be operated on, unlike the hip dysplasia that he has. So we just have to manage it for however long it can be managed for.

He had an injection directly into the elbow on Saturday and he seems to have responded really well to that. Prior to the injection he was only getting up twice a day at meal times. Once he had eaten he would lay back down again. Yesterday he was almost back to normal, walking well with just a slight limp, wandering around the house whenever he hears food being prepared or eaten, and even getting up to go the toilet when we tell him to. (Yes, our dogs will wee on command, it’s fantastic!)

Although, the cheeky thing will only wee in the front yard now and takes FOR.EVER to get back inside, pretending he needs to do a poo then rolling on his back and being all cute when he gets told to get back inside. All these are normal Onslow-traits which we haven’t seen for over a week ;)

Anyway I think this post has gotten big enough now. I have so many photos to catch up on from the project 365, but I might do those tomorrow. I am very proud of myself for remembering to take a photo every day. Even Travis has been very camera happy and is always grabbing the DSLR and taking random pics, just in case I forget to my “photo of the day”! hahaa

Catch ya later :)

Friday at last!!!

2009-01-23T21:12:00.003+11:00

Wow what a week this has been! I have been run off my feet at work; it’s just been so crazy. So many people complaining about dirty food shops, noisy air conditioners, overgrown properties, water running from the gutter, noisy roosters…. The list just goes on. At least it has made the days go by quickly though.

So here are the photos from the 20th, 21st and 22nd. Todays are still on the camera and I cant be bothered getting up, getting the card reader, picking one and fiddling with it. LOL

It’s getting towards the end of the school holidays, and already the traffic is starting to increase. I took this photo with my mobile phone when I was stuck in traffic on the way home. *sigh* I love school holiday periods. The thought of going back to spending 70 minutes on the road to come home is not appealing.

I have no idea how this dragonfly ended up in our living room at 6:00am.Unfortunately it was very low light, and as had landed near the light switch, I didn’t want to disturb him in case he flew away, which is why the photo is a bit grainy.

And this was yesterday.

We woke up and Onslow was not using his left front leg. At all! And because his back legs / hips are still not as strong as they should be, he was really struggling to get up.

Anyway I had to go to work so I caught the train in, while Travis (who is able to work from home if he needs to) drove O to the vet.

Several X-rays later and it’s come to light that he also has severe arthritis in his front shoulders. And just like the leg, the left arm is the worst. She thinks that he just gave it a big knock and that’s why its all flared up.

While he was under, we also got her to remove the cyst which was between his toes. We got it checked out last year, and because it’s not cancerous or anything, they didn’t want to knock him out (again) just to remove it. You can’t really see the bandage in the photo, but when he stands up he looks like a pirate with a wooden leg!

Last year, for the first time ever, he made it through the entire 12 month period with no expensive vet bills, no surgeries, no x-rays and no issues. Let’s just hope this shoulder gets better and doesn’t go the same way as the hip and needs an operation….

Oh yesterday when I decided to train it in to work, Travis told me to get the 7:04 train which gets me to Strathfield at 7:45, and give me ample time to walk to work and be there before 8:00 (which is my starting time).

Anyway we pass Homebush and I pack my book away. I wonder why the train isn’t slowing down, and then I just watch as the train hoons past my station. So I sit back and wait. I had 5 more pages to read, but I didn’t want to get my book out again and look like an idiot. There were no other stops until Central. So I got off just after 8:00, got on another train and got to work at 8:30.

Fortunately the train trip home was uneventful. I think the morning was pay back for me not getting Travis from the station on Wednesday arvo.. he left his phone at work so he was unable to tell me which train he was on. And instead of just going and waiting at the station for him, I stayed home and continued preparing dinner.

Karma’s a bitch……

photo catch-up

2009-01-19T20:26:00.008+11:00

14/1: Another 40 degree day saw us go for a quick swim in the pool after work. When travis' training swims fall on these hot days, it's better to go at 7:00pm rather than in the middle of the day. And it means I can tag along and have a bit of a splash too :)

15/1: So bored and hot. I hate sitting at my desk all day, but it was way too hot to leave the office. I had so many inspections that needed to be done but just couldn't stand the heat!

16/1: Friday night saw us spend the evening organising our gear for the ADventure Race. Camel backs, energy bars, first aid kit, safety gear, clothes, sports drink... I was so excited!

17/1: The aftermath of the race. My legs were filthy, cut and bruised. Not to mention sore!

18/1: My 2nd attempt at making bread by hand (ie no bread machine to make the shape for me) Im getting there. This one at least looked like a normal size and a normal shape. And its very tasty! I left the sourdough started to ferment for almost 2 days. Next time i might try 3 days. See how strong I get the flavour.

19/1: I love water. I drink so much of the stuff, at least 2litres a day, up to 4litres in really hot weather. The more I drink, the more I want.

Still here!

2009-01-19T20:06:00.002+11:00

Well, it’s day 19 and I am still doing my photo a day :)
Not that you can tell.. they are all on my camera waiting patiently for me to bother getting them off and processed. But I have been taking them :)

Today I am still recovering from Saturdays antics. Travis and I went in the Kathmandu Adventure Race and after getting lost a few times early on and having to backtrack a bit, we finally crossed the finish line after 6 gruelling hours. LOL At least we weren’t last! There were about 10 teams still behind us when we got to the final kayak leg.

We were expecting a clearly marked out course with a nice, easy fire trail to run along. Wrong on both counts!! They gave us a map which they had marked the various checkpoints on, and it was up to each team to figure out the quickest path to get to each one.

As for the “runs” well, I don’t know about anyone else, but when it comes to boulder hopping over massive rocks in the middle of the Nepean Gorge, I don’t do that much running! I did a lot of crawling around on all 4’s, sliding down rocks on my bum and climbing up steep embankments however…

I can understand now why the equipment list included things like a compass, one of those silver emergency blankets, a whistle, and a decent first aid kit! I have a few cuts and bruises from barging my way through thick shrubs which had thorny branches but apart from that, I pulled up ok! We had a blast. I was a bit delirious on the last kayak leg and found it hilarious that massive lengths of Elodea were getting caught on my paddle and then falling off and landing on my head and down my back. I was laughing so hard that I wasn’t looking where we were going and we ended up getting stuck on a rock in the shallow water. Twice. Travis was very unimpressed at that point.

That afternoon, I showered and pulled on my skins to help my poor aching muscles to recover from their ordeal. We treated ourselves to a nice dinner at Hubertus’ Country Club where I ordered the Gypsy platter. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when it came… one huge chicken schnitzel, one huge veal schnitzel, one delicious Kranksy, 2 crumbed mushrooms, cabbage, baked potatoes, and a side of some kind of beetroot salad, a garden salad and the best potato salad ever! I ate all of the salad and all of the vegies, but only half of each schnitzel and half of the kranksy. I could have kept going but I didn’t want to stuff myself. I was nicely satisfied after burning off 2,500 calories during the race :)

Sunday was spent doing house work and washing and grocery shopping. Nothing overly exciting. I made the snickerdoodle cookie recipie I found on Kate’s Blog a while back, and had another attempt at making a sourdough bread from scratch. It turned out really well! The shape was much better this time around :) So much so, that it was the subject of my day 18 photo!

DIY girl

2009-01-13T21:14:00.003+11:00

Yep.. I do love a bit of "DIY action". On Sunday I decided to try my hand at making sourdough bread without the bread machine. It tasted great, but the shape was a bit dodgy LOL. That was the day that I also decided to put my own red highlights in my hair. I used foils just like the hair dressers do! And today, as I was leaving the house for work, I decided I needed a haircut. Not wanting to wait for an appointment, I grabbed the scissors and cut a fringe, as well as some layers around my face. And I must admit, I love it!! I love it even more than when the hair dresser does it :)

Not that you can tell from this pic, but there was something about it that I loved... I took it in the reflection of the mirror. There were sharper ones, there were ones that showed the entire new hairdo... but they lacked something that this one had.

Well Australia are now batting in the 20-20 cricket so I am heading off to watch a bit before I go to bed :)

Quickie post

2009-01-12T20:14:00.003+11:00

Just to put up my project 365 pics:

Sunday 11.01.09

Trav had another triathlon with a 7am start. Which means getting to the lakes at 6:30am :) I love it. So peaceful and calm and quiet.. especially when you get far enough away from all the competitors!

I was doing my weekly fruit and vegetable shopping during my lunch break when I got distracted by the sign "Huge Summer Clearance" in the window of the shoe shop. I left there with 2 shoes. One pair for work which were full price, and these fun Summer shoes which were $40 down to $9 :) Noice!

I will blog more of our weekend antics tomorrow when I'm not so tired and hot. I can hear Travis brewing me a tea so I better go settle on the lounge before it's ready!

Saturday Mess Making

2009-01-10T20:24:00.003+11:00

mmmm home-made gnocchi :) One of my all time favourite things. Both to make, AND to eat! And it's something that we only have on weekends because I just don't have to the time when I get home from work. I have finally perfected the recipe and they come out perfect and delicious every time :)

The finished product:

Today I made a bacon and salami sauce, and I used some of my home-grown chillis in it too :) It's one of the best ones I have made to date!

While the gnocchis were cooking, I started a new experiment... I have some yeast, flour, sugar and water covered in a bowl so it can ferment and sour. Tomorrow I am tackling sourdough bread!!! And I will be doing it all by hand. This will be the first loaf of bread I have made where I haven't used the bread machine. Let's hope I don't stuff it up!! hahaha

Friday!!!

2009-01-09T08:14:00.002+11:00

I was sooo looking forward to my tea when I got in to work today!! It's still cold, and when I went on my run this morning, I had 2 layers on and was tempted to go back for my light jacket.. the wind was going straight through me and giving me awful flashbacks of Winter when it was regularly -3 on my runs.

Anyway, usually I have my peppermint teas with breakfast, but today I needed something more... "warming"... like Chai tea.

I have been a fan of Chai tea for about 2 years now. At first I bought supermarket brands.. I tried Lipton, I tried Tetly, I tried Nerada.. they were nice, but nothing special. Then I stumbled upon Spicy Chai loose leaf tea from the home-brewing shop! It was far better than any of the supermarket ones. But very expensive.... $6.50 for only 60g of tea.

On Monday though, I spied a funky box which turned out to be Byron Chai when I was in the discount vitamins shop. For only $8 for 200g of tea leaves, I tried it, and I loved it! It was very similar in flavour to the brew sop tea, and much more affordable. So now I can drink 2 cups a day instead of 2 cups a week! LOL

Today, because I was so cold, I made it how it's SUPPOSED to be made... with half hot milk, half boiling water, and sweetened with maple syrup. (Usually I just brewed it in hot water and added a teaspoon of honey). OMG it was divine!! I can't go back to watery Chais anymore.

And check out my "fat fighters" mug!!! LOL I love it :)

Well, one more day of work for the week. And we are heading out to Thai with Jen and Greg tonight. mmm thai food *drools*

Cold Snap

2009-01-08T20:07:00.003+11:00

Much to the relief of my poor, scorched plants.
Monday: 39 degrees.. Tuesday: 40.. Wednesday: 41... Thursday: 21.
As usual, I didn't believe the weather man, and went to work in a skirt, sleeveless top and I didn't bring a cardi with me. So I FROZE. It was wet and windy and I was miserable. It's Summer. The hot weather needs to continue. I'm not ready for cold!!

Well, time for me to have a cuppa tea and watch Inspector Rex :)

It came!!!!

2009-01-07T07:58:00.003+11:00

Day 7:

My Everyday Minerals order! woot!

This is my new obsession. I have always worn make-up, but only cheap stuff. Usually Maybelline as I would just pick it up from Woolies when I did the grocery shopping. Anyway back in november I was reading about mineral make-up and thought it sounded great! I ordered a free sample kit from EM and it came in less than 2 weeks (from the US).

I loved it so much, that on the 8th December I ordered these 5 full sized eyeshadows and lipgloss and I was hoping it would come before Chrissy... I was starting to get antsy and yesterday (about a month since it was posted) I rang up the local post office to see if it was sitting there, AND then I rang customs to find out what their process is. LOL I came home and it was sitting in my mailbox! Typical.

So today I got up earlier than usual so I could play with the colours, and picked clothes based on what colour eyeshadows I wanted to use first. Which turned out to be the dk purple and the light blue. Very pretty! I LOVE them, so sparkley and the oclours are amazing.

Now I am waiting on ANOTHER order which I placed on Jan 2nd. This one includes the largest size jars of foundation, concealer, blush (2 dif. colours), an oil absorbing finishing powder and a funky brush. Hopefully it comes quicker than the previous order!

New Dress

2009-01-06T07:58:00.002+11:00

Day 6:

I guess the only good thing about going back to work is that I get to debut the new clothes and jewellery that I purchased over the holidays.

I love this dress! It walks a fine line between being a good length, to being a bit too short for work, but it looks great! I'm expecting to get a few disapproving comments from the prudes who work here, but whatever. Fat people are always walking around in things that are way too short and way too tight with tops so low cut that their floppy udders are almost hanging out. THEY never get any comments because people are scared of offending them for being overweight. I don't understand their logic. At least mine look good and I can pull it off :P

The earrings and the necklace were awesome bargains! Both from the $5 rack in Diva. The necklace rrp was $20, the ear-rings were $15 and I picked up both for $10 :) Noice.

Wow it was so hot yesterday. I came home at 5:15pm and the thermometer on the car said it was 40! (thats 104F) When we went to bed at 9:30 it was still hanging around the 30 mark. And today it's supposed to reach 41 at home, but only 31 in the City (where I work). I really love these ultra hot days! I love coming inside to the cool airconditioning, then going outside into the heat and running back inside.

We will be hitting Glenbrook pool this afternoon after work, seeing as they are open until 8pm. Travis has his training regime planned out, and I tag along on swims trying to get better at freestyle! I was a self-taught swimmer from having a pool as a kid, but I never got taught how to do freestyle. Travis is now taking on that responsibilty and armed with the floaty thing that goes between my legs, my goggles and my ear plugs, I am slowly getting better each time.

Well, guess I better choof off and get some work done. And try to avoid people who won't have anything nice to say about my new outfit today :)

Project 365

2009-01-05T19:26:00.007+11:00

Ok.. Im off to a flying start! I wonder how long I can keep this up?!

New years day morning. We gave the dogs the treats they got for Christmas. As usual, Onslows treat disappeared into the depths of his tummy before I got the camera.

My Birthday. Trav asked what did I want to do, stay in town for the night and go to a fancy restaurant? Nope. All I wanted was a nice picnic with the dogs! We went to Thirroul where the dogs got LOADS of attention from people in the parks. They just sat there for hours watching people go by.

My birthday dinner at mum and dads. Mum made these cushions, one of each of the dogs, and I just loved them!! You will notice my ultra daggy, Mens size XL Bonds T-shirt... some gumpy person spilt red wine all over her nice top, especially picked out for photos. As a result I had to wear one of dads shirts. Which he wasn't too impressed about, as this was brand new out of the box.

Sunday Travis had his monthly Panthers Tri-club race. I love making use of my zoom lens. He ate too much over Christmas and felt really off during the whole race. But he was only 10 seconds slower than his PB, so he was pretty pleased.

Today marked the first day back at work since Christmas eve. And it also marked the return of my Monday ritual: Trudging over to Freshworld in my lunch break to stock up on the weekly fruit and vegetables. Today it was 35 degrees Celsius in the City and I was drenched in sweat by the time I staggered back into the office. I hate weeks like this when I need to buy potatoes!!!!

one post!

2009-01-05T10:06:00.002+11:00

LOL So I managed one post in the last 12 months! It's better than 0! :)

I have decided this year that I want to do that Project 365 and take a photo a day. It's already day 5 of 2009, but because I have been home over the Christmas Break, I actually have taken at least one pic a day for the year!

I will upload them all in order when I get home tonight.

In other news, I had a great break - almost 2 weeks off work with Travis, just bumming about the place. Shopping (<- a little tooooo much), watching the cricket, playing with the dogs, mountian biking, kayaking... it's such a struggle to be back at work today :(

Travis and I have entered into the kathmandu Adventure Race on Jan 17th and I can't wait! It will be a mixture of running, mountain bike riding and kayaking - hence the Kayaking practise at the regatta centre last week :)

Had a nice, quiet Christmas. Lunch at Travis' sisters place, then we went to my mum and dads place in the afternoon for way too many presents and a stack of yummy desserts.

New Years eve was also fairly quiet and we didn't go far afeild. We were home by 11:45 and I watched the fireworks on the TV.
In the week between Christmas and New Year people were letting off firecrackers a couple of streets away nearly every night and Belle freaked out more and more as the week went on. So we thought it would be better if we were home with her when the worst of them went off at midnight.

When she hears the first cracker, she tries to squeeze onto the lounge (usually on top of me), and she just sits frozen, eyes wide, looking at the ceiling and panting quickly. She's very trance-like and you can poke her, call her name, wave your hands in front of her head and theres just no reaction! She's the same with thunder, but the firecrackers are the worst. I think because they are so random with long gaps so she never knows if it's actually stopped or not.

Anyway today I'm back at work.. and I have the whole, entire week to get through *sigh* Today is already dragging and moving along soooo slowly. Lunch will take forever to get here, and that hour will just fly by in the space of seconds. Never mind... 4 more days and then the weeekend!!

Hiatus

2008-07-15T13:43:00.002+10:00

So I'm back in blog-land, after what seems like forever!

So whats been happening? Lots of stuff, yet nothing at all really :)

After coming back from the trip there were numerous family do's for birthdays, plus the usual Christmas feasts, and it was then that I decided to really get stuck into moving the extra few kilos that had started to creep up on me. It was either that, or spend a lot of money on a new wardrobe to buy clothes that I wasn't busting out of.

That saw me take up running :)

In 6 months I have gone from struggling to do one lap of the 2.2km route I have mapped out, to completing the 25km Woodford to Glenbrook Fun run on the 19th June. It was a gruelling course. Travis came along with me, and together we gritted our teeth as we pounded out the agonizing last 6 kms to finish the race in a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. Certainly not ground breaking pace, but a proud moment when we crossed the line.

We have registered for our next one too, the Hunter Valley Half Marathon :) Should be fun, at least we know what to expect this time :) Of course, with any new hobby I take up, it also means splashing out on all the new fandangled equipment.

Like my snazzy new Polar Heart Rate Monitor with the footpod so I can measure distance and speed and basically have things to play with and distract me on my runs...

And a pair of snazzy pair of Long Skins to help my muscles after a long run, just like the ones in the pic:

And after all that, I STILL need to buy a new wardrobe because I have lost those few kilos, and then some! Now my clothes that were popping at the seams in January are now floating on me...

In amongst all that, Onslow had his knee operated on again, at the same time as they did his hip operation. Here he is on his first day back home from the hospital:

He needed to be active straight away to help the hip heal, but at the same time, needed to be bedridden to help the knee heal.. the compromise was doggy hydrotherapy!

It took a while, but eventually he was walking into the pool of his own accord and getting the laps done with no fuss. Such a good boy :) He's recovered from that nicely now and at this stage it looks like he wont need the other hip done yet.

He must be one of the most expensive Berners ever, but he's worth every cent :)

And just to keep it even, here's a pretty one of Belle:

So thats all thats been happening around here.
I'll try and make it back in here next week for a post-race update!!

Griswolds European Vacation 2007 :)

2007-10-28T18:18:00.000+11:00

Click on each collection of photos to make them bigger :) Its easier to read the writing ;)

Bangkok was.. interesting. We spent 2 nights here on our way to Germany to break up the flight. The architecture is amazing, I loved all the statues and gardens and temples. We had a traditional Thai massage as well which was different and at times pretty painful!!
It was impossible to walk down the street without someone trying to rip us off somehow... whether it be asking us for a taxi ride, or telling us the temple we were on our way to visit was shut and trying to show us something else, or getting private boat tours of the river, it seemed that there was always someone trying to scam us.

We didn't bother bartering because for us, it was so cheap anyway when we converted things to Aussie dollars.. we just didn't see the point of haggling over a couple of dollars. All in all it certainly was an experience!! I don't think I will be in a hurry to get back to Bangkok, but I wouldn't mind going back for some scuba diving off the coast :)

The first of 2 visits to Munich. The first day we wandered the streets and checked out the sites in the morning...

...and then we made our way to the fairground. And we were not expecting to see the amount of people we saw! It was such a busy day. We lined up outside a tent for around 30 minutes, but the doors were all shut and no-one was allowed in because it was too crowded. Unfortunately, all the tents were the same. We wandered through the beer gardens.. well, we barged our way through the constant walls of people and found a table of fun pommy guys on a bucks / stags weekend. They were great and let us sit down and have a beer with them and we had heaps of laughs! Also a few too many beers and not enough food.. we did go on the giant yellow slides later in the night and took lots of blurry photos! hahha

The second day we got up early and lined up outside a tent at 8:30am, even though they don't open until 9. We got in, got a seat, got some beers, ate a chicken and some sausages, danced on the tables, spilt some beer, and headed outside after lunch. Compared to yesterday, it was empty. So we were able to wander into whatever tent we chose! We had so much fun on both days.. its a shame it is so far away from us, or I'm sure we would be going back every year :) The great thing about the German beer is that no matter how much we drank, we never woke up with headaches!!

Berlin... there was SO much to see here and we managed to JUST fit in all we wanted to see in the 5 days we were there!

We walked along the Berlin wall, saw the Brandenburg gate, Checkpoint charlie, experienced the Reunification Day Celebrations, went to the Sachsenhausen Concentration camp (a very disturbing place), wandered around at night taking pics of the lights, and of course went to the Berlin Zoo!

It was at this point that I was so glad I took the DSLR along with me. We actually had 2 cameras with us... Travis was usually in charge of the point and shoot :) I think I took most of my photos at the zoo... and almost needed to buy a new memory card because of it! LOL

we were very glad to get to Cologne because there were only two things we wanted to see in the 2 days we were there: The Gothic cathedral (Dom) and the Chocolate Museum!! We could go at a nice, slow, relaxing place for a change :) mmm.. I could have watched the chocolate production lines all day.. they looked so tasty!

It worked out that the Cologne marathon was also on that weekend so we hung around and watched the wheelchair racers, rollerbladers and runners all do their thing. It was great to see so many people on the sidelines cheering and supporting everyone. It was a huge event!

The highlight of this weekend was the fact that the hostel we stayed in offered free packets of pasta. So we had to buy a sauce and cheese for a couple of dollars and cook it ourselves. So we had a nice home cooked meal for a change. It left us more money to spend at the Becks happy hour where all bottles of Becks Beer were only 1.50 euros! LOL

Again, another 2 night stay, and really only one or two things we wanted to see: The Mannekin Pis, and the girl version! LOL Although we missed out on seeing the girl statue cos we couldn't find her, even though we had the address and directions... weird.

I found it so funny that one minute we were walking through a modern city, and with one turn of a corner, we were in the old town with the 15th Century building and cobble stone roads.

We had a really hard time finding the hostel here!! The signs were not as obvious, and roads just seemed to change names from one side of the street to the other. We had the address, we were looking at the map, we had directions but they were of no use. We pretty much just walked in one direction and them stumbled upon it. The room was in the loft so we kept bashing our heads on the sloping ceiling. It was a super funky room though, I loved it!! The guy that was always on reception had no personality, and no people skills and was just downright rude though. Like Bangkok, it's not somewhere I will be keen on going back to. We were getting a bit bored by the end of the 2nd day. We did enjoy the super strong beers over here though ;)

Like Berlin, there was so much to see in Paris and only five days to do it in! Fortunately we found the hotel very easily and we took off straight away to knock over the Basilica of the sacred Heart, the Eiffel tower, Arc De Triumph and the Champs Elysee's.

The first thing we noticed was how expensive everything was!! We generally tried to eat away from the tourist areas as things were more reasonable. Still expensive for what it was when we converted it to Aussie Dollars, but not too bad.

We met up with July, who was in Australia last year on work experience and worked with Travis. So it was great to have a real French person to help us out with ordering and talking to people!! hahaha Especially when we went to a pub to see the England v France semi final of the Rugby. We painted French flags on our faces so people didn't think we were going for England :) That was one crazy night!! I saw someone with a platter of salami and cheeses, so we ordered one for ourselves.. and when it came out, we found out it cost 20 euros!! LOL It was delicious though ;)

After the game, we went outside and there was a marching band of sorts playing in the streets and everyone was singing and dancing in the streets, even though France actually LOST the game! LOL

Our French classes came in handy and we were able to have very very limited conversations in French. Which was great, everyone we spoke to was really nice and we didn't have any problems with rudeness that you always seem to hear about.

This was what I was looking forward to the most!!! The people running the B&B we stayed at were sooo nice and went way above and beyond. They told us to go up to the Jungfrau the next day after we got there while the weather was great. It was spectacular!!!

It was also very very cold.... especially outside on the viewing platforms with the icy wind whipping through us!! But with this view, I barely noticed it. Neither of us packed gloves, and when we were outside towards the end of the day, my fingers were so cold that they got really really painful. I was barely able to even flick the on / off switch on my camera, and it took over 30 minutes for the pain to go away once I was out of the cold.

We also went para gliding, did some shopping, hired a bike to cycle around the lake and used the kitchen to cook our own meals. We would eat in, then go out for a few drinks and dessert :) Out of all the places we have been to, this is the only one that I can actually picture myself living in :) I loved it!!!

We almost didn't get to Lyon on time because of the train strikes in France.. we got as far as Geneva and the strike was to last until midnight, so we were advised to look for accommodation for the night. After a chance encounter with a lovely lady named Gwen, we hired a car and split the cost. She was originally from Lyon so she drove us there and dropped us off at our hotel.

We were here for 2 nights and all we had planned was to meet Travis' German pen pal that he started writing to when they were only 10 / 11 years old! She was so nice, she showed us around the city, cooked us dinner, took us out for drinks and did the booking for our overnight train to Munich for us :)

I think we were both a bit over taking photos at this point! LOL We just wanted to relax and chill out as we were heading towards the end of the trip anyway. I was just hanging out for a plate of vegetables because I was so sick of eating in restaurants..

Anyway on the Sunday afternoon, we caught a train back to Paris and had to hang around there for a few hours before catching an overnight train back to Munich for the last 2 nights of the trip. We had booked first class sleeper beds, but it seemed like thye were all taken, as we had 2nd class bed. However, we were sharing a room with only one other couple, instead of 2 other couples like the people in 2nd class. And it worked out well that they were nice and from New Zealand, so we could actually talk to them :) The trip went so quick.. one minute it was 12am and we were going to bed, the next, we wake up at 9am just about to pull into Munich station!

We dumped our luggage in the lockers at the train station and jumped on a train to go to Fussen to see King Ludwig's castles.

As the train was heading up the mountain, we could see tiny patches of snow. By the time we got to Fussen, the snow was really thick and it was actually snowing! The snow was the nice fluffy, powdery stuff so we were throwing it at each other left right and centre! Travis threw a couple that landed smack bang in the middle of my face... We only went into the white castle (the one that inspired the Walt Disney castle in the logo) and then came back down. It was great to be back somewhere where the food is cheap and the portions are HUGE!!!

Once back in Munich, the weather was freezing. I'd say it was around 5 degrees throughout the day, certainly not much more. It was also raining and miserable so we didn't do much at all apart from shopping and eating on our 2nd day. We bought ourselves a cuckoo clock, but it is getting shipped over to us, so we should have that in about 2 or 3 weeks :)

The 3rd day was spent in a museum. It was really interesting and very hands on, which meant that I didn't get bored :) It was also 6 stories high and we had to pull the pin on it when it was after 3pm and we were in dsperate need of lunch.

Our flight home was at 10:45pm, so it was a long day. We jumped on the plane, slept, landed in Bangkok at 1pm Bagnkok time and did some duty free shoping. We had 5 hours between flights, and finally landed home in Sydney at 6:30am.

The dogs really missed us and Onlsow has been following us around and making sure we are always in sight. I am so glad to have a cupboard full of clean clothes again, and likewise to having a plate full of vegetables for dinner!! LOL

Eclipse

2007-08-29T08:17:00.000+10:00

There was a lunar eclipse last night, here are some pics early on when it was just getting cast in shadow:

And then later on when it was all...well... eclipsed :)

I grabbed my MP3 player, a chair, a broomstick (which was my make shift monopod for the camera seeing as I haven't gone and gotten a tripod yet LOL) and my camera.. and the dogs from time to time.

I went out originally in bare feet, long pants and a long sleeved top. I came back inside to get socks because things were biting my feet and my dressing gown. Travis kept popping out from time to time, first he came out with a tea, then a tasty hot chocolate. Then around 8:30 he came out with a scarf and a beanie. Next he came back with one of his big jackets. Then he came back with some shoes. What a great husband! I looked like a bag lady by the time I came inside but at least I was warm!

So where was i?

2007-08-27T07:44:00.000+10:00

The weeks are flying by SOOO quickly!!! The weather is warming up and I feel like I have been so busy, but I don't really have a whole lot to update the blog with... I have been out and about taking heaps of photos whenever I can. I was originally going to go and take some pics of a horse thing on the weekend.. showjumping or dressage or something... but I kinda forgot about it and organised catching up with a friend LOL But it worked out well, because it was cancelled due to the horse flu which is going around.

Anyway Lauren tagged me about a billion years ago and im now finally going to do it LOL

A - Attached or Single: Attached
B - Best Friend: I'd have to say Travis
C - Cake or Pie: Pie
D - Drink of Choice: alcoholic - vodka; non alcoholic - Water
E - Essential Item: A hair elastic :)
F - Favorite Color: Blue
G - Gummi Bears or Worms: Starburst Rattlensakes :) Which I guess are worms
H - Hometown: Sydney, Aus. well, not IN Sydney itself, but close enough.
I – Indulgence(s): Bubble Baths. I don't have them very often anymore since the water restrictions came into place!
J - January or July: January... Its my birthday, It's warm and there are a few public holidays thrown in the mix :)
K - Kids: 2 Very hairy ones with 8 legs between them.. Belle and Onslow ROTFL
L - Life is incomplete without: Travis, the dogs and My Family
M - Marriage Date: October 23, 2004
N - Number of Siblings: 2 sisters
O - Oranges or Apples: Apples in terms of whole fruits, oranges if we are talking about juice :)
P - Phobias/Fears: Having the EHD's crash and I loose all my pics and scrap-stash!
Q - Favorite Quote: Too many and my brain isn't functioning this early on a MOnday morning.
R - Reason to smile: Heaps :) A great husband, a loving and funny family, 2 beautiful dogs, a job I love, friends, Spring is on the way, We are heading overseas soon, I went shopping on the weekend.. LOL
S - Season: It's a tie between Spring and Autumn. I love the colours in both seasons.
T- Tag Three: Whoever wants to
U - Unknown Fact About Me: I don't brush my hair. LOL Unless i'm blow drying to go out, then I use a brush. Otherwise I just use my fingers to smooth it out or put it up in a pony tail :) I like messy hair!
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: Carnivore :)
W - Worst Habit: A toss up between forgetting things and getting too distracted.. which I guess are kind of the same thing seeing as I start one thing, get distracted and never go back to finish off the original task.
X - X-rays or Ultrasounds: Well I did love the xrays i had at the dentist as a kid with the big machine that circled around my head!
Y - Your Favorite Foods: Pasta with lots of cheese and garlic; custard; chickpeasZ- Zodiac: Capricorn

Ok time for a cup of coffee.. im so tired this morning and we have an hour long presentation in 23 minutes. ugh Im basically falling asleep now as it is! LOL

busy bee

2007-08-01T16:14:00.000+10:00

Well, lots has been happening! First off, I got my 2nd tattoo on the weekend :)

and can i just say the lower back is much worse than the upper back! LOL Worth it though :)

We went scuba diving last weekend as well, the first time since.. I cant even remember.. probably around January / February. Anyway that was great! Got to see some of the larger cuttlefish. There are always small ones, but not usually the big ones. We also saw seahorses! I LOVE seeing the seahorses. And one had a huge tummy full of eggs too :) Very cute.

AND my most exciting bit of news.... I have (kinda) got a d-SLR!!! I say kinda cos we haven't actually paid for it yet ;) One of Travis' work colleagues was selling his 11 month old Canon 350D, complete with 2 lenses, polariser, UV filter, nifty backpack, remote control, battery grip and spare battery and other bits and pieces. So he bought it in for me to play with and if I like it, we pay him :) I took the day off work today and went shooting ;) Travis told me now that I have my nifty camera I needed a Flickr account.. no idea why, but I did it anyway! hahahaha I am very proud to say that all of these were shot in RAW on the M for manual mode :) yay me!
Now I hope this flickr badge thing works...

www.flickr.com

More of lisarosey's photos

And thats it! I might go relax... I did so much walking today, and even took myself on a mini bushwalk to get the pic of the log and the rocks.. and there were a stack of steps to climb to get back up as well :)

......{insert title here}.....

2007-07-13T13:43:00.000+10:00

I have a headache that just wont go away! No matter what I take, it will go for about 10 minutes and then come back.

Anyway... When I was a kid I remember asking mum how come birds can stand on the electrical wires and not get fried. She told me it was because the birds have "special rubber feet" and they aren't affected by the electricity.

Fast forward 26 years to just yesterday... I was driving to work and there was a discussion on the radio about how you can hold on to one electrical wire and not have anything happen, but as soon as you touch a 2nd wire, your body acts as a conductor and all the electricity goes through and you get electrocuted.

I turn to Trav who was in the car with me and ask if its true, to which he said yep. hmm... then I told him the story of the birds with rubber feet and he could not believe that at age 26 I still believed that story!!! LOL I'm so disappointed that it's not true!

So, when we have kids they better watch out, I'll be spinning them the funniest stories when they ask me questions! ROTFL

WELL, not much has been happening around my little corner... Just plodding along. I'm a bit under the weather today but I had to come into work as the boss is at a training course, the Senior health inspector is off for the school holidays and that just leaves me to hold the fort and deal with all the complaints and sewer problems!!
ugh I dropped my camera in a big puddle of sewerage yesterday :( Fortunately it was the work camera.... but still.. YUCK! I smothered it in alcohol when I got back to work! hahaha

Quick dog update: Onlsow has lost a grand total of 10kg!!!! He WAS 57.5kg when we went in April to get his shots, and now just 3 months later he is sitting on 47.5 :) The goal is 45 so he's almost there :) I was looking at photos of him from April and OMG he looked MASSIVE!! LOL like a big fat blob-a-tron!

ANyway I can't be bothered typing anymore. Who wants to see some pretty layouts?

Check out the layout credits in my gallery

Well, thats all from me for the time being! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Done!

2007-07-08T16:04:00.000+10:00

ahh isn't that pretty? The photo in the header was taken by me at Wanaka in NZ :) Such a beautiful place, I just love it.

Anyway just sitting here relaxing after a fairly busy weekend! We had to wait forever at the vet, but the good news is he doesn't think the lump is malignant but just to keep an eye on it. so thats good. And he didn't charge us either, which was nice. We must be valued customers with the amount of money we spend at that vet! LOL

So as soon as we came back, I ate lunch, got dressed and headed out to catch up with a couple of friends from high school who I hadn't seen in aaages! It was so good to finally catch up and amazing how even after all these years it still felt exactly the same, we really haven't changed much at all :) So we will have to do that sometime again very soon! - Sorry Kate, I forgot to bring the camera! I'll remember next time ;)

By the time I came back from there, I ate dinner that Travis had cooked while I was out, then sat on the lounge with some wine and Trav made scones :)

Today (sunday) we got up early, went to the shops to buy our fruit and veg for the week, I came home an cleaned up the mess from the late-night scone making, cooked our lunches for the week, hung the washing out, cooked a pasta sauce for our late lunch / early dinner, cleaned the kitchen again, sorted washing out, went out the back with the skipping rope and jumped for a good 45 minutes, cleaned the bathroom and shower, had a shower, cooked some home-made gnocchi, ate it, cleaned up the kitchen for the 3rd time today and packed away my clean washing and now im tired! LOL

What a boring story! hahhaha
And with that, im going :)

Thank God it's Friday!!!

2007-07-06T08:07:00.000+10:00

The week has flown by but bring on the weekend!!! I'm so over work and am counting the days until we head off to Europe.

Tonight we are going out with some friends to Una's at Darlinghurst mmmmm yum!!! I LOVE this place :) The first few times we went there on a Saturday, but last time we went on a friday night and for $15 we got the "special" which was 2 HUGE schnitzels and a beer. The schnitzels seriously hang off the edges of the plates and are sooooo nice.

Anyway then tomorrow morning we are running to the vet again. This time for Belle. She has had a small lump on her elbow for about a year and over the last couple of months it's gotten noticeably bigger, so we booked her in for a checkup, but I guess they will want us to bring her back on another day to cut it out and see what it is. Is it just me, or is there always some kind of drama with our dogs?! LOL

Saturday afternoon I am catching up with some old school friends who I haven't seen in years!! It should be great!!!!

Sunday nothing much on the plans at this stage... maybe go for a drive somewhere. Or maybe just stay home and be boring LOL depends on the weather and how we feel.

We started watching the new James Bond movie last night.. I was exhausted so I fell asleep half way through :) as usual!! LOL So I have to finish that at some point over the weekend.

I'm still tired because the dogs went NUTS in the middle of the night... Belle was jumping at the window at the front and barking, Onlsow was running around doing the most viscious growls I have ever heard him do! I rolled over trying to ignore but Belle decided we had to get up so came bounding onto the bed barking and jumping on us. Nothing was there though. It was probably a cat. But I love having them inside at night for that reason. If anyone is hanging around they just carry on and on. And because they are such big dogs they have very loud, deep barks and sound so much tougher than what they actually are! hahaha

Observations...

2007-07-05T10:07:00.000+10:00

Ok so the most random things enter my mind and I generally start talking without thinking.

Take the other night, for instance.
I was washing up and Travis was cooking pasta.
He opened the packet and pulled out a long spagetti (raw) and sticks one end in my mouth.

I very very carefully eat my way through it, which was pretty tricky without having any hands to hold the rest of the pasta in place while biting bits off the end.

Once i'm done at start to marvel at the way the mouth is set up. "wow isnt it amazing how my teeth, tongue and lips all work together to eat the spaghetti".

Travis looks at me like im crazy.

I continue... "well, my tongue pulls the pasta into my mouth, my teeth snap a part of it off, and my lips keep the rest in place until the tongue can pull it back in! Amazing!

Travis isn't impressed and declared he could do the same thing without lips.

So he stands next to me, holds his lips apart (looking like an ape at this point) and gets me to put another spaghetti in his mouth. As soon as he took a bite, the rest fell into my washing up water.

At which point I stick a big soapy finger in face and yell "AHHHH-HAAAAAA!!! SUCKED IN!!" and then go back to the washing up.

I seriously don't think we are very normal ROTFL

finally!

2007-07-04T11:19:00.000+10:00

I have been meaning to fix up this blog forever!! I hated how narrow the main bit was. Anyway now all I need is a new blog header with some pretty blues to complete the look :) Watch it take me another 6 months to get that done :p

2 weeks...

2007-07-02T14:14:00.000+10:00

...worth of updates! LOL

Tattoos - well they healed nicely and im hanging out for warmer weather so I can show mine off! LOL I went and booked my 2nd one in yesterday, which will be on the 28th July. I was so impressed with Kaylene that im more than happy to wait 3 weeks for her to do my 2nd one :) This will be a cute little cat on my lower back with some pretty swirls either side :) I like girly and I like different LOL

What else... we had a great night up at Katoomba a couple of weeks ago as well! We went up to Linda and Scotts place, where they lit the outside fire thingo and we ate, drank, laughed, toasted marshmallows and basically carried on like clowns till the early hours of the morning.

So it was sooo cold and there was frost at like 8pm or maybe even earlier! Leanne hopped on the trampoline and her feet stuck to it! LOL I had a go on the swings until Linda pushed me off, We drank a few cowboy shots, someone scoured the streets for a real estate sign and we went sliding down the frosty hill!! LOL Later in the night after most people had gone home, travis had a turn at trying to "surf" on it, slipped and fell and didnt get up. We laughed, I yelled "Are you alright?" There was no answer, and no movement...I asked again, there was a lsight moan and we all just ignored him and enjoyed the fire. Poor thing!!! He could have been really hurt or knocked unconscious and we (Me, Linda, Scott and one of Scotts mates) just sat there laughing at him!! ROTFL Fortunatley there was nothing wrong with him and he was just laying there laughing anyway. ahhh fun times!!!!

The oven got fixed on Friday! Not that we really use it much.. i do 90% of my cooking on the stove.. I pretty much only use the oven on weekends to make pumpkin scones or muffins to put in the freezer for snacks at work..
I did some home made gnocchi again yesterday :) yum I could eat it all day and its not that hard to make. I did a delicious Pumpkin soup as well on Saturday :)

We went to the Alliance Francaise (sp?) in the City on saturday with our french teacher and 2 other people from our class. LOL I got to order my food in French.. no idea what she said to me after that though! hahaha. Travis thought he was brilliant when he went and asked (in French) where the toilet was .. and then expected the answer in English, and when it came in French he had to think quick to try and understand :) Anyway I ended up buying up a French cook book! One page has the recipie in French, the facing page has it in English. So many tasty recipies.. Travis has earmarked about 10 ginormous meals for me to cook him. ha! yeah right....

So the dogs.. well Onlsow is recovering nicely from his operation. I cant believe its been like 9 weeks already! Anyway he is climbing on the lounge again.. actually he's a bandit for that lounge these days! He will park his ginat body there around 8:30pm / 9:00pm and he will still be in the exact same position when we wake up at 5:30am! I do find that he rarely jumps anymore though.. im not sure if its because his knee is still a bit sore, or if he remembers hurting it from jumping last time and he's scared.. either way its nice to come home to only one jumpy dog instead of 2 jumpy dogs! LOL

And on the weight loss issue, he has gone down from 57kg to 48kg!!!! He still looks like a fat barrell though.. Belle is now 40kg so maybe thats why he still looks fat.

Anyway scrappy stuff.. here are some recent layouts :) I have been creating some of my favourite layouts lately, mostly with stuff from Christy Lyle which hasn't been released, so I can't show it off!!!! Anyway here are some other layouts that I CAN show off ;) Follow the link to my gallery on the left if you wanna know where anything came from.

hmm well I think this is pretty long now and Ic ant think of anything else that needs saying, so I'm heading off!!!! :)

Branded!

2007-06-18T08:01:00.000+10:00

At least thats how I feel.. LOL Like a cow thats been branded with a red hot iron stick thing :)

And this is Travs:

And I have my 2nd one all planned, I took it in with me to check that it was do-able. So after this heals I will go and book it in. Although it may have to wait until after we get back from our trip.. I dont want to have a healing tattoo while we are overseas. So thanks SM :) I saved up all my recent cheques and it was enough to cover both of these and I have just enough spare to get my 2nd one!! woo hoo!

Apart from that, not much has been happening. At work on Friday I dozed off at lunch (we have comfy lounges and a TV in the lunchroom.. I always fall asleep!) And I woke up feeling so off. My throat and/or ear was sore.. I couldnt tell which one. ANyway I just got over a bout of the flu and I hate it when people come to work sick.. I take days off to get better, come back and everyone is coughing and spluttering all over me.

So I did nothing on Friday night, except scrap... wrapped up in a blanket, listening to the footy on Tv and scrapping away.

Saturday I woke up feeling sick.. all achey, sore ear/throat and one eye was really sore and itchy. Anyway we did grocery shopping, then came home and did some housework. At about 12:30pm I sat down on the lounge with some soup and the dogs. Onlsow curled up in my lap and went to sleep, I thought that looked like a good idea, curled up around him and fell asleep in 2 seconds. Travis had to come in and wake me up at 5:00pm!!! I was out like a light for 4.5 hours straight... Onlsow had gotten up, went outside, came ben an hour later and curled up with me again and I didnt even notice. I was feeling a bit better, took some cold and flu tablets, rugged up in a billion layers of clothes and went to the footy. Came home, watched The Departed and then went to sleep.

And I woke up on Sunday feeling perfectly fine!

So I cooked up a storm. 2 lots of stir fry vegies with U-don noodles for lunches at work, home made gnocchi and a very tasty sauce for dinner and a double batch of pumpkin scones. I was doing all three at once, and whacked the scones in, checked on them 15 minutes later.. and they were stone cold. The oven was on, it had been pre-heating for a good 20 minutes while I made the scones, and nothing. I could touch all the racks and they were barely warm. SO looks like the oven has carked it!! So I put the scones in the microwave and they are rock hard!! LOL They still taste delicious though.

well thats all from me.... catch ya later :)

Tagged and stuff

2007-06-08T12:33:00.000+10:00

I joined Twitter! LOL Its so much fun :) I have spent all morning sending and reading updates hahaha!

And This is just a little something I whipped up last night.. credits in my gallery over to the left. Too lazy!

I bought a new exercise DVD! A hip-hop cardio workout:

ROTFL Its like a full on dance routine and so HARD! It will be heaps of fun when I can learn the steps.. there is a "learning the steps" section where she goes through each step slowly, and the actual workout is a proper dance. I was puffing and panting half way through the WARM UP! LOL Anyway I got it from Home Fitness Delivered, I received it within 2 days of ordering and including postage, it set me back a whopping $13.48! Worth every cent too :)

Anyway the weather has been nice and chilly, forecast today was 14C, but its raining and there is a very cold (and strong!) wind blowing :) Its GREAT! I love weather like this!!!

I was tagged by Kate a while back.. I am finally getting time to do it now! LOL

The rules: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

Ok 7 Random Facts:

1- I hate it when people {travis} sing the wrong words to songs. It drives me mental and Travis makes all the words up and sings on the top of his lungs. The more I correct him the worse he gets LOL

2- When I was 17 I got my first part-time job at the local bowling alley. I worked HALF a shift, didnt get paid and they never rang me back ROTFL I had to go collect all the empty plates from the alleys and I "accidentally" picked up all the ash trays and washed them, and then packed them away in the kitchen, thinking they were just normal saucers!!

3- I have no co-ordination.. :) well, I semi do in my legs and hips, it's just that my arms seem too long and skinny for my body and fly around uncontrollably.. much to Travis' amusement. He sneaks in when I'm going aerobics and laughs at my "gumpy arms".

4- I wish I had a pet goat! I went past houses with pet goats on my way to uni and would love some. I love goats in general :) Wonder how they would get on with the dogs?

5- I barely watch any TV and I cant stand reality shows. I sometimes watch the news, usually watch ACA to see which Councils they are bashing and hope they dont do an expose on any of the food shops in MY area! LOL. I flick through foxtel a lot and we usually end up watching the comedy channel or a movie. Oh and every single game of rugby league! hahaha

6- I used to hate seafood but I actually enjoy it now. I had grilled baby octopus the other day.. and mussels! mmmmm tasty :) 2 years ago I would have gagged at the thought of even looking at either of those! LOL

7- I love cooking!

And here is a tag I stole off Jodie

1. regular or diet soda: I dont drink that stuff... but if i had to choose I would go normal. Dont want brain tumors from the artificial sweetner LOL Give me water any day!
2. salt or pepper: Pepper
3. hot or cold weather: cold. Perferably with rain and wind
4. dogs or cats: Dog
5. dieting or exercise: Exercise.. I believe in eating healthy, diets are rubbish and just make you crave the things you cant have even more.
6. cooking or doing dishes: um this is hard...I do love cooking.. but I also enjoy washing up.. its like a mini bubble bath and kind of relaxing in winter!!
7. sleeping or shopping: Sleeping I guess? I need my sleep, I dont need to shop. LOL This is a stupid one!
8. Red Lobster or Outback Steakhouse: Dunno... but if it meas meat or seafood, I'd have to go with... a big juicy steak!!!
9. classical or hip hop music: Neither. Give me some good old-fashioned rock music any day!!
10. dancing or playing sports: Dancing
11. back rub or foot rub: oh definately the back rub. I hate people touching my feet, and I hate touching other peoples feet! LOL
12. fruits or vegetables: In Summer, definately fruits!! In winter its gotta be vegies :) I'm not really a fan of citrus fruits.
13. Grey's Anatomy or House: I have never watched an episode of either one. Next question...
14. coffee or tea: Lipton Vanilla Chai Tea. Very tasty :)
15. curling up with a good book or a night out on the town: Going out, having some drinks and having a bit of a dance :)
16. straight or curly hair: hmm.. straight.. but I like curly hair on other people, but I would be too lazy to make it look good if I had it!!
17. skirts or shorts: SKIRTS!
18. burgers/hot dogs or Chinese food: Bleh, NEITHER!!!! Give me a meat pie or sausage roll :)
19. vacationing in Switzerland or Mexico: Switzerland cos thats where we're going in a few months!
20. sports car or SUV: Sporty so I can whizz around and look cool :)

Anyway I'm tagging whoever wants to be tagged :) Pretty much everyone I can think of has already done these!

photos

2007-05-29T10:34:00.001+10:00

Well, when im home and bored what do i do?? Annoy the dogs with the camera :)

:ONSLOW:

:BELLE:

Onslow is getting so possessive about "his" beanbag! I keep it in the spare room at night or if we aren't around to supervise, jut in case he chews a hole in it or something.

Anyway this morning he came up, hits me on the leg, and walks to the spare room door, comes back, hits me again and walks to the door. So i get up and he races to his bean bag and just stares at me.. as if to say "come on! get it out!" So as soon as I did he parked himself on it and hasn't moved.

Belle, meanwhile, loves to lay at the front door like a watch dog. And every time someone walks past the house with a dog, she races in whining, hits me on the leg and gets me to get up and check it out with her.

They are so funny.

Random Randomness and Stuff

2007-05-28T09:39:00.000+10:00

wow, my last post was post 100. What an exciting entry for y 100th post LOL

So im off work for the next 2 days with a headcold. Nothing major just some sniffles but if the doctor offers me 2 days off work, well, who am I to argue with him? Besides, I have almost 300 hours of sick leave up my sleeve ;)

so anyway.. lets start with another vet update seeing as that seems to be the main event every weekend...

And lets start the vet update with a story about a cow that we encountered in the waiting room.

So.. There was Trav and I with Belle and Onslow, and another man with his Labrador in the waiting room, all 3 of us sitting together, and all 3 dogs playing together nicely.

In walks this lady with 2 very poofy poodles. You know, the weird looking, big poodles with the poofy hair looking all prissy and silly with fluffy tails and ridiculous hair do's? (I can tolerate the cute, little poodles, or big ones with natural hair... I HATE the big ones done up like big poofs!)

Anyway she also looked like a poodle, all prissy, and dressed to the nine's and left her sunnies on inside. She is waiting for the receptionist who is serving someone else. So she walks in, looks at us and the 3 dogs laying together, grabs her precious poodles close and scowls. The lab is very friendly and wanted to greet the poodles, so the guy stands up with it. Conversation goes like this:

Lady: Do you need to go down the hall or something?
Man: oh no thanks, It's just that this one {pointing to dog} just wants to say hello to your 2 dogs.
Lady: Oh {glaring at the Lab and pulling her poofs in closer}

And that was it.. end of conversation. The man then sits down, probably thinking the same thing I was thinking!

Finally the receptionist looks at her their conversation goes like this:

Receptionist: You can just take a seat, the vet wont be too long.
Lady: {surveying the room with distaste} Oh.. so I have to wait?
Receptionist: Yes, he won't be too long.
Lady: Well, how long??
Receptionist: um.. well I really can't say, but there are about 5 people in front of you.
Lady: {scowling and glaring} Tsk! Oh, well I'm going to wait outside then.
Receptionist: Yeah, no worries, I'll come out and get you.
And then the lady spins on her heels, pointy nose in the air and takes off.

What a cow!!!! When we left, we saw her still sitting in her car with them LOL. There is only one vet on Saturdays, and this week was Rob Zammit and regardless of when you make the appointment, you always need to wait cos EVERYONE comes in to see Rob!

So, anyway, Onslow is allowed outside during the day now so we will swap.. Belle can be cooped up inside and Onslow can have the yard. We were told it's for his "mental and physical benefit" LOL He is also starting his "rehab walks" which is a 10 minute, slow stroll every 2 days. Then next week its 15 minutes. And in 2 weeks time both of them will be allowed to stay outside together! woohoo for that :)

Onslow discovered the comfort of a beanbag yesterday:

I should have thought to close the door to the spare rooms... look at the lovely ironing board and printer LOL Oh well, nothing a bit of editting cant fix up! And just cause I think this is the cutest pic, here's one more :)

LOL I realised the other day, if these were real kids, Belle would have such a complex.. I have way more photos of Onslow than I do of her! But then again, if she wasn't so ADD and was able to sit still there would be more photos of her. Most of the indoor portrait ones are blurry cos she won't keep still, and the ones outside, well she moves so fast and so often its usually half of her head, or her bum :)

I did do a layout of Belle yesterday though:

I used Sweet Sugar Pop - A new 2 Scoops by Lauren Grier and Fee Jardine at the Sweet Shoppe. Paint is from Lauren's Full of Sweetness kit, also at the sweet shoppe.

So.. what else.. we went to dinner on saturday night for the in-law's 35th weddig anniversary. Travis' sister stole their wedding photos, and I worked some magic:

(papers by meredith Fenwick, ribbon by Faer Oak, chalked overlay by Lauren Bavin, bling alpha by Shannon Lee)

and I also blew up a colour portrait and printed it out at 8x10 and framed it as well. The layouts looked great in their frames side-by-side.

Ok well Im actually quite starving and pretty tired.. so I might go munch on a banana and have a nap :)

woo hoo.. FRIDAY!!!

2007-05-25T09:49:00.000+10:00

Oh I love fridays. And this week has just gone soooo quick :) Unfortunatley the weekends seem to go even quicker and before I know it, it's Monday again!

Anyway check it out.. Belle and Onslow have their own DOG space accounts!!! ROTFL

Go look at them:
BELLE
ONSLOW

They are getting a nice list of doggie friends already :)

So what else... well, I have a cold. I've dosed up on cold and flu tablets so I'm feeling great :D For now.

Its been a big week work-wise! Tuesday I had to inspect a morgue, and wednesday I had to inspect a LEGAL brothel! ROTFL talk about 2 extremes!! ANd everyone seems to be in a complaining mood.. about EVERYTHING so most of my time this week has been checking out noisy neighbours, people dumping rubbish, overflowing sewers... ugh.

I forced a layout last night... I started using this kit on saturday, canned the layout (it was of Onslow and he doesnt suit these colours LOL) and then started again on Sunday... got stuck, left it and *finally* finished it last night :)

Kit - Pomegranate Margarita by Lauren Grier and Joana Carvalho. Get it at the Sweet Shoppe! Page fold - Kara Fredrick, Alpha - Michelle Coleman

hahaha I remember that cake took us forever to make, ages to decorate and a long time to light all the candles!!! But he was a hit! and so tasty :)

Not much lined up for the weekend... Another vet visit for Onslow to get the last of his injections tomorrow, going with Travis' parents out for dinner on Saturday night for their 35th wedding anniversary, going to the football on Sunday to watch Penrith take on the Tigers. And hopefully win. Im sick of loosing games at home... not just loosing, but playing bad, making heaps of mistakes and just handing the game to the opposition.

well its getting nice and cold and crisp in the mornings!!! The days are still sunny and warm.. I want those nice, gloomy, dark wintery days to set in :) I love Winter!!! I love being all rugged up in my thick jackets, boots, scarf and hat :) Maybe I need to live somewhere with snow... Maybe New Zealand. In FOx Glacier and I can get a job taking people for treks up there. Or Picton. That was really pretty. Nice diving there too, I could become a scuba diving instructor or guide. ahhh to dream!!!!!

Bits and Pieces

2007-05-21T08:37:00.001+10:00

:holiday stuff:

well in almost 4 months Travis and I will be heading to Europe. I can NOT wait. To start, 2 nights in Bangkok, then first stop Germany, namely Munich for Oktoberfest!!! Then moving on to Berlin, Cologne, Brussells, Paris, Lyon, Another french town I have forgotten, then moving on to Switzerland and heading back to Munich before flying home. We have booked accomodation for Berlin, Cologne, Brussels and Paris already so we're all fairly organised.

We will be spending our third wedding anniversary in Munich at the end of the trip, so we might need to splurge and get something fancy and upmarket!!

:onslow update:

Well its been about 3 weeks since his surgery and he is obviously feeling heaps better. He has figured out how to push through any kind of barricade we put up and likes to run around the place. I think he's finally starting to go crazy after spending 4 weeks cooped up inside the house all day and night, except for about 10 minutes worth of toilet breaks a day. And the worst part.. we still have FIVE weeks of this to go through!! Because he has such bad hips, the vet wants us to really wrap him in cotton wool for 8 weeks so the knee can heal as best it can. But she was very happy with how his knee joint is coming along, and said its healing really well.

On another good-news note, he has lost 7 kilos and is down to 50.5kg now!!! his first goal weight was 52, now we have to get him in the mid 40's. The skinnier he is the better for all his dodgy joints.

:work stuff:

I had to do a presentation at a private school last week about the role of Health Inspectors.. and I was Podcast-ed!! LOL I found it hilarious. I was also informed that each student has their own laptops issued by the school, wireless internet and all other kinds of spify things. wow... considering at my high school we barely had enough text books for one-between-two, I was just in awe! But the presenatation went well, the kids were all very well behaved. I included some of the worst pics I have of dirty food shops, including one of a big rat peering out from a hole in someone's store room. Im proud of that shot.. I "hid" crouched down silently for about 10 minutes just waiting for him to appear cos I knew he was there... and I got a pic of his little face popping out of the hole :)

I also had my first case go to the land and environment court on friday! I received a complaint way back in April 2005. After nearly $2,000 in fines and several orders being served there was still no action being taken, so we took 'em to court :) That was a bit exciting for me!

:scrapping stuff:

Just a reminder to head over to Pickleberry pop and pick up some of Deb Fishers goodies. For those who havent heard, she tragically lost her husband, Ray, in a tractor accident. She lives in rural Vic (or is it NSW?) with 7 kids, 6 of whom she homeschools. For the entire month of May every cent that people spend on Deb's products will go to her beautiful family.. so far there is over $4,000 raised!!!

I've been too busy to scrap lately and I really havent missed it. If I have a spare few hours I have been veging on the lounge or playing with the dogs or just hanging around annoying Travis with random stories and observations. I did have to pull my finger out on Saturday night and get some stuff scrapped for my CT committments. I also have some stuff to do for my in-laws by the end of the week.. but they are just going to be super simple.. a few photos on a pretty background with some fancy brush work or frames or something. No biggie.

Here are some layouts of our Italy trip last year.. still got about 800 photos to scrap! LOL Better get that sorted before we take another billion photos in September!!

I was intending on manually editting these photos to make the colours POP but really couldnt be bothered LOL. Maybe I will before I print them...but then again maybe not! Travis hates when I make them B&W or alter the levels / curves and get the "artistic" effects.. but I find them boring just left normal LOL

:healthy stuff:

My new eating and exercise habits seem to be paying off, I have lost a few centimeters from my waist, hips and thighs, and in the process I have lost nearly 2 kg! Considering I only had about 4 kilos that I wanted to loose (6 that I HOPE to loose) im actually quite amazed that its only taken 5 weeks to achieve half of my first goal! Im sure the next 2 - 4 kilos will take forever though!

I eat breakfast when I get in to work, boring all bran topped with a banana , then for morning tea a low fat muffin or for this week - a slice of low fat sticky date cake made from scratch by me and its so yum!!! For lunch I have vegetable stirfry with Hokkien noodles or pasta or salad with tuna and beans, then some fruit to see me through the afternoon. For dinner I generally just do some vegetables with beans (chick peas.. I cant get enough of them!) or some couscous, or some brown rice... something easy! Oh and lots of water. I try to drink between 1.5 - 2lt of water a day.

On saturday I made gnocci from scratch and it was so delicious! (for two people - 500g of potato, boiled, mashed and cooled mixed with 1 cup of plain flour.. kneed into a dough, roll into a thin sausage, cut in to 2cm strips and roll with a fork. Boil for only a couple of minutes and its done!)

I have been exercising every day (mostly). During the week I mix it up between high impact aerobics, kick boxing or a 30 skip in the back yard (I need music pumping for this.. it's a killer!), and on the weekends Trav and I go for a couple of nice, long bike rides. The other week we did 30kms in only 90 minutes. yay for us! I really enjoy my kickboxing and aerobics.. I come home from work and get stuck into it straight away and it gets rid of any tension or stress or annoyances from work and the traffic on the way home LOL

:wrapping it up:

Well, this has become a bit of a novel hasn't it?! Enjoy your week, take it easy and catch ya later!

so Roomy!

2007-05-07T19:57:00.000+10:00

hahha so much room he just did not know what to do with himself... kept moving about and changing positions. And as you can see, he looks very VERY pleased with the new car!

The vet we go to is next to a sheepdog rescue place. I love peering over the fence.. well, its sad that they are there, but they are so cute!!!!! Check this one out:

LOL How adorable is that face?!

Anyway Onslow is recovering well..a little *too* well for my liking. He has been full of beans and scooting all over the place if you take your eyes off him for just a minute. Its good that he is feeling better, but so much harder for us to keep him confined!! All he needs to do is run and land on his leg a bit awkward and snap goes the new ligament and we have to start all over again!!! For the record, I could have bought myself a new Canon DSLR with the money we spent getting him repaired.. LOL I certainly don't want to go through that again!!!

Well my exercise and good eating regime is going well. Not that I ate rubbish food anyway, but i'm proud of the small things like only having ONE sausage instead of 2, thinking twice before having a huge mug of full cream milk, and keeping my purse empty so im not tempted by the vending machine at work! LOL

Yesterday we drove our bikes to the rowing lake and we did SIX laps which equals a bit over 30km in only an hour and a half :) My legs are pretty sore today, but I pushed on and made sure I did my aerobics tonight. Thankfully tomorrow is a rest night as our French lessons are on Tuesdays this term :)

Anyway thats it from me... the poor neglected dogs are wanting attention! :)

Rest and Recuperation

2007-04-28T14:28:00.000+10:00

Are the order of the next 4 weeks. The operation went really well, he got home this afternoon and after wandering around from room to room every 5 minutes he has just settled on his mat in the dining room. Belle was so happy to see him and gave him lots of kisses, checked out his bandage and even licked his shaved leg better :)
Belle left half of her bone in the sunroom this morning - It started raining and she got scared of the noise so ditched it to come in - and when Onslow came home, he ran to it and went to town finishing it off. By the way he was devouring it, anyone would think he hadn't been fed for 3 weeks!!

So he has to rest, stay inside and no running around.. and no walks for a while either :) We are going back on Tuesday to get the bandages off, and then every weekend for the next 4 weeks he has to get Cartrophin injections to help with his arthritis. He already has it in his hips, and as with any joint injury / repair he will develop it in knee as well. So the injections will help ease that pain and help the joint anyway.

The timing of getting the Rav4 couldnt have been better!! With his leg completely bandaged, all he could do was stretch out, and no way would he have been able to do that in the sedan. He was a bit funny at first.... scared and standing up and then falling over. Eventually he realised if he layed down its actually nice and comfy! Belle was the same last night. Although she wasnt injured and was standing up and running in cirlces whilst trying not to fall over! hahhaa Poor thing. There is sooo much room in the back for the 2 of them to lay down comfortably without being all on top of each other so its great! I should have taken pics of each of them in the back of the car. Not to worry, I can grab some next time :)

mm well I just made a yummy vegetable soup with some sausages in it for good measure. Should be just about ready... good cos im STARVING!!!! :)

Cuts, cars and cakes!

2007-04-27T13:56:00.000+10:00

Well Onslow is probably knocked out right about now.. probably getting sliced open! We are just fixing his knee at this point and seeing how he goes. As he was not limping prior to doing his knee we saw no reason to operate on the hips. The vet was happy to do whatever we decided... hips, OR knee, OR get a 2nd opinion. I couldnt bear the thought of him hobbling on his ruptured knee any longer than necessary. I figure we can get that fixed and then look into the hip issue a bit more after he has recovered.

{Everything from Crazy Love - Dani Mogstad}

And today my new car was delivered to work!! woo hoo!! :) It is a lot bigger than I thought and so roomy inside.. full of all kinds of fun nooks and crannys to poke around in :) Seeing as Onslow has to stay overnight at the vet, we are going to bundle Belle in the back and take her out for a spin tonight. Maybe go to Windsor and have some grilled fish on the bank of the river or something.

I have been all into cooking lately! I found Calorie King which is a great Aussie weight loss / nutrtional site. I put in all my food into the calorie tracker to see how much fat / calories / fibre etc i was getting each day. I love things like this! Anyway I relaised I have a lot of white carbs and little fibre and protein in my diet, and as weird as it seems I am not eating enough fats or enough calories! So i have gotten all into beans and checkpeas and lentils and low GI stuff and things with "good fats" like avocados and nuts and things. And I am feeling soo much better for it. Much more energy to exercise with each day and already I have lost about 700g in 2 weeks. Ok that doesnt sound like much, but i only have 4kg to loose and I have been trying for 6 months and it hasnt been budging!

Anyway they also have a great recipie section! I made this Sticky Date cake for Travs birthday last week and it went down a treat! Actually pretty tasty and delicious warmed up with a smidge of butter. I made it exactly to the recipie (rare for me! LOL i always like to add my own 'touch' to things)

I also found a tasty-sounding Banana, Apricot and Date muffin recipie but didnt like the fact that it contained 1/2 cup of oil!! Nor did I have low fat vanilla yogurt on hand, or rolled oats, and I didnt like the apricots either LOL :)

SO here is my variation. When made like this, each muffin only has 164 calories; 4.4g of fat; and 1.8g of fibre!

1 cup Self-Raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup Ground Hazel Meal (Its been sitting in the cupboard for a year so I thought I better finish it off!! This was the rolled oats substitute)
1 3/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
2 tablespoon Honey
1 egg
1 cup Skim Milk (full cream milk takes the fat content up to about 5g/muffin)
2 medium bananas - Mashed
A handful of pitted dates - chopped

I chucked everything in the bowl all at once and mixed it up. Whacked it in the oven at about 180 degrees for about 15 minutes and thats it. Deeeeelicious!!!!

While I was baking and calorie counting, I whipped up a batch of home made biscuits from my Donna Hay book to take for morning tea at work. I loooove Donna Hay recipies. Anyway I had no real butter so I had to use my reduced fat margarine... and when I entered all the ingredients into calorie king, it only have 1g of fat! LOL I admit the biscuits werent very big, but I didnt feel guilty having one with my morning cuppa :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Diagnosis...

2007-04-20T23:44:00.000+10:00

is, in a word, BAD!
It turns out Onslow DOES have a torn cruciate ligament in his knee, meaning the knee joint is "unstable" and which is why he hasn't been able to put any weight on it.

That would have been a super easy fix, except for one other thing...The x-rays showed that he also has Degenerative bone disease in BOTH of his hips :(

We were told from day 1 that it was unknown what would happen. He responded well to the tablets initially which was great, but the bones could degenerate super quick, or just not degenerate at all, or be somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately his regular vet is the resident expert on this stuff and more importantly this breed, and he just happens to be away and wont be back until Thursday. So the vet we saw today didn't want to fix the cruciate ligament and risk doing more damage, so he has to remain confined for the next week or so.

So... looks like he will most likely be needing surgery to fix his hips, as I had already thought. I don't care how they fix him, just as long as they can!! Its horrible seeing him hobble and want to follow us around but not being physically able to.

Anyway I am exhausted!!!! At 4:00 he started to wake up from the anesthetic, so I jumped in the car, already dressed for going out later on, and raced to the vet. Got there at 4:45, chatted to the vet, had Onslow in the car by 5 and took off back home. Got home at 5:45, locked Onslow in the spare room with his bed and water and let Belle say a quick hello before I seperated them and took off. I left home at 5:55, thankfully there was no traffic going to the City and I got to the cinema carpark at 6:42 - Movie started at 6:45. However I had to race down the road to the shops to get some cash, then back up, ring Travis who came out to give me the ticket and then I got to finally go in and relax JUST as the movie started to boot up!

We got home around 9:30, and I cooked a delicious low fat Sticky date cake (although I might have to add some caramel to the recipe... it just needed *something* else) Put some candles on and mustered up just enough energy to sing happy birthday to Trav.

I think I will sleep well tonight!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2007-04-20T13:54:00.000+10:00

to Travis :) Hope you have a great day... and don't stuff yourself full of caramel mud cake at work! LOL

Here is the birthday boy with the injured boy before leaving for work this morning:

What a day! At least I got the day off work though ;)
Anyway lets start at Monday... I get home from work and Onslow was limping about and being all sad. Certainly not the boisterous dog he normally is. So I gave a few extra painkillers for his hip hoping he had just been playing rough with Belle and jarred his leg or something.

Well Tuesday came around and he was walking fairly normal, a little stiff but nothing to worry about. Wednesday saw even more improvement.

Anyway so I come home on Thursday, run out the back to do my exercise (30 minutes of skipping before picking Travis up) didn't really pay much attention to the dogs and Onslow spent the whole time laying down. When I finished skipping I called them in and thats when I noticed Onslow really couldn't walk. He wasn't putting any weight at all on his left back leg. about 18 months ago found out he had hip dysplasia in BOTH hips (He was only 10 months old at the time). Anyway the left was really bad, the right only partially.. My immediate reaction was "oh here we go.. the left hips finally gone"

he was no better this morning and I left bright and early to take him to the vet. At the moment I'm just waiting on the x-ray results. Its either a sprain / injury (unlikely i think), his hip has degenerated and needs injections and / or surgery, OR he has snapped a cruciate ligament in his knee! Which is apparently very common in Mountain dogs. Go Figure!! Anyway I was kind of hoping he would stay overnight because we are going into the City tonight to catch a German movie at 6:45pm. As it is now, at 4:00pm I have to run to Vineyard (45 minutes from home) pick up Onslow, chat to the vet about the x ray results and where we are headed, do the 45 minute (maybe more with traffic) dash back home, drop Onslow inside, and then try and get into the city (about 50 minutes with a good run!) before the movie starts! Its going to be tight :)

Well my free paper and alphabet appeared in the new Scrapbooking memories magazine! LOL It looks so funny to see my design in real life on paper, and even funnier to see the great layouts that the design team made with it :)

I am really loving rectangle layouts at the moment...

All the above layouts are in my gallery if you wanna check out credits :)
{click here for my gallery}

And this is one I did with the photo I restored for Travis' mum :) This is Travis' Aunt who passed away at an early age (in her 30's I believe). The title was all Travis' idea :)

CREDITS: I *think* the papers are from Meredith Fenwick... The Quirky paper pack I think; Gerbera - Possum; Curled frame - Nancy Comelab; Painted Frame - Jen Wilson; Painted flower - Helena Jole; Alpha - Meredith Fenwick; stitching - Lauren Grier

Well I took Belle for a 45 minute walk. It was so funny to take her on a walk by herself. usually she *insists* on being in front and zooms off at a billion miles an hour.. but because she didnt have Onlsow and Travis to race today she took her time and stopped every 2 meters to have a good sniff in the grass!! LOL I wore her out and now shes sound asleep instead of wandering around like a lost soul looking for Onslow :) I came back home and did my high impact aerobics and im exhausted now! I think I need a nanna nap before going back to the vet! LOL

:)

2007-04-17T11:48:00.000+10:00

Lookie what I should be getting in about 3 weeks:

But in this colour (not this fancy model, I get the cheap base model above LOL):

Work has bought in a new policy that we are only allowed to get 4 cylinder cars (At the moment I have a 6 cylinder Holden Commodore) due to Environmental reasons and the rising petrol prices. Which is fine by me.

My car has been due to be swapped since October but I have had to wait for the policy to be finalised. At first they said we were only allowed to get a Toyota Camery (Still nice IMO) so I ordered one. THE NEXT DAY they said.. oh Rav4's are the same price we might add that to the list LOL So i made them cancel my order and waited and waited.. finally they said yes!

So I got to pick my colour and its all ordered and should be delivered in 3 weeks. woo hoo!!! Seeing as its just the 2 of us and we dont need the back seat, we can take it out and have HEAPS of room in the back :) We can fit all our scuba diving stuff in easily - including tanks, OR the dogs can spread out and not be squished fighting for room on the backseat of a sedan :) and i will be the first person at work who gets one!!! hehehehehe

oooh we are of to see the Red Hot Chill Peppers tonight :) I had forgotten all about this concert so im all excited now!! LOL

Weekend wrap

2007-04-10T08:41:00.000+10:00

Well we left home on Friday morning to head out to mudgee.. and after sitting in a heap of traffic the majority of the way through the blue mountains, we finally arrived around 3:15 at Jessica's Guest house and vineyard.

The house was beautiful! A fully self contained 3 bedroom cottage about 7kms out of the town centre with its own vineyard. The views were beautiful and my favourite bit was watching the cows outside the kitchen window whilst cooking and washing up :)

There was a gorgeous deck out the back complete with hammocks and a BBQ. Oh and did I mention breathtaking views???

Anyway so Friday we explored the place and went out for dinner and basically just relaxed.

Saturday we went on a wine tour. We went with Mudgee Wine & Country Tours and had the best time!! Jan was lovely, made sure we had cheese and bikkies to clean out pallette after each winery and filled us up with bits of Mudgee trivia and gossip :) We went to 8 wineries and in total we bought 12 bottles. Cant wait to crack some of those open! If you head to mudgee and want to go on a bus tour to the wineries, I highly recommend Mudgee wine and Country tours!!

I love this photo of all the old vats:

Travis and I bought our bikes along, however there were these huge spike things in the grass which we werent warned about... of course all of our tyres went flat within about 10 minutes! LOL

On the Sunday we had another relaxing day, drove to Gulgong to wander around the town there, came back to mudgee for lunch, had a relax in the afternoon and watched the football and then went to Thai for dinner.

Jen booked a cab to get us at 6:45 as the booking was for 7:00pm, using the directions stated in the guestbook. Its only a new place, near the edge of town. So we are all ready, all 4 of us waiting out the back of the house, where we can see the highway and the long long driveway. We see a cab approach.. and then hoon past... go down the dirt road. Stop. Reverse. drive forward. Reverse. Turn. Go into someone ELSES driveway and stop. Jen rings up the cab company, and suddlenly is giving the driver directions. We were thinking wow, how neat that you actually get to talk to the driver! So she's going ok turn around. Keep going about 500m then turn right. Yep keep going. Um I think you've gone past it. Yep, cant see your lights. LOL Meanwhile Gregs in the background giving more directions, Jens telling him to shush and Travis and I find it funny. So the driver FINALLY finds the driveway, and says yep, got it.. and hangs up. Well, we told him to keep to the right and take the right-hand driveway, but he didnt. SO another phone call, more directions and finally we get in :)

So we are in there chatting away to the lovely driver having a bit of a laugh. Suddenly we hear over the two way radio, a lady ringing up to book a cab.. we all look at each other. We ask so... does that mean OUR conversation just then was broadcast? The driver goes "Yep! and all of Mudgee just heard you".

A few hours later we finish our delicious thai and hopped into the first cab on the rank. A different driver. We say we are going to Jessicas guest house. He laughed and said Oh its you lot!! Dont worry, I know exactly how to get there.. past the concrete wall, righ driveway.. no sweat. Apparently this guy had 4 male passengers at the time who were having a great laugh at the conversation :)

ANyway we left bright and early on the monday and managed to beat all the traffic and was home at 11:00 :) nice!

ahh bring on the long weekend!

2007-04-04T14:32:00.000+10:00

Im so over this week! LOL
Just a shot one today as its almost home time! woo hoo :)

I have been blitzing the food shops in my area seeing as there have been 2 big big food poisoning incidents in other areas of Sydney in the past week. So I've been super busy trying to get a lot of people to clean up their acts! It just takes up sooo much time. I have had one restaurant which I literlly spent all week at. Randomnly walking through the back of the shop keeping them on their toes. They had some very very dodgy food preparation and food handling practises going on.. I served a notice, I issued nearly $1,000 in fines, and FINALLY they are doing the right thing!!!!

Anyway so for Easter we are going to Mudgee (I think I already said that LOL) and I cant wait!
Wanna hear something funny?! We have over 50 hot cross buns stashed in the freezer :) And I will stock up on some more before easter is over LOL I love them. I wish they were out all year round cos they are the perfect morning tea snack to have with a cuppa when im at work :)

I think i love rectangle now :) Lok what I did last night:

I dont miss her constant whinging for food, nor the smelly poos, nor the litter rocks all over the place, nor the scratching at furniture.. but I do miss snuggling up with her :) Onslow tries, but at 57 kilos its a little bit uncomfortable. Plus he fidgets and swings his head back so fast he headbuts my face.
ANyway, cerdits for the layout found
HERE

so on that note im off!!! One more day of work left and then 4 days to relax.. woo hoo for that :D

Bits and Pieces

2007-03-26T14:07:00.000+10:00

Well, the dogs turned 2 on the 22nd March so we had a big birthday bash for them :) I havent bothered editting the photos yet.. i'll fix up the evil yellow eyes and low light when I go to scrap them LOL

I cooked them a tasty meal of premium mince from the supermarket mixed with vegetables and a side serving of mashed potatoes. The meat was tasty, I could have eaten it for my dinner! It was all human food anyway.

Onlsow was a bit scared of the sparkler and tried to make a run for it :) Belle just sat there waiting for us to tell her to eat.. they are trained not to eat until they are told :) And when I aid EAT they both scoffed it down in no time!!!

hehehe

Then on Saturday we had to take them to vet to get their needles and a general check up. Last year Onslow was around 45kg and belle maybe 41 or 40 or something. This time we put Belle on the scales and she weighed in at 45.2kg which sounded about right as they were still growing this time last year. Onlsow on the other hand nearly broke the scales at 57kg!!!!! LOL Ok so he is bigger than Belle, and has always been very "barrel-like" in shape.. so I thought he might be pushing the 50 mark.. but 57kg?! We did it 3 times just to make sure :)

Anyway so Onslow, whilst weighing so much was not obese, or even fat.. the vet called him "a bit chubby". But because of his hip problems that he already has, and the fact that this breed needs to be kept thin anyway, he has to go on a diet :) Which means he's earnt a new nickname of "Chub". He only needs to loose 5kg so its not much. I just find it hilarious that he even weighed so much :) No wonder I couldnt move my legs when he layed over them the other night! hahaha

So not much else happened this weekend.. house work, grocery shopping, vet, voting.. oh a trip to Leichardt to see a German movie...and we had the most delicious white chocolate hot chocolate mmmmmm sooooo tasty!

So, how's things?

2007-03-21T07:52:00.000+11:00

Its been ages since I blogged! I have been scrapping heaps so I will put my pretty layouts throughout the post.. im sure its going to end up fairly long! LOL Click on my gallery link to see all the credits :)

Anyway nothing overly exciting has been happening in recent weeks. Although I did decide I wanted a tattoo.. well, i decided that a long time ago but now i've actually drawn up a few designs and taken them into the place to see how "do-able" it was. I have saved up all my cheques from the magazines and need to spend them on something! LOL Speaking of which, keep an eye out in Scrapbooking memories.. namely vol 8 number 11 and volume 8 number 12...I have more than just layouts in those 2 ;)

I was told by work that my car is ready to be changed over, which means I willl have a nice, shiny new car in the coming months!! I'm waiting to hear if I am allowed to get a rav4 :)

I cant wait for Easter. We are going to Mudgee with some friends for 3 days. Going to take our bikes and do some riding, and of course going on a wine tour and stocking up our wine supplies ;) Actually, im just looking fwd to the break from work more than anything :)

Travis and I are learning French. We just enrolled in a Community College course at the last minute, and its weird cos its held at my old high school! LOL Its strange being back there! Anyway Im finding it pretty easy as its so similar to Italian. I kind of sit there bored as the teacher needs to explain things like verb conjugations, masculine and feminine articles etc etc... im sitting there thinking, just hurry up and get to some vocab!! LOL But im enjoying it and we will enrol in the next level as well... gotta try and learn as much as we can before we go in October :) Travis is doing really well with his German lessons.. he's going 2 nights a week at the goethe institute which seems soooo much better than the community college ones he was doing last year.

Travis's mum gave me a very old photo of her sister at school.. the pic was pretty bad with rips, creases and old yellow sticky tape stains, and I managed to restore it :) I had never done anything like that before and was pretty pleased with my effort! I dont have it here but I will post b4 and after pics tonight (or whenever! LOL)

The dogs are doing well. Belle went through a stage of not eating her biscuits.. which was annoying as dry biscuits make up the majority of their meals! LOL So we now get them those dog food roll thingos.. chicken and pasta style stuff. so Belle gets mainly that and just a few bikkies and she is back to hoovering the food down :) The only downside of that is her teeth are getting dirty as she has never been interested in
bones either! I took her to the local vet (their REAL vet is Dr. Rob Zammit from burkes backyard fame... but he is a 40 minute drive away!) and she said there was nothing wrong with her teeth, and told me i needed to pay $400 to get them cleaned as soon as possible. Well... I dont think so! I got a toothbrush and some toothpaste (doggy toothpaste!) from mum and its working a treat! We are doing Onslow as well. He's much better at tolerating it, except because he is so greedy he tries to actually suck the toothbrush off my finger and eat it - the toothpaste is beef flavour so he thinks my finger is food.

Its their 2nd birthday tomorrow :) We have the party hats and sparklers ready and I have to go and buy some special birthday food for them (last year was sausages, mashed potato and gravy) and a cake for travis and i to eat LOL. We arent normal. But they look so cute in their party hats!

Here are some dodgy pics from last years birthday celebrations!

I have never laughed so hard!!

2007-02-09T13:43:00.001+11:00

Last night we went and saw Little Britain live. it was HILARIOUS. I absolutely LOVE the TV show, and in the lead up to the live show, I was trying not to expect too much.. just in case it didnt live up to my expectations.
I spent the entire hour and a half laughing so hard. I had tears running down my face and cramps in my stomach! Very very funny stuff :)

Anyway we went out to Spanish for dinner before the show. People who know me, know that im not a big sea food fan. Normal fish fillets I can handle, as well as calamari rings and the odd prawn if peeled and cooked in garlic LOL
well, i decided to be adventurous and we got a chicken and seafood paella to share. It had big shells and little shells.... {which i discovered were Mussels and pipis}, and prawns, calamari rings and bits of fish. I was a bit scared of the shelled stuff.. fortunately the pipis are so small that I just hid them in the rice and ate them without knowing LOL The mussles took a lot of effort for me to try one, but when I did I couldnt stop! I really liked them.

Anyway we decided we are going to Germany to experience Oktoberfest this year! I cant wait!!! Travis has been doing his German lessons in preparation and we may head over to France, possibly Switzerland, maybe stop by Belgium as well... we will play it by ear :) Very exciting though!!!

So since we decided that, I have been busy scrapping our Italy photos!!! I took about 800 of them.. And I have done.. a total of 5 layouts! LOL

Well here are my most recent ones:

{credits}

So there's not many layouts done, but I think its all coming along nicely :)

hmm... what else? oh I have had a few more layouts picked up for publication. Which is good :) I didnt sub for ages cos i am too lazy to do it regularly LOL Then the ones I sent off a few months back started appearing in the mags and that was enough to get me to sub again :) So I picked a handful of my faves and SM have picked up a couple so thats good news! One of course had to be of Travis acting like a goose! But if he cant be normal in photos he just has to deal with the mags publishing him making stupid faces ;)

Okey dokey im heading off now :) Better get some work done!

Catch ya later alligator!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2007-01-31T09:18:00.000+11:00

to my neice, Madeline!!!!! She turns 9 today :) I forgot that school went back so its too late to ring now :) Typical.
Anyway just want to wish Mads a very happy birthday...I hope the giant knot came out of your hair easy last week!!! hahhahaa

{layout credits can be found here}

Monday Randomness

2007-01-29T08:23:00.000+11:00

Well, it was the Australia Day long weekend and we had such a busy but fun weekend :)
First, on Friday (Australia Day) we went out with some friends for a BBQ and an afternoon of lawn bowls up at their local bowling club. It was so much fun! We had an entire green to ourselves where we just ran amok drinking and soaking up some sun (with sunscreen on, of course!)

Then on Saturday we headed out to Mosman where we had arranged to go on a boat dive. So we jumped on the boat around 10:00am, took us 10 minutes to go out to the North Head. Got geared up, jumped in the perfectly calm waters and went for about 50 minutes. Towards the end of the dive we noticed a bit of surge and it was a bit rough as we stopped at 5m for 3minutes to do our safety stop. When we surfaced OMG the water was so choppy with huuuge swells! LOL we jumped back into the boat, and it seriously took us 40 minutes to get back. we had to go sooo slow cos we were in a tiny speed boat with 6 full sets of scuba gear and one very choppy ocean :) It was so much fun!!! I loved it!

Anyway then on Sunday we did some housework, I did my aerobics, Travis went for a cycle, then we headed to Travis's sisters house for a late lunch and then came home :) So it was a jam-packed weekend, but at the same time it was relaxing and fun :)

A few changes to my CT blinkies on the left happened late last week. I said godbye to Faith and Michelle and hello to Kellie Martin and Summer Simmons :) I applied for Summers team last time and didnt make it.. so it was a case of 2nd time lucky!!

Anyway here are some layouts.. one using Kellies new Sea Breeze mini kit, and one using Summers Southern Drawl paper pack :)

Credits here

Credits here

Funny how taking half an hour extra with my layouts has changed how I scrap. Pre-EHD days I used to just use what was in the kit cos I was too lazy to go through all my DVD's to find stuff...just slap it al together and think yeah it's good enough. NOW with everything easily accessible, all my kit previews printed and sitting next to me, I can see what I have and I find it so much easier. And I dont stop until I am 100% happy... because I have too many printed layouts that I just HATE cos I didnt take that extra time to make it better :) So Im loving my layouts now :)

Anyway I moved office on Thursday (LOL last week must have been a week for changes!) because the girl who left before Christmas had a better office than me.. its bigger, quieter, out of the way and it has TWO WINDOWS! my old office was smack bang in the middle of main walkway, had the printer at the door and the kitchen opposite it, and no windows. So there was always noise and people walking past. I love this new one :) I can check my forums and not be disturbed! hahhaha

oooh we have a dairy Farm right near us at home, and on Thursday night I was driving past to pick Travis up from the station and I noticed about 10 cars stopped by the side of the road, and all these people milling around.. so I slowed down to have a stickey beak and there was a cow about to give birth! As I was driving back with Travis, I slowed down again, just in time to see the little calf pop out and drop to the ground :) I have never ever seen that happen in the 2 years we have been there.. certainly never seen everyone mill around the fence.

Anyway then on saturday we were coming back from diving, and there were people there AGAIN and another cow has just had a baby!! We didnt see this one come out though, by the time we got there the baby was curled up on the hay and the mother was cleaning it :)

So they must have moved all the pregnant cows because there were a few more in that paddock that looked very very fat!!

Busted Custard!!

2007-01-21T19:07:00.000+11:00

We have an old doona covering the lounge cos the dogs like sitting up there watching TV with us. Anyway its old, and we dont care about it. They worked out early on that they can open the buttons and pull a nice, white fluffy blanket out from inside. Well, theres about 3/4 of it left LOL The rest has been eaten.

Anyway they usually do this when I leave them for 10 minutes to get travis from the station. by the time they hear us getting home they abandon the scene.

Today it was really hot.
I went outside to pick up their poos and to put the bins outside cos it was bin night.
I came back inside and went to the lounge.. and snuck up on this:

hehhee I dont care about the doona inside either.. I won it at bingo about 8 years ago! LOL Once its completely gone its gone, they can just have the cover.

Oh well, at least they provide me with an endless suplly of cute pics to scrap!! LOL Just like these ones of Onslow:

Click right here to see the proper list of credits. I used a template by Deb Fisher. You may wanna click on her name (linked above) to pop by her blog and scroll down a bit :P

Anyway not much else has been happening... went scuba diving yesterday. Both today and yesterday have been hovering around the 40 degree C mark.. soooo hot!!! well, we dont really feel it cos of the air conditioning inside ;) But I remember when we first moved in, there was no a/c and the small split system stopped working after one week. oooh that was so bad! I was spraying myself with water bottles all day and having cold showers every hour. yuck!

Oh well... I think thats about it... going to sit on the lounge and watch the rest of the cricket with a glass of wine and some crackers! LOL

Henna Head

2007-01-05T14:34:00.000+11:00

I first heard about using Henna to colour hair about 4 years ago and was doing it every 6 or 8 weeks for about 2 years running. My hair had nice shiny red highlights and was so soft and silky :)

I got lazy because it is an all-day production and pretty messy so I stopped.
Until yesterday when I just sick of my fuzzy hair!

Anyway its pretty fun and really good for your hair. Dont try it on light hair or grey hair though... unless you want it to turn bright orange!! It works best on dark hair. Oh and you cant use it on hair which has been coloured cos it apparently has some pretty weird reactions!

The thing I love is that you can add so much stuff to it to get different colours.
Yesterday I used red Henna powder, added a very VERY generous amount of Paprika (makes it go redder), I infused a teabag with the water before adding it (I think thats for a golden highlight?) and a dash of olive oil for a conditioning treatment. I slapped it on my freshly shampooed (but NOT conditioned) hair. Wrapped my head in plastic and washed it out 6 hours later. This stuff can be left on for 24 hours if you want.
This is the result:

this one went a bit orange!
I got the best dark red colour when I added red wine to the mix, but I cant stand the thought of "wasting" a good glass of red!! LOL

Anyway what else have I been up to?

We had a quiet new year as we just landed in the country on the 30th. Stayed home and wated the crackers on TV LOL
Then it was my birthday on the 2nd, which was spent at the 5th ashes test in Sydney. For someone who isnt all that interested in cricket, the day went by sooo fast! I actually enjoyed it :) Except I could hear the ball get hit, but never saw WHERE it went, so I would look to the left, and someone was catching it over to the right LOL I think I missed all 4 wickets on the day!

Got some great bday presents. Travis got me 2 External hard Drives, so I have spent the past 2 days copying all my backed up kits on DVD to the EHD, extracting, sorting, renaming, organising previews.. but its going to make looking for things so much easier!

I was at the shops at 7:00 doing my grocery shopping today, went to the butcher and remembered to take the bag with me this time! LOL Last time I had the trolley at the butcher, I paid for all my meat (4 weeks worth of lamb, pork, veal and sausages!) andtook off. Got home, unpacked the groceries, realised there was no meat so I had to ring up the butcher to see if it was still there!! hahaha They had put it in the fridge for me :)

Anyway I cleaned up the house, packed away the Christmas decorations and rearraged all the stuff on the cupboards, cleaned the house and now im going to scrap :)

Here are a few recent layouts I have done since coming back...
Credits for each can be found HERE

And this is my first layout for the Amazing Digiscrapping Race

OMG I am in the computer room, the dogs are asleep in the dining area, about 6m away from me. In amongst the snoring, I hear a loud fart and chuckle to myself cos that always makes me laugh... Before I had these two, I had never heard dogs make farting noises.
Anyway about a minute later it has wafted into the computer room and is seriously making me gag. UGH its PUTRID... gotta go get the air freshener... bye bye!!!

We're Back!

2006-12-31T18:35:00.000+11:00

Its so nice to be home!! no matter how long or short I spend away from home, its always so nice to get back :) We were in Rome for 2 weeks, and it was great! I met some uncles and aunties for the first time, enjoyed the cold winter Christmas atmosphere and ate so much food and drank too much espresso coffee! LOL But we saw all the sites we set out to see, plus a whole lot more :)

We took about 800 photos in 2 weeks. Lots of self portraits so I dont have to photoshop us to look like we were sitting together this time!

First three days we spent by ourselves. Stayed in a nice hostel and with the help of our Roma map we set out and explored the city each day.

Saw the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Vatican, Sisteen Chappel, Roman Forum / Pallatine Hill, Spanish steps and all that in those first 3 days.

I have so many photos of paintings from the museum leading into the Sisteen chappel.. its just ridiculous! I got so excited in there and just went beserk. They were all so beautiful though :)

We would leave the hostel after breakfast around 8:00 and generally not get back there until well after 12:00am. So we had the most solid sleeps!! My poor feet were so so so sore though, and my lower back also started having issues... but walking the streets was so much fun. Especially at night as the city was decorated so beautifully with christmas lights.

We hung out at the Spanish Steps all night on the weekend before Christmas as they had all music and Spanish dancers and the street was closed to traffic.

Speaking of traffic, we had fun crossing the streets :) The first day we were there, we arrived at a pedestrian crossing (I use the term losely!) and watched what the "locals" do... well, they just wait until there was a gap in the traffic and then go for it. Even when you are on the crossing you have to be careful as cars just do not stop... scooters and motorbikes just go hooning around you, and cars as well. So funny!

But even still I just loved the streets.. the side streets with little traffic, cobblestone streets, beautiful buildings and deliciously smelling shops!

Anyway we soon met up with my Aunty, uncle and cousin. My cousin was out here a few monthsback, but my aunty and uncle I had never met before. We stayed with them for about 10 days and spent Christmas day with them.

We went on an expedition to Pompei.. that was an adventure and a half! A 2 hour train trip to Naples, which we bought at the travel agent the day before. The agent booked us for the 23rd and we asked (and went on) the 22nd... Only realised when a lady had the exact same seats as us! LOL But the train had already left the station so she was allocated naother seat and we still got to go, Phew! We also missed our train from Naples to pompei and had to wait another hour. But then once in Pompei, we spent ages walking around. I never realised it was so big! I was under the impression it was just one street! But its huuuge. all kinds of things to see in there.

I was amazed at the frescos which were still so vivid and clear after almost 2,000 years. The body casts had me feeling a bit weird though.

We spent so long looking around that we almost got locked in. Literally. We were smack bang in the middle of the whole village, and we came across a guard. "What are you doing here, we are closed". uh-oh! We said we were getting out at a certain entrance cos we had to catch a train back, so he said ok, but run because the gates are about to be locked. So we sprinted!! My cousin was all scared of spending a night with "Roman ghosts" and was in a bit of a panick. Travis and I found it hilarious, especially when we got to dead end, had to climb a fence and then had a 1.5 meter drop off a wall. LOL We made it out in time though.

Stupid comment of the day went to me, when I asked Travis why dont they DNA test them to identify them. (I saw a bone of a toe poking out). Travis told me it was a stupid question and I still needed explaining. Eventually he said "And what will they compare the DNA TO.. I doubt they had records 2,000 years ago" hahaha Point taken!

We went to a football match, Lazio and Inter. It was fun but soooooo cold and the seats were filthy!

We also went on a day trip to Tivoli. Went into this old, huge mansion which had a billion awesome fountains in the surrounding gardens.. I wont ever need to see another fountain again!

Travis as usual had to be a pest and ruin my shots...

I ate way too much food over there. We went to a restaurant on Christmas day which had a set menu... it was our breakfast, lunch AND dinner for the day! we had cold meat platter each, followed by cheeses. next was some minestrone soup and bread. Then out came a bowl of ravioli. Then canelloni. Then fettucine. By this time I was getting full, and thought 3 bowls of pasta would be the end of the meal. NOPE! out came a huge plate consisting of one giant T-bone steak, a piece of veal and one lamb shank. Then we had Tiramisu. Then Panettone, coffee and grappa for those who wanted it. Talk about stuffed! The lunch spanned a few hours and there was a nice gap in between plates so I did actually manage to eat it all.

Whenever we were out we grabbed a gelato, much to my cousins astonishment. "Its WINTER! you must have bionic stomaches, its too cold for ice cream". LOL

So yeah we had lots of adventures, I have a whole diary filled with funny stories and a 2 gig memory card which was almost filled up :) Keep an eye out for some of the stupid photos and funny adventures to be scrapped soon!!

Thanks for reading, or just looking at the pics :)

Im still alive!

2006-12-13T13:19:00.000+11:00

LOL What a busy busy couple of months this has been!!!!

Novemeber was a blur cos I was madly trying to get 6 calendars done.. each calendar had to have one page scrapped for each month.. making it a total of 72 pages. In typical ME fashion I left them all till the last minute... BUT i got them done, got them bound at office works and every one seemed impressed :) The office works ladies were asking where I got my stuff from... couldnt be bothered explaining so I said oh you get them on the internet. She goes "Where, what shop"? LOL I said oh everywhere.. just look for digital scrapbooking stuff. i had to wait nearly 45 minutes in my lunch break and I hadnt had lunch.. didnt wish to get into that right then and there! LOL

We had our Christmas family do on Sunday as Trav and I are going on holidays tomorrow woo hoo!! Got some lovely pressies off my family and I cooked up a treat of lasagne (with home made noodles of course!) and potato bake.. Travis did stuffed capsicums and everyone was stuffed full by the end LOL

I have been on a creative streak this past weekend! wanna see?

Now im way too lazy to type out credits, so if ya wanna know who designed what, go to My Gallery @ DST to check it out.
hehehe i love the snow one :) I really enjoy those graphic, minimalist kind of layouts but I never actually DO them cos when I gt a kit I get so excited and have to try and squish everything on the page. So im trying to cut back and have uncluttered pages. Lets see how long this little fad will last!!!

Owie my head hurts. Last night, Onslow and belle were fighting over my lap as I was sitting on the floor in the lounge room. Anyway, as usual Onslow won just cos he's bigger and fatter and barges poor skinny Belle out of the way. but he wasnt content with owning my lap, he put his hands on my shoulders and pushes me to the floor so he can lay on my chest.. which is all well and good, but I had the TV cabinet behind me, and as I was pushed, I whacked my temple on the CORNER of the cupboard!!! Right in that soft, tender spot on the side of my head. Must be bruised cos if I try and yawn, my mouth cant open all the way cos my temple bit stretches and gets quite sore LOL

Oh we went to the Berner Buddies Picnic day in november!!! Took the dogs to Centennial Park and they got to run around with about 30 other berners.. gate crash everyones picnics and tried to steal their sandwiches haha. But seeing as everyone has Berners who all seem to be the same, no one cared. We had a few ring-ins come and sit in our laps and try and steal our food too LOL We will definitely try and go to more of these.

Anyway Im off work now until the 2nd week of January! woo hoo for that! Im so excited for our trip :) I get sad and miss the dogs though.. Poor things being left behind. Although they have both my parents and travis's parents come and play with them and stay with them overnight... I still feel sorry for them!
When we came back from NZ all their obedience was out the window!! We left mum and dad with very well behaved dogs who listened.. and came back to out of control beasts who refused to even sit!! LOL Took them about a day to know the pushovers were gone!!

Oh well I will be back in January!!! Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas.. I hope we get some snow (I doubt it.. its not a very cold winter in Rome this year by what the weather channel tells us! LOL) and take care!!! Dont get too full on Christmas day! LOL

byeeeeeeee :D

Just call me Bond

2006-11-21T14:07:00.000+11:00

hhahahhaha
On Friday night I was home playing with my Wacom enjoying the peace cos Travis was staying back after work having a few drinks.
He rang at 10:00pm saying he was on the train which gets in at 11:00pm. No worries.

I basically had my PJs on and went out the door barefoot... lights left on, dogs inside with free reign over the whole house... you know.. typical things when you only go out for 5 minutes.

So, Im waiting at the station.
Train pulls in.
People get off.
Travis ISNT one of them!
I ring his mobile... no answer.

Great! I was so cranky! He had fallen asleep and his phone was on silent!

As much as I wanted to go home and let him find his own way back, I couldnt because its just so quiet once you start getting further up! No trains coming back down, no taxis, no buses.....

After 3 stops up the mountain I found it amusing. I pictured myself as a James Bond type character chasing after a train... by the fourth stop the train was ahead of me... I was approaching the 5th stop and my mobile rang:

uh... Hi Lis..... um.... Im at Warrimoo station... I fell asleep..... Are you nearby?!

ROTFL

Do ya like?

2006-11-17T21:00:00.000+11:00

ahh a fresh new banner :)

Today has been a pretty good day! I knocked over a few presents in my lunch break... 4 people for Christmas and my sisters birthday present coming up at the end of November.

Then I came back to work late, hot and starving, and when I got to my desk...

MY WACOM TABLET WAS THERE!

woo hoo :) So i forgot about my hunger, ripped all the packaging and bubbled wrap off it and then just stared and started drooling :D
Then I bundled it in the cupboard with all my shopping boxes and went about my afternoon.

THEN I got home and OMG I nearly died of shock... I *finally* receieved a commissioning letter for a layout which SM accepted waaaaaaay back in January this year!!!! LOL I had well and truely given up hope that would ever see the light of day, but now it will be in vol 8 issue 9 of SM! woo hoo :)

Anyway I got home, did my aerobics, and Travis rang to ask permission to stay back at work to have a few drinks. Of course! It gives me the night all by myself to play with my tablet LOL. He just rang and asked if he can stay another hour and get the 11:00 train home. As if he needs to ask?! Im happy :) Booted the dogs outside after a big session of pats and kisses and I have the house aaaallllll to myself :)

ahhhh perfect!

So busy!!!

2006-11-13T13:41:00.000+11:00

wow I have actually had a life that DOESNT involve being on the computer!
Well, partly.

Last Tuesday we went to see PEARL JAM at the Acer Arena in Sydney. I was sooooooo excited. On tuesday night we had fairly ordinary seats.. all the way at the back up the top and the band was just a moving dot LOL BUT they played an awesome set of songs.. all my favourites one after the other. I dont go to concerts thinking oooh they HAVE to play such and such or I will be disappointed, but there was one I was dying to hear live that they didnt play in 2003 when we saw them. and I was so happy that they played it, on BOTH nights too!!

Anyway on Wednesday night, we were back there and we had FRONT ROW seats!!! I felt sooooo special when we got these special wrist bands :) It was all seated so they made sure that the people in the front row had the front row, and people in the 2nd row didnt jump over the chairs. There were a few people trying to, cos every 10 minutes a big security guard would charge behind us pushing them back into row 2 :P

Anyway I got some fantastic shots!!! I created this from my favourite snaps and its proudly displayed in the lounge room :)

Pretty cool!!!!

hmm what else??
Oh yeah we also went and saw U2 on Friday night :) I must admit I wasnt all that excited about this concert... I think becuase I like Pearl Jam better and was soooooo excited to them, and then even more excited with the front row-ness of the 2nd concert.. that it almost felt like U2 would be a let-down. Strange, I know ;) And of course it WASNT a let down! It was another awesome concert... fantastic lighting effects, a ginormous big screen and they played a great mix of songs.
Got pics of that too, but not on the computer yet :)

I got my overtime in my pay this week and I have more than enough for a wacom graphic tablet!! woo hoo. So i just ordered it and can NOT wait for it to arrive :) I went with the Graphire4, a 6x8 size :) I was going to spend the money when we go overseas, but the overtime was unexpected so I thought well, why not buy something unexpected to match?! I have wanted a tablet since I started scrapping almost one year ago so its high time I treated myself!!

I was originally going to save up my cheques from my published layouts, but as soon as i get them, I think well... its only $20 and go and buy $20 worth of scrap products! I think I have spent my next 3 cheques that I havent even received yet :P

Anyway I also got a couple of layouts done over the weekend :)
But blogger is being stubborn and wont let me upload.. which is a shame cos one of them is just hilarious!!! :P I scrapped myself acting like an idiot... again. hahahha

Oh well... will try again tomorrow!

byeeeeeeeee

Contest anyone???

2006-11-02T18:34:00.000+11:00

Michelle Bradley has an awesome contest!!! All you need to do, is create a layout with her brand new (and oh so cute!) Christmas Cheer kit (also sold just by itself) and you can win all her kits for an ENTIRE YEAR!!!! .

AND There is ANOTHER contest she has going... a recipe one :) Use the Christmas Cheer kit to make a recipie card and the winner gets a gorgeous altered tin to house all the yummy recipes in, and all of Shelbys kits that she makes in 2007!!! AND everyone who enters gets a ZIP file with ALL the recipes anyway, so everyone wins!!!
Head over to the Shelby Design Shoppe Message Board for a more in depth description and to sign up.

HURRY!

In other news.. well there is no other news really... I have been roped into doing overtime for the entire week and I am exhausted. Getting in to work at 7:45am and not leaving until 7:00pm is rediculous. BUT paid overtime doesnt get offered much around here so I am making the most of it. If I work enough overtime I am going to treat myself with a wacom tablet! or maybe some new clothes... or some belly and nose jewellery.... or use it for spending mney in Rome.... so many options!! hahha

ok well ive got 20 more minutes here (ugh HURRY UP!) and then I get to go home.. Although I have energy now.. I found some left over Tiramisu from morning tea and gobbled down a huge slice! HA! so im functioning on that sugar / coffee hit ATM :)
Jamies Kitchen is on tonight! Its the only TV show on Free to air tele that I actually make time to watch. Apart from Berts Family Feud in the afternoons... he cracks me up!!

Ok goodnight everyone!!! :)

Time just flies...

2006-10-24T13:27:00.000+10:00

well, it was our 2nd wedding anniversary yesterday... time has just FLOWN by.

AND to really drive that home, my neice Kayla turned 11 on Friday!!! I went shopping for her birthday present and realised I was no longer looking in the kids section for stuff to buy her! I was only 14 when she was born.. i remember sitting in my year 9 science class the next day telling everyone about my new niece just like it was yesterday!!! I was pretty proud cos I was one of the first to have a neice or nephew ;)

ANYWAY so yeah it was our wedding anniversary yesterday. We spent the weekend in Sydney, stayed in some apartments not far from Town Hall.
On Friday we went to see the Merrick and Rosso live show - The unprofessionals. That was funny :) We went to a Spanish place for tapas afterwards, then a bar for a few drinks.

Saturday we were up bright and early, had breakfast at a cafe then went shopping!!We had to buy warm clothes seeing as I only packed Summer clothes and the weather decided to turn wintery again... also bought some odds and ends to take to Rome when we go in December... saw Talledago nights which was hilarious. Then we went to a German restaurant for dinner and ended up leaving there thinking I was about to pop!! seriously I was full from the entree.. it was main meal size!! and the main was double size.. I ordered chick schnitzel (with cheese and leg ham on top! yum) and got TWO big portions that took up the whole plate. I squeezed one in, but the 2nd was left pretty much untouched. It was sooooo delicious though!!!

On Sunday we met up with a friend at a cafe for a alte breakfast and then we headed home :)
Back to washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning and vacuuming! I was actually glad to get back to work because I was exhausted! LOL well, maybe not *glad* to be back at work...

ANyway I scrapped! Finally got to use Lauren and Amy's Harvest Trail kit from the Sweet Shoppe
Onlsow just *loves* barrelling through the crunchy leaves!! LOL

There is a Bernese Mountain Dog picnic day coming up shortly in Sydney. Im so looking fwd to going.. Belle and Onslow havent seen any of their "own kind" since we took them home. They see lots of their friends Lotte the Old English Sheepdog, and Jack the rottweiller, as well as a few passing strangers in the dog park at windsor LOL. Should be a fun day :)

well take care everyone.. hope you have a great week!

Get well soon...

2006-10-17T10:03:00.000+10:00

My poor little bonsai :(
Click here for the story if you havent seen my layout yet... cant upload pics today!

He (the bonsai) obviously didnt like being removed from his big pot where he has been for 2 years into his proper bonsai pot.

I love bonsais but the fun is in the shaping of them in my opinion. SO i bought a tiny, twig of a plant, put it in a big pot with lots of growing room and got to work on shaping the little fella. It was looking great until about 12 months ago when the dogs decided to eat a few of the branches and give it their own touch :) Now it kinda looks a bit bare as it has three branches sticking out instead of 7.... Anyway it had been 2 years in the big pot and had gotten nice and big (well, as big as i wanted!) but the poor thing has been on a downhill spiral for the last 2 weeks... I finally noticed some new shoots on Saturday.... lets see if they last or if they will go black and dry like the rest of the leaves and flowers!

anyway... had a good weekend.. was so HOT on saturday!!! We took the dogs walking at 8:00am and already I was in shorts and a singlet and sweating.. and these are dogs just amble along slowly! Anyway bought them inside with the air conditioning while we started cleaning the house.. did some aerobics and then got ready to go out. We were going to a friends house for dinner, and staying the night so we didnt have to worry about counting drinks. Didnt have a late one because we were all so tired!!!!

Came home on Sunday, watered the garden, did the grocery shopping, did some kickboxing, the last of the housework / washing and then it was time for dinner! so I didnt get much time to scrap, and have to make up for it this week. I have lots of new goodies to play with, but am also working on a "project" which I need to finish.. so no scrapping until this project is done!!

This weekend is going to be a write off as well....

On friday we are going to see Merrick and Rosso in the city (comedians, also on Sydney's Nova radio station in the morning) and then going to a Spanish place to get some Tapas afterward. yummoo!!!! Never had it before but am looking fwd to it! We will be staying in town (in Sydney) for 2 nights as it is also our anniversary weekend... 2 years already!! Time has gone fast, but at the same time, the whole wedding business and the honeymoon seems like it was ages ago!

and on another note... I have been waiting for commissioning letters from Scrapbooking memories (FOUR of them!!!) for MONTHS and FINALLY I got 2 :) and another 3 layouts accepted during the week as well!!! Im on a roll!
So keep a look out for me in vol 8 issue 8 of SM.. I have 2 in there :) Both of Alyssa!!!

Not long till our "concert week"!!! In three weeks we will be seeing Pearl Jam 2 nights in a row (long story as to why we are going both nights! LOL - we have front row seats on night 2 though!) I think that is the Tuesday and Wednesday, and then on Friday we are seeing U2!!! so three big concerts in one week... Im saving my accumulation of RDO's (rostered day off) for when we go to Italy later in the year, so I can save up my annual leave (for NEXT year when we are planning a biiig European trip) sO i cant really take that week off like I want to.... might just had the day of the 2nd pearl jam concert off.... try to recover and get some sleep up my sleeve! LOL
So yay im very excited!!!!!!!!

ok well I guess I better finish off this marathon post!!! LOL Thanks for reading if you managed it!!!

where was i?

2006-10-10T08:22:00.000+10:00

Long time no blog!!! cant say I have really missed it to be honest!! Its just one more thing to remember to do!
So whats some news???
Oh my first ever published layout! here it is:

hahahhaa Poor Travis :)

hmm.... what else.... How about some layouts? Running low on the news front today :)

Phew! and thats not even all of them :) Anyway becuase im so lazy, you will need to Click here for my gallery to see the credits for each layout ;)

hehehe Isnt that last one of Alyssa cute?? It was on the long weekend, Grand final night (october 1st) at my sister, Lindas, place. Anyway whenever we go there, Lin always picks up my camera and starts taking pics of everything! so i get home and find photos of actual photos, photos of people being idiots, blurry, unidentifiable photos, close ups of a bourbon and coke inside a glass.. and a few of these cute shots :) hehehe It was such a great night! we were outside till midnoght toasting marshmallows on the fire, putting everything that burned on the fire (mums slipper not included... they didnt actually burn, just singed the wool and melted the rubber).... setting a very bad example for the kids who thought it was the best thing ever!!

We went to the beach again on Sunday, and we left home at 11:00.. perfect beach weather out our way with clear blue skies, hot temps and not a breath of wind. One hour later when we actually GET to the beach, the sun was gooooone, the wind had picked up and i was laying on my towel getting whipped by sand and shivering. Turns out a big Southerly buster arrived just when we did!!!! Typical! It takes us an hour to get to the beach, we were there for only about 20 minutes and then got back in the car and headed back for the hour long drive back home :) Pretty funny though cos last time we went to the beach (2 weeks ago) it the same story... giant gusts of wind :) Oh well, at least we can laugh about it. Its a nice drive on a Sunday anyway and on the positive, I didnt end up with salt and sand encrusted hair!!

Im hungry

2006-09-27T09:39:00.000+10:00

hahahha
I have been tagged.. twice! LOL Im only doing the tag once though!

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal/blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

1. Evanescence - call me when you're sober
2. Live - Mystery
3. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - The entire Stadium Arcadium album (ok so thats like 28 songs! LOL)
4. Beyonce - Dejavu - great for getting me ready in the mornings! LOL
5. Guns n Roses - Sweet Child o' Mine
6. Live - The River
7. Pearl Jam - Thumbin' my way

And my 7 peeople... well im going to be lazy and say "ANYONE THAT WANTS TO!" LOL

The magazine with my very first published layout is OUT! wooo hooo! gotta scan it and post it, seeing as it is of Travis being a goose :)
Speaking of Goose, check this out:

Most of the stuff is from Crisp Cotton Hideaway - Suzy Nunes (www.sweetshoppedesigns.com), except for: flowers - Shannon Lee Alpha - Dani Mogstad Paint - Lauren Grier.

I have been on a "me" layout kick lately.. not sure why, mayeb the kits I have been working with just are so "me" that I need to use them on myself! LOL
Anyway these are 2 of my faourites:

Everything is from the gorgeous new 2 scoops by Suzy Nunes and Robin carlton - Wings of change - www.sweetshoppedesigns.com

papers, flowers, beads, notepaper - Faer Oak's Briar sunset (pickleberry pop)
bling, stitched flower, fuzzy edged flower - Faer Oak Sherbert Shennanigans (pickleberry pop) chipboard alpha - DebF (pickleberry pop) Kraft snippet - lauren Grier (sweet shoppe - word snippets) Lace - Suzy nunes Crisp Cotton hideaway (sweetshoppe) butterfly - suzy nunes & Robin carlton wings of change (sweet shoppe)

I did end up going swimming on the weekend! the water was FREEZING but the waves were huge!! I got dunked once cos I didnt think I was going to swim so put mascara and make up on (silly!!!) so I didnt want to dive through the wave and have my makeup run, but the wave decided to break right over the top of me! ROTFL It was a great day! The winds were soo strong though. our LOCKED gate was blown open when we got home!!! SOOOO thankful that we decided to leave the dogs inside with the air conditioning on! Who knows what would have happened to them! Peoples wooden fences were blown over, and panels of colourbond fencing had even been blown out! crazy stuff.

We also got our weeds sprayed on saturday. Unfortunatley about 80% of our lawn was weeds so now it looks all dead!!! But with all these water restrictions now its so hard to get a lawn going and keep it going. we can only water on sundays and wednesdays and then only with a hose. Sprinklers havent been allowed to be used in years. Not that it matters in the back seeing as the dogs like to dig and we dont care cos the lawn is didgy... but it would be nice to have a lush, gren front lawn! LOL

My new addition!

2006-09-23T19:43:00.000+10:00

hehehhe I love it!!!
The kit used to make this layout is Lauren Griers new "1 raspberry chocolate torte to go" from sweet shoppe... so delicious!

yay tomorrow we are going to the beach :) perfect weather.. probably wont be swimming seeing as I find teh water frezing even in the middle of summer LOL but I will definately get my feet wet ;)
off to do some more scrapping while my creativity is flowing!!

a few things...

2006-09-22T22:14:00.000+10:00

1:
Im a picklehead :)

2: I got my nose pierced :) I took a pic but it was pretty dodgy!! hahaha my nose was all red and yuck so I will take another tomorrow. Its a pretty diamond.. and it KILLED to get it done. My navel was virtually painless and i was expecting this to be the same... nope! LOL Probably because I wasnt expecting anything that it hurt so much :)

3: We are going to Italy for christmas!!!! we just decided last week and booked our tickets today. will be staying with my aunty who I have never met :) How cool!! We may get a white christmas :)

somewhat better :)

2006-09-11T15:36:00.000+10:00

Although I ended my week with conjunctivitis! I still have my cough and sinus issues but that seems like nothing compared to how I was feeling this time last week! LOL

I got to do some scrappin' and I had a lovely weekend.. so much rain about, it was beautiful!
We went to Janolin Caves with mum, dad, my cousin from italy and linda and scott and the girls. After lots of too-ing and fro-ing about will we go, wont we go we decided to rug up and go! I had been looking fwd to going because the last time I went I was about 8 or something. But it was a great day. Had a tour of one of the caves, Scott was a goose as usual... we were going through a semi-lit part in single file, and it was a small tunnely thing and we had to bend down... Scott makes a loud fart noise and I was in hysterics.. I could hear Travis snorting in the background and Scott of course laughing at his own joke :) hahaha You cant take us anywhere!
I was so toasty :) I was determined not to get cold so on my legs I had my stripey socks which come up past my knees and a 2nd pair of socks and jeans.
On my top half I had a thermal top thingo, a long sleeved top, a singlet top, a jumper, a parker and then while eating lunch a 2nd big waterproof jacket! Along with my scarf and beanie LOL Anyone would think i was going to the snow :)

Thats about it really.. saturday I couldnt do much cos of my conjunctivitis.. my eye was swollen and bright red and watery! LOL I looked terrible :) Thankfully its all gone now!

Anyway thats about it really.. nothing to really write home about. I tried watching Australian idol on sunday but I just couldnt get into it.... I've been all into Rock Star - Supernova.. probably cos I really enjoy the rock music over all the other crap that they sing on idol! LOL and I hate how it takes FORVER between songs and they talk too much. I wont be watching it again this year.

Anyway I finally got rid of this horrible headache was able to scrap.. and my creativity was back and these 4 just got pumped out in no time at all!! LOL And I love them all :)

oh my exciting scrapping news!! Im on Suzy Nunes CT!!! yippeeeee for me :)
And this is my first layout done with her stuff. Kit ued is Gypsy Rose, available at The Sweet Shoppe: (as usual you can click to make the layout bigger ;)

Lauren teamed up with Robin Carlton again and produced another sweeeeet 2 scoops kit. They make the best team and this kit is beautiful! This is also available at The Sweet Shoppe: The Notepaper alpha is by Shannon Lee.

And finally, the new Cinnamon Swirls kit by Faith True :) I love this one :) SO much so that I actually made two pages with it! LOL Notepaper alpha by Shannon Lee (again).

And thats all folks!!!

ugh.. sick!

2006-09-06T15:05:00.000+10:00

Seems like im always getting sick lately!! Got a cough on Sunday and Monday came down with a fever and flu like symptoms and swollen tonsils. Dr gave me nothing, said to rest its just a virus.. 2 days of that did nothing and my throat still hurts.. go back to the same Dr.. oh you have tonsilitis, i better give you some antibiotics. Anyway im now dosed up on cold and flu tablets and am feeling better.. until they wear off and I come crashing back down! LOL

yay we got tickets to see the Red Hot Chilli Peppers when they come to Sydney!! woo hoo! :)

I had a great weekend. Took an RDO (rostered day off) on Friday and took my cousin who is over from Italy into the City.. we jumped on a train and he was laughing at how slow the trains were, how old the trains were, and was looking for the blinds to pull down when the sun was in my eyes! LOL

Then we got to town and we wandered around Darling Harbour waiting for Travis to finish work. anyway Travis rang and told me direction to get to a pub opposite his work (I have no clue when it comes to finding my way around the city! LOL) Well we found it, and I am one who always crosses the road on the green man. Well, my cousin also found that hilarious. No cars and I still wait. hahhaa In italy they just dart across.

Anyway we went to the Lowenbrau German Restaurant. mmmmm LOVE that place :) and then he wanted to dance, so we went upstairs and there was a little fake dancefloor there, so we had a bit of a dance, went looking for some more, but there just isnt anywhere to dance on a friday night...so we went home and played playstation.

Then on Saturday it was a beautiful, hot day. We asked if he wanted to go to the mountains, or the beach and he opted for the beach. So we drove over to Cronulla, got our feet wet and had an ice cream :)

Then on Sunday he came along to the final Panthers game of the year (rugby League) and he was getting SOOOO into the game!! Jumping up and pumping his fist whenever the panthers got close to the try line! hahaha made me laugh :)

On the front.. there is a new designer in town!! Kellie Martin has just started selling kits and they are lovely.. check them out!! Kellie and I used to work together at Dairy Farmers and she was the one who told me all about digi scrapping in the first place and got me hooked! I did this one of Alyssa with her Mocha Latte kit which is up for sale at Elemental Scraps :)

There are also some other great kits for sale at scrapboxx
:)

I do have some more exciting scrapping related news... but its a secret ;) hehehehehe ooooooh im so bad at keeping secrets!!! Especially when it comes to presents for Travis! LOL I always make him guess what I bought and he gets so cranky at me because if he says the right thing he knows I wont be able to lie and say no thats not it! LOL

Anyway thats all from me. My cold and flu tablets have kicked in nicely and I can function again :) Better go tidy up the kitchen before it wears off!!! LOL Hope everyone has a great week / weekend :)

For those who need to know...

2006-08-29T10:52:00.000+10:00

RAWK = Rock (ie that layouts rawks = that layout rocks)
HAWT = Hot (ie you look really hawt = you look really hot)

See, I told you they were really irritating didnt I! LOL

Ok, so its not a DSLR

2006-08-27T14:31:00.000+10:00

but I still love my camera :)

I was going to do the gardening today because its such a beautiful day, but decided to take some pics of the flowers on this tree out the front... the flowers only last a couple of weeks before the maroon leaves come and take over and I missed them last year LOL

Anyway I amazed myself with the photos I took :) Click on them to make them a bit bigger and they look better LOL

I did get some without the bee, facing upwards so I have a pretty blue sky as the background, but I just love the bee photos!! I hate bees and was so scared to be standing there with them buzzing around my head LOL

This is the actual size of the bee from the camera... I cropped the rest of the photo so it wouldnt be huge and I just love the detail on his wing... You have to click this one!

Anyway thats all :) I got so excited by my shots I just had to share. Going to realx now and then going over to mums for dinner :) mmmmmmm yumooooo!

Annoyances

2006-08-24T13:57:00.000+10:00

The smallest things can irriate me so much.

The worst is the word RAWK. I can NOT stand it!!!!!!! I cringe everytime i see it written on a message board, comment, blog.. wherever.. it makes me want to smack the person who wrote it. There should be a word filter on that word, its just plain stupid. And HAWT to a lesser degree. but its the first one that annoys the crap out of me.

I'm going to have to smack myself soon soon because I cant believe I have just typed my 2 most HATED words on my own blog.

Yep, im in a bit of a mood today.. been cooped up inside searching through piles legislation trying to pull out the most "important" bits and have idiots whinging in my ear constantly all day... I have no tolerance left!!!!! I jump on the forums and what do i see first thing.. man that RAWKS.

Strewth and flamin 'eck Ails!!!!

ROTFL

Monday Moanings

2006-08-21T08:03:00.000+10:00

i hate mondays.

Anyway if you have spare cash and want a beautiful kit, check out Morning Bloom by Lauren Grier. The alpha is sooooo sweet!! AND its currently on special!

Here are some layouts I did with it... its just a perfect match for my wedding pics!!

Well moving onto my weekend!

Saturday was pretty uneventful.. just did some house work and took the dogs for a nice walk.. Poor Onslow was limping in the afternoon after he came back and cooled off.. This is the first time we have noticed him limp since he has been on his medication for hip dysplacia.... The vet said Winter will be tough for him, but winters basically finished and he has been fine up until this weekend.
We have to go back to the vet anyway in a few weeks for another check up to see how his hips are going. Fingers crossed he doesnt need surgery!!

Anyway where was i?

ah Sunday! Well we did grocery shopping, then drove the dogs down to the river (didnt want Onslow to have another strenuous walk) and we went right to the waters edge. We went to a part within walking distance from home through some empty fields and followed the tracks as it is much more accessible than the part of the river that everyone goes to have picnics.

ANYWAY Belle was pretty keen to go to the edge, she splashed her feet and got all excited. Seeing as she has no trouble walking long distances I thought she might like to go for a dip and I could walk her home while Travis drove Onslow home.

Well she wouldnt go in unless I lead her in... and I had 2 options... one: step out onto a bit of a rock where the bank took a nice gradual slope in, OR stand on some soggy, mushy and slippery mud, where the bank dropped off pretty steeply.

Of course I go stand in the mud... belle cant walk in nicely there so takes a step back and does a big launch into the river.. whilst im still holding her leash! LOL
I lost my footing and ended up falling flat on my bum in the muddy water.

I took the camera with me to get pics of Belle swimming and had it in my front pocket.. Thankfully my bum landed on the muddy bank and only my legs went in the water, rather than me launching in front first after her!!!

Here is the result: (you can click for a bigger view)

So needless to say Travis walked Belle home and I snuck back to the car with Onslow and sat on a towel... hoping no-one would see my rear end and think I had a bit of an accident! ROTFL

After that we went for a nice bike ride and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I actually got to wear a skirt and a singlet and wasnt cold!! ahhhhh I cant wait for Summer to start :)

wednesday today

2006-08-16T13:21:00.000+10:00

Finally changed my song. They didnt have Evanscence's new one - call me when your sober - so I settled for Broken which feautures Amy Lee. I love her voice.. I could listen to it all day!!

Anyway.. more pages have been accepted for publication.. I have had six accepted in recent weeks!! for all three :) FK, SC and SM so I dont know whats going on there!! LOL not that I am complaining :) Im happy because 5 of the accepted ones have been CT assignments :)

well, I havent been doing much scrapping lately..I have been making quick pages for Shelby!!
I have never used these quick pages before so didnt know where to start but now that they are all together and done, I must say I am pretty pleased with how they turned out!!! You can grab them here from shelbys shop, or here from ACOT :)

SO i havent been scrapping much, but I do have some layouts to share from the past couple of weeks since blogger was dodgy and didnt want to upload them!

using Playground by Michelle Bradley, and Faith Trues sketch pad doodles.

Using Deb Fishers Ninety mile Beach; Paint and pin by Lauren Grier, White flower - Melany Violette; notepaper - Faith True.

Using Faith Trues True Beauty kit and Faith's Paint strokes :)

Went to a sports shop which was closing down and got myself some new sneakers plus some new excercise clothes seeing as they were all marked down :) I cant justify spending $60 on a tiny aerobic crop top with the inbuilt bra thingyes just because they are in a sports shop. rediculous. Unfortunately I cant find no-name, el cheapo ones so I have no choice but to wait for sales when they are reduced to $20!!! LOL yeah i know im tight, but I dont care! hahahaha

yeah thats about all really.. nothing new, nothing exciting, just the same old stuff ;) Enjoy the rest of the week... half way through!!! woo hoo!!!

Monday again....

2006-08-07T14:59:00.000+10:00

ahh well.. wont be long before itsa friday! Poor bloggy has been a bit neglected lately! well in other news.... whats happened?

oh I got my brand spankin new phone :)

Its also an MP3 player.. funny how you cant just get normal phones that ring and send sms these days.. you get cameras, videos, mp3 players, internet, emails all bundled in! And i get sucked in big time by all the gimicks :)

We took the dogs to the beach on saturday. Bright skies and sunshine at home, clouds and heavy rain at Mossman... it stopped when we got to the beach, and started up again when we were bundled back in the car so it worked out ok.

To get to the beach, there are 2 flights of very steep (and narrow!!) stairs to get down.. the dogs havent seen stairs. Onslow was scared and travis had to basically carry him down. Belle, meanwhile was so keen to get down, she launched herself down, ended up sliding all the way down the first flight, and I thought I was going to fall headfirst after her. Then she was scared (and I think a bit sore) and refused to go down the 2nd flight.. so I had to carry HER. Thankfully they managed to get up the stairs with no real dramas.

They were also scared of the water.. had a tour of the dive shop the owner took Belle's leash out of my hands and "showed" her the shop. LOL

Diving was called off so we didnt get to go to woolongong to do the shipwreck dive which was unfortunate... but they will reschedule it.

Got some gorgeous new kits to play with though so i spent sunday scrapping :)

hehehe Alyssa playing with a balloon :)

This was made with FUDGE DREAM SUPREME by Lauren Grier & Robin Carlton.. its at the sweet shoppe, on special and just beautiful!!

ahhh blogger is being an idiot and wont upload any more photos... not even from a URL!! oh well looks like that's all for today... catch you all later!

wow-ee!

2006-08-01T15:53:00.000+10:00

well... I just got another layout accepted for publication :) This time in SC's digital gallery! woo hoo. I had so many LO's that I was going to email off for that call, and gave up after the first 5! hahaha How good is that... 3 layouts accepted in 2 weeks :)

Anyhoooo I got a call from the phone people saying my mobile phone contract was about to expire, they had a deal with a brand new phone worth $600 or so that they were going to send me for free. Yeah right. I'm going so how much will the repayments be a month? and he said nothing, no extra to pay... I say ok so whats the catch? no catch. Well, a 24 months contract which doesnt both me cos I dont change phone carriers, I have been with this mob since forever and wont be changing LOL. The only difference will be that I get a brand new phone (pretty spunky.. motorola v3x in hot pink! LOL) and I get an extra $5 of calls cos apparently the plan has changed. So I was pretty happy about that!! Should get that delivered soon.

what else? Had another busy weekend.

Washed the dogs on saturday.. OMG that is such an ordeal!! first off to actually speerate them and have one inside and one outside, then to actually GET the dog into the bath.. then try to battle 45 kilos of scaredy cats from jumping out whenever I turn the water on!! They love the massaging of the soap, but once the taps get turned on its war! I had to call travis in to hold Onlsow in the bath because he is just so much stronger than Belle, and stubborn. If i tell Belle enough times to sit still she will.. but not Onslow! And then once the bath was finished, Onslow *tried* to jump out, but because of his sopping wet feet, he slipped, so his legs are sticking up in the air kicking around, and his front feet are all spread and his head is taknig all his weight. What a goose. belle tried to do the same but she landed on a towel so all that happened to her was her back legs got stuck

Then we had friends pop over on Sunday and they have a rottweiler and old english sheep dog, so they bought their dogs along, and the 8 of us went walking. All the dogs wanted to lead so we had 4 big dogs walking in a perfect line, and the 4 of us lagging behind.. we scared a few people as we were walking too!!! LOL so funny :) The dogs all get along nicely which is good.

And thats about it. I've been kept busy at work... pretty funny, the last 2 weeks I have been inundated with rooster complaints... I have had about 6 different complaints of neighbours keeping roosters so have had to go and tell them to get rid of them. Roosters arent allowed to be kept in residential areas as they are too noisy and irritating. So I got that sorted.. and then Friday had a sewer complaint where sewerage was running over driveways and into the stormwater system.. and suddenly EVERYONE has sewer problems!! So far this week I have had 4 different instances where I have had to issue orders to people to repair their sewers.

SO the whole area must be banding together to say OK this fortnight we will all complain about roosters... this fortnight we will all bring up sewer problems... what next?? Ah its all good fun :) Even when people are unco-operative and rude... which is sily of them cos fines for polluting our water ways are not cheap!!!! so watch out if you get on my bad side!! LOL

Whinging pays off!

2006-07-24T15:44:00.000+10:00

LOL
After whinging about no comments (BTW thanks to everyone that DOES comment regularly on my layouts!!! I do appreciate and loooove comments so thank you very very much) I did a layout that night and posted it the next morning and was blown away by the amount of views and comments received :) here 'tis!
**Not any more... gone off to be published with Scrapbooking Memories**
Coloured flowers by Jen WIlson (Squiggle Fleurs available @ SBB - love them!); alpha is a freebie - Surprise inside by Carrie Stephens; paint by me; arrow is just some free clipart; white flowers are a dingbat font (Love the word dingbat LOL)

so woo hoo for that :)

AND just opened my email to another suprise.... a layout I have done using one of Faith Trues kits has also been accepted for publication!!! :) My first acceptance for a layout using CT stuff :) And it will be in For Keeps (issue 48) My first for FK! woo hoo!

The only problem... that layout was on the corrupted DVD and I have to redo it *sigh* Thankfully everything I used is from the one kit so its not too tedious!

Makes me laugh how all 3 layouts which have been accepted for publication are accepted about 3 months AFTER i sent them off!!! LOL SO they are always such nice surprises :)

ahhh.. I wrote all about my weekend earlier this morning but blogger went mental and didnt publish it for me.

so quick wrap:

FRIDAY

-Had the day off work and cleaned the house top to bottom
-Went out for Sister-in-law's 30th at a bar in the city
-Had enough of said bar with no disco or music and caught the 11:00pm train home
-Got off train at 12:00 and booked a taxi as the line was about 10 people long and one taxi waiting.
- Taxi pulled up announced it was booked for us
- Burly Ned Kelly look-alike was at the front and stole said cab as he argued and argued and carried on like a complete a$$ hole because he was in the front of the queue and said we couldnt have it cos he was in front.
- Poor cab driver was scared cos he didnt want to take Ned Kelly and was trying to argue for us.
- Got sick of arguing and told cabbie to take Ned and dont worry about it.
- Had a conversation with a lovely Irish girl next to me in the queue.. only problem was I couldnt understand her very thick Irish accent but pretended I did so as not to seem rude.
- Shared the next cab with a nice lady at the front of the queue who was going in the same direction as us so we paid for the entire trip for her to say thanks ;)

SATURDAY

- slept all day
- scrapped at night

SUNDAY

- Went to mums as it was MY sisters 30th on the 22nd and ate so much food I am still full from it!
- Got some funny pics I cant wait to scrap!
- Stocked up on new pics of the girls.. especially Madeline who kept saying "Take some of me!" Managed to get ONE nice one of Kayla where she is actually smiling, and not frowning or pulling faces!
- Went home
- ironed
- scrapped
- Went to bed

And thats it.. now.. lets see if this will post
(Better do a quick copy and paste into notepad before pressing the big orange button)

It all adds up...

2006-07-20T13:40:00.001+10:00

Well how annoyed was I this morning!

I go thru the tolls on the M4 twice a day.

I have an E-tag.

I turn my music off as I go through so I can hear it beep.

If it doesnt beep I go straight on the internet and put my details in a form so they can charge it to my account.

On Monday I got a letter to say I didnt pay my toll on the 20/6 (a Tuesday) going home from work. I thought perhaps I forgot to listen for the beep, or whatever so I just filled out the form and faxed it off. The toll was only $2.20.

Today I get another letter. This time saying that I didnt pay my toll coming home on the 27th (the following Tuesday). well.. I thought no way would I NOT hear it twice, BOTH on a Tuesday afternoon, one week apart.

I promptly got on the phone to the toll people. Gave them my details. Ranted and raved for a bit and she said ok I will go through the history.

I get put on hold for a good 5 minutes as she checked the account history for that week, she comes back and I had to laugh at her next comment:

"You changed lanes as you went thru the toll"

hello??!! Its peak hour with bumper to bumper, do you really think I will change lanes as Im going THROUGH the toll booth??!!

She explained that my toll was paid to lane number 8... but the camera in lane number 7 took my photo and reported that I didnt pay!! I said well, look love, your cameras are faulty cos I dont change lanes.. especially in peak hour traffic going through the toll booth. (I am the kind of person that picks her lane and stays there no matter what! LOL)

So then she goes ok dont worry I will waive that right now for you.

Its only $2.20, but seriously.. if that happened to everyone using the toll that day imagine how much money they would have gotten!! Im sure pleanty of people would have been like me and just paid the first one no questions asked, thinking they just tuned off or didnt notice it or whatever. Im sure pleanty of people would have still paid the 2nd one... she just caught me in a fired up mood today! LOL After I hung up i thought hmm.. I should have queried the one from the week before that I paid without questioning :) But I didnt cos I was too lazy LOL I had already gotten one victory!!!

ANyway I have been busy making layouts.

I LOVE these 3 recent ones.... no-one else does though :( None of them have been getting much love around the place!!!! just 2 or 3 comments... which I know shouldnt matter but when I am so excited about them cos I actually think they are just so wonderful and then they get only 1 or 2 comments.. well it just makes me feel like im invisible!! But then I tell myself I'd rather do stuff *I* am happy with, rather than trying to scrap so I do get comments.. if that makes sense?

Still, comments would be nice though :P

Anyway.. will start from the most recent: And I put small previews on, but you know you can click on the images to see the full sized ones, right?

Here are Belle and Onslow when they could still be picked up and cuddled, at about 12 weeks ols :) oh I miss those days!!!!!! Especially Onslow.. he was half the size of Belle (runt of the litter) and all he wanted was to snuggled in my arms.... Actually nothing much has changed... except now he insists on laying in my lap whenever I sit down and he squishes me.. then Belle gets jealous and joins in, so I have over 85 kilos and dogs fighting to sit on me... LOL

For this layout I used Jeanelle Paiges "Hot Days of Summer" kit, Gina Millers "beadazzled" beads (gorgeous!!! grab them from SBB) and the flowers are from a kit by Robin Carlton and Manda Bean (Mental blank.. forgot the name! LOL its the Robin Carlton CT reject kit ;))

This is Travis being a goose. We were bushwalking at Wentworth Falls and he starts "surfing" on a log.. it wasn't actually moving.. but I was soooo waiting for him to loose his balance and fall in the water!!! ROTFL
I used Lauren Grier's monkey Boy kit, which you can find at Elemental Scraps :)

AND finally, my ALL TIME favourite layout that I have ever done so far. I just love it :)

I used Carrie Stephens Tuscan Villa for this, plus the doodles are from Faith True (gorgeous Sketch Pad doodles.. grab them from Elemental Scraps as well :) And the alphas are from Dani Mogstad.. a freebie blog gift that i love and use a bit too often LOL

It felt good doing non-CT layouts for a change :) Well, I love doing my CT layouts cos I love all my designers kits, but when I do layouts for CT kits, i like to try and stick with just that kit. With the dog LO and the Me LO, I enjoyed searching through all my folders. But I spend too long looking for things rather than actually scrapping LOL and even still I ended up using the majority of stuff from the one kit LOL.

Anyway better stop rambling now and let you guys leave some comments for me LOL :) Yes thats a hint.. comment!! comment!! comment!!!

Had to do it...

2006-07-17T22:40:00.000+10:00

before doing anything else. LOL my take 2 of madeline and scott!

Kit is inspire me - lauren grier )see below for links to the kit) and the alpha from Dani Mogstad.

Came home from work to find a full, unopened 600ml bottle of water from Lithgow Valley springs with a little note attached to say enjoy my free sample and letting me know that they hom deliver to my next door neighbour each fortnight if I am interested in fresh, spring water to be delivered. So i take it inside and get excited cos who doesnt like free stuff??! travis comes home and tells me to throw it out cos you never know who put it there and whats inside it!

Am I that naive in my thinking its a genuine attempt for the company to get more sales?? it came with information and the seal in unbroken.... but I guess in this day and age you just cant trust anyone and its really not worth the risk!

Goodnight I have to go to bed now!!

so.. whats been happening?

2006-07-17T13:30:00.000+10:00

Not a whole lot from this end! LOL
Been scrapping, working, cleaning, cooking, exercising...

This weekend I went shopping for some clothes! hmm I am not a fan of all these dots that are out in fashion at the moment. I bought some new straight leg, tight fitting jeans in blue this time (already got some in black and LOVE them) and I bought some new boots to wear over the top of them.. nice boots, i LOVE them too :) and thats where it stopped.

I looked in just about every single shop for a nice top to wear, trying to find one that didnt involve frills and lace or polka dots and puffy sleaves. UGH the tops are just so not my style.. I found a really cute top in a shop, but it was $90!!! Nothing special either.. no dots and no frills and lots of straps.. but $90!!??? I dont think so! Now I have to raid my wardrobe for a suitable top to wear..

I was meaning to take pics of my purchases to put up here but im at work now and my clothes are at home so too bad! :) maybe tomorrow :)

Anyway so that was basically all of Saturday morning, came home, did my aerobic DVD then collapsed on the lounge and had a nap before getting woken up at 6:15pm to start getting ready for the football.

Then on Sunday we didnt do much.. did some grocery shopping, took the 2 hyperactive dogs for a walk... they were all cooped up inside cos of the rain and as soon as they heard the rattle of their leads they went craaaaaaazy!! hahahaha and Belle was just mental and I couldnt control her... she's a very strong girl, and weighs over 40kg and when she wants to sprint forward there is no way I can stop her! it only lasts for about 5 minutes till she gets too tired! LOL

And then after our walk I came home and was cooking some meals for the week, Travis then came to cook a late lunch / early dinner... he was wearing his new(ish) jacket, and got veal juices splashed on him, so he takes it off and soaks it in the bathroom sink. (because the laundry tub had defrosting lamb breasts for the doggies in it)

and then a fwe minutes later I hear.. LIIIIIIIIISS! can you help me pleeeeeeeaaaase???

He started filling up the sink, went back to the kitchen to press start on the microwave, got side tracked and the bathroom started to flood. So i mopped all that up, and then i realised that the cupboard under the sink was also flooded so I had to remove all my make-up, perfumes, hair stuff, lotions, creams, shampoos, deodorants, you name it and clean all that out as well!!! PHEW! then I ate lunch, cleaned up the kitchen, did the ironing and then scrapped for about an hour before I got too tired to look at the computer screen.

And that was my weekend!

If anyone out there is from Australia and wants to check out a brand new online paper scrapping shop, check out
STRICTLY SCRAPBOOKING
My sister has just opened up the shop and it looks great! especially the wonderful looking banner I made for her hehehehe. So stop by, and even if you dont use paper stuff, she has some pretty nifty albums for all your digi layouts to be displayed in!!! The prices are very very competitive and postage is quick too :) Check it out!!

I think I have some layouts to share too..... not all of them cos its too many!

Me at Rotorua in NZ. I used Deb Fishers Serendipitous Days for this one, available at Debs Shop

awwwww isnt she cute??? Alyssa from a few years ago.. she LOVED this puppet (which is actually red, but red didnt fit in with the kit LOL). I used Faith True's Toddler Girl kit - which you can pick up at Elemental Scraps, and the felt flower and stars from Hollie McCaig (blog gift).

And this.. another old pic! I have gotten sick of looking at the same old pics when I try to pick one so I went back thru the photo albums and scanned some :) I dont like this layout anymore LOL I loved it last night, hate it this morning. Going to rescrap it sometime in the next few days, with the same kit. LOL Im abnormal i know. But i love this photo, and I absolutely LOVE this kit, yet I despise this layout ROTFL. Its the million and one buttons and flowers that does it. I had 2 flowers in the top right corner of the pic, with 2 buttons and that was it. but noooooooo I go and spoil it by flooding everything with flowers and buttons and beige paper circles. hahhahaha
The kit is Inspire Me by Lauren Grier, and you can pick this up at the Sweet Shoppe

And thats it! Enough rambling from me for one day I think :)
byeeeeeee

Newsletter and sleazy hairdresser

2006-07-07T09:55:00.000+10:00

ok well, first things first.. my layout for the guest DT possie for scrapboxx is in the newsletter :) Used Fee Jardines new kit, Slumber Party (available at scrapboxx).

You can view the newsletter here, and keep an eye out for more of me the next one too ;) hehehehee

Now onto sleazy hairdresser... first the background:
I usually get the girls to cut my hair and have been happy with them.. last time I went I got one of the guys by default and was sooo impressed with how he did my hair that I asked for him again. He was quite nice the first time, chatting about football and pets and work and other general stuff.

Yesterday Im sitting there and hes asking me do I enjoy married life. I go yeah I do. then he starts on saying how single life is the best, you can see "whoever" you want "whenever" you want etc etc. Kept on harping about it, saying dont I ever wish I was single again? Im like no I dont, im very happily married. And he kept carrying on about partying and etc which just isnt me anyway.. never been a party animal, id much sit at home and scrap! (LOL yes i know... how sad)

Anyway the clincher was when he was drying my hair.. and he goes oh look at that you look so beautiful now (NOW??!!! Was I ugly when I walked in???!) and then get this... oh its just not fair that I do all this work and you go home and its your husband that gets to enjoy it. Then he said he's making a new rule that next time he does my hair, HE gets to be the one who takes me out that night.

Ugh... please!!! look one of your tickets just flew off. He is obviously single in case you didnt realise, and not even anything to write home about! He's not some good looking, attractive model-style hairdresser...he's hairy AND he had yucky BO when he was drying me hair. LOL (2 of my BIGGEST turnoffs!!!)

SO my dilemma... is his good haircutting technique worth sitting though an hour of that rubbish again??! Im not so sure.... but I do love the way he cuts my hair!!! LOL

No layouts! Whats this Blog coming to?!!

2006-07-06T15:29:00.000+10:00

I just realised I havent posted any layouts for a while!
Lets see what we have...
New from last night- The Summit
using Faith Trues Tank top kit (available at the daily scrap); Chipboard alpha by Dani Mogstad (blog gift); 2 large flowers by Michelle Bradley (available at Shelby Design Shoppe); Smaller flowers by Kim Christensen (available at SBB)
hehehe this was when we were in NZ and we went up this mountain not expecting to have that much snow... so we had sneakers on! LOL and they were sooooo soaked we had to try and dry them with the hair dryer when we got back to the hotel. Which was the most plush and fanciest hotel I have ever (and ever will!) stay at!

Onlsow laughing was made using "carry on" by Lauren Grier which is available at the sweet Shoppe
hehehe I love that pic... what a huge mouth he has!! LOL Travis was trying to take a nice pic of the 3 of us (belle is hidden under the swirlie cos she looked really vacant) and onlsow was just too busy being a complete goose! but then again, theres nothing odd about that!

One of Jessie using Faith Trues Whisper kit, which is available at Elemental Scraps
Something about this layout just got me reallyupset and I realised how much I miss her... perhaps it was the wine I had.. LOL but when it was all done and ready to upload I just lost it.. which I founf weird cos I have done several layouts of her since she died... this is one of my favourite layouts though (and suprisingly I got very very few comments on it! LOL)

Silly blogger wont upload this one... Check it out here

Anyway another pic we took last month at the river with all the gorgeous autumn colours. Perfect for Deb Fishers Breakaway kit, available at digiscraps by Deb the stitching was from a shabby princess kit.. cant remember which one..the spring one she had out a few months back I think... anyway thats about all..

I did my layout for the guest spot and when the newsletter is out I will post it up here. hehe I like it :)

yep well thats about all from me! Time to start thinking about going home cos posting all these pics in a very temperamental blogger site has managed to take me ages. Well take care all, be good OH and pop over to Faith Trues blog as she has a great quick page up for grabs. All the CT members will be creating one (or some!) from her kits to giveaway :) Enjoy.
Until next time ;)

ohhhh exciting :)

2006-07-04T12:37:00.000+10:00

Well how great is this... I dont check my email all weekend, and on sunday night open it up to find out that i have won a gift certificate to a store of my choice!! The very lovely michelle is doing random drawings every month for both her customers AND one for the CT members :) Every layout posted gets a ticket in the draw :) (so pop on over to her shoppe NOW for your chance!!) How nice is that!
Anyway I chose scrapbook bytes (SUCH a hard choice to pick ANY shop!) and lookie what I bought!

Pretty fabric flowers from Kim Christensen; bead-y bits from Gina Miller; torn cardboard glitter shapes from Rebecca DiGrazio; and squiggle flowers from Jen Wilson :)

How funky are the Jen Wilson squiggle flowers??!! cant wait to use all my goodies :) I love the freestyle look but have trouble with it, so I figure if I have the right "bits" I may be able to make it work!! LOL

AND MORE exciting news... I have a guest CT gig :) got my first kit for that this morning and it will feature in the next newsletter!! Pressure is on to make it really really good!! LOL and I get another new kit later next week. Will post the layouts when its time ;)

OH and other good news is that my flu / cold thingy didnt eventuate. I left work early on friday and slept as soon as I got home; slept for a few hours on saturday afternoon and had a relaxing day on sunday.. I was better by then but just had to milk it.. and Travis wanted to make dinner so who am i to not let him do that! LOL

alrighty then, hope you will enjoy your week!

2006-06-30T12:59:00.000+10:00

ha! well today I had to go into the LSS to pick up some album refills I ordered in a while back. Unfortunately for my credit card, the shop had a 20% off sale!!! so as well as the album refills (2 packs) I picked up another album (Travis wants the NZ layouts to be in a separate album), as well as 2 gorgeous Basic Grey mini books!!! ooooh I love those :)
Heres the normal 8x8 bazzil album:

And my Basic Grey mini tag book:

And the other mini book: (my fave and the only one left ;))

When I go into the scrap book shop I aways end up looking at all the bits and pieces and just wanting to buy them all!! I have never done traditional paper scrapping before, but would like to just print my pics and BG papers off, and then put little prima flowers and gems and glitter on afterwards.

But I have stacks of flowers, glitter and jewels in my digital stash and tell myself to do a Craig David.. and just walk away!!! LOL Speaking of cute flowers, I am in LOVE with these:

Hand painted flowers from Michelle Bradley, in pastel or primary colours. and they look great all extracted and in folders ;)

ugh Im feeling so yuck today. I always seem to get the beginning of a flu / cold but it just never eventuates. This morning im freeeezing cold, all rugged up and still shivering here at work. LOL I get weird looks from people going past my office cos I have my scarf wrapped tightly around me and a big jacket on, when they are just walking around quite comfortably in a shirt!!!! I have an inspection which is actually booked in for 2:30 and I always feel bad cancelling booked inspections. So I am only here to hang around and do that, and as soon as its done im heading home. Productivity has gone through the floor today.. which is probably why I spent time browsing every single product in the scrap shop! LOL I havent got much of an appetite so I am sipping on a delicious "hearty winter vegetable" lots-a-noodle cuppa soup!!! yummo and im getting nice and warm from it too :)

Ohw ell, at least its friday.. and its mufti day so ive got jeans and sneakers on and am nice and comfy (just need a blanket to wrap around myself LOL) and I have 2 days to relax and sleep in. ahhhh nice.

NOOOOOOOO!

2006-06-29T13:37:00.000+10:00

My DVD's apparently are corrupted!! The one with the pics is salvaged though cos the DVD player managed to read it somehow.. Travis thinks the DVD players aren't as sensitive to errors than the DVD roms on computers and thats why.. so we saved all the photos onto the DVD hard drive, last night we put them back onto another DVD.. BUT the entire file structure is lost AND now it has renamed them all generic names.. like the camera does. LOL SO I have 3,500 photos all jumbled and un-named... Geeze louise....thats causing me a headache just thinking about it!!!

As for my other corrupted disc, well that is the one that has my unflattened finished layouts on them. Travis got the first 500MB (out of nearly 3GB!!!) and saved that to the computer, but because the files are not JPEGS I can't rescue them - we tried copying them onto the DVD recorder. travis renamed them as JPEGS, even went as far to put DVD menu screens on it to make the DVD player think it was backing up a proper DVD... LOL That didnt work though! AND because I have been lazy and not bothering to print them for ages they are GOOOOOOOONE!! well, I have the scaled, low res web copies... so 2 lessons learnt for me:

1 - flatten and save as JPEGS... its not like I go back to change anything anyway, and my galleries have all the credits if I need to go back.

2 - PRINT THEM OUT!!! I wouldnt care if I lost them then cos I still have the hard copy.

AND I made a third back up disc with ALL my kits on it, and thankfully that is perfect :) SO I have the pics, and I have the kits so I can re-create the layouts I loved... I only have about 20 layouts unprinted and lost forever, and probably only 5 of those that I love enough to re-do a carbon copy of.

SO all is not lost, and it could have been much much worse.
Funny how I have been using photos off that corrupted disc since April.
All the pics I got off it those times were in the "family" folder.. the other night I was looking through the "plants" folder, so I guess the family stuff was in the first 500MB of uncorrupted files and thats why.

:)

Just stuff!

2006-06-28T08:23:00.000+10:00

well I made my font bigger! hope its easier to read now! I figured out how to change my background colour and have a bg image there too :) Got an email sent to me yesterday with some cute animals.. so seeing as this is going to be a boring post I will weave them in ;)

Just need to mention that Lauren Grier is having another CT call :) So go check out her blog, her designs are awesome and she is a lovely person as well!! She will be selling at the Sweet Shoppe from July 1st, and her debut kit is just gorgeous! :)

Ha well I got up nice and early for the soccer to see the Aussies get ripped off by the silly ref in the dying 30 seconds of the game. Australia 0 - REF 1. Nice job. But at least there wont be any more early mornings for me!! So thats one good thing!

grrrrr I have all my pics backed up on DVD's.. went to put one in yesterday and the computer kept freezing when I went to open a file. Something is wrong with the actual program I used to burn it so Travis used the DVD recorder (the one hooked up to the TV) and the pics were fine. Phew so we backed them all up onto the DVD player's hard drive for safe keeping while he tries to fix the program. The stupid thing is, when we bought the laptop everything was all bundled on it, and we didnt get the individual discs for each program..so we cant just simply uninstall and reinstall the offending program.

So i didnt actually get to scrap last night :( Which was very annoying as I have beautiful new kits from both Lauren and Faith to work on, and I CANT!!! I might use this as an excuse to get an extern HD.. they arent that expensive and it would make my life more easy in that I wont have to sift through silly DVD's to look for my pics!

My eye is on you :)

2006-06-25T01:00:00.000+10:00

hehehe. I used to really dislike my eye colour cos they are "just brown"... I wanted a pretty green, or at the very least a nice blue! LOL Actually, they are a dark brown and you have to get really close, or have a nice bright light (like my camera flash LOL) to be able to see the pupil. I actually quite like my eyes these days... so much so that I had to get in nice and close for a pic to display it on my blog LOL

I made a nice BG to go with the banner.... I just can't quite figure out how to get the BG to work properly in this silly blogger template... it just shows up in patches.. might get Travis to help me with that... then agin white still looks good so I might just leave it.

hmm... well today we took Onslow to the vet and they think the lump is a reaction to the antibiotcs they gave him a few weeks back, which they injected between the shoulders where the lump has now appeared. So we have to just keep an eye on it, make sure it doesnt get any bigger, and if it IS what they say, then it will disappear of its own accord. Phew! AND we ddnt get charged for the cosultation which I thought was pretty neat :) Although, they could have told me that BEFORE I lined up at the counter for 15 minutes waiting for my turn to be served LOL

not much to report today... same old boring saturday housework...did the washing, did my pilates DVD, went for a nice brisk 50 minute walk, it was a beautiful day here today!
Not much on the plans for tomorrow... well, technically tomorrow is already here seeing as it is 1:00am LOL

Socceroos play on tuesday morning, 1:00am (AU time) so that will be another day spent being very very sleepy at work LOL. I get so caught up in the world cup every time its on, but normally I find soccer to be a pretty boring game. And this year with Australia being in it (and doing quite well!) its much more exciting :) So go the Aussies on Tuesday!!!

Random Thought Thursday

2006-06-22T12:27:00.000+10:00

Random thought:
Do you think dogs from foreign countries can understand each other? I had this thought today when I walked past a lady talking to her dog in Chinese.. telling it to sit obviously, cos it sat. And I got to thinking.. well I know it wouldnt understand ME if I went up to it and said "sit" (cos obviously I cant speak Chinese) but if a chinese doggy met Belle and Onslow.. would they understand it if it barked?? OR if an American dog met Belle and Onslow would they notice that the bark has a different accent?
LOL These are the kind of pointless, illogical thoughts that occupy my head space for most of the day.... quite sad really isnt it??!!

SO MOVING RIGHT ALONG-

Well, I chucked all my blog links plus more that I go to but havent gotten around to actually linking on my blog, into a bloglines thingy cos I actually am quite lazy and have had enough of cliking on 50 different links to check if they have been updated LOL

Anyway I logged in yesterday and 2 were updated so I checked them out, this morning there was one more, and thats it... but when I clicked on my little linkies to the side, MORE had been updated over night and I wasnt told. LOL
I must be doing soemthing wrong.. I dont read instructions, I just found a little bloglines shortcut to put in my faves, added everyone and had no idea what I was doing LOL
So I will keep the links here for a while longer till I can trust bloglines! Not sure if I like it yet....

Anyway how sweeeeeeet is this kit by Michelle Bradley??!!

Its her new Spring doodles kit, available here at her shop!
So many gorgeous elements in it, so soft and girly and I just love it!!! Couldnt use as many elements as I wanted to on this layout so I will be doing osme more layouts with it LOL

Everything from the above kit, except for the jewels whcih are by Jeanelle Paige.

Thats it. Something random and illogical (dogs).. something completely irrelevant to your everyday lives (bloglines issues) and some kit pimping :)

Now off to buy 3 litres of milk, some raw sugar and a yogurt or soemthing else to snack on cos we have run out of snacks and Im hungry!! (*more useless info)

wet wet wet

2006-06-21T13:13:00.000+10:00

I just went out for an inspection after looking out the window and seeing no rain.. as soon as I hopped in my car it started BUCKETTING down and hasnt stopped. I came back to work, my good spot out the front was taken, and I had to park a mile away with no umbrella and my pointy, high heeled boots and try to run!! LOL

<---- look... new blinke :) I'm on Deb Fishers CT now :) I was so excited! I have lots of Debs freebie kits, and never knew she actually had kits for sale! LOL Now I do and her kits are gorgeous :) Check them out!

I realised today I have done 86 layouts for the year. I must have no life. I spend every spare minute glued to the laptop, but my spare minutes are only about one or 2 hours in the evening, where I would be sitting and watching TV anyway. I suppose I've just gotten to the point where I can whizz through the program, know my tools, know what looks good and what doesnt and that one or 2 hours is pleanty of time to knock over a layout. Here is layout number 86 for the year, and 101 for my entire scrapping lifetime :)

The pic was taken by our wedding photographer, Wayne Patterson and I used Debs Annies Room kit :)

In other news, the poor plaza across the road from work has been ramraided AGAIN!!! thats the 3rd time in 6 months that some tools have driven cars / forklifts and 4WD's through the doors and taken the money boxes from the ATMS. Must be costing a fortune to fix all the damage..

AND we have a vets appointment for onslow on Saturday as he has some weird lump on the back of his neck. Better to get it checked out cos we have only just noticed it.. Travis noticed it on Sunday and I noticed it on monday. Its probably nothing but we thought we would get it looked *just in case*. hopefully it doesnt turn into another drama that I will have to scrap about!!

Well, lunch break is over! Better get back to work now :(

sleepy monday...

2006-06-19T08:41:00.000+10:00

ah the joys of living so far away from the rest of the world... I set my alarm to go off at 2am just to watch the socceroos get beaten by Brazil :) Was a good game though, the Aussies played ok, but Brazil.. well they arent number 1 for nothing!! Bring on Friday!!! At least this game is on at 5am... just means that I will be leaving for work later cos no way am I missing the last half hour of that game!! LOL

Anyway.. I have been forcing layouts lately cos I havent had that spark.. until saturday night where I did 3 in 3 hours, and they just got better and better (If I may say so myself!!)

1: WHAT'S on the menu credits: Read all over - Faith Trues contribution to the ABC Benefit kit at the daily scrap.

2: THE final goodbye credits: Cool linen by Faith True and the font is Pea Johanna Script.

3: BELLE at the River credits: Kit used is Shabby Style Neely Purple by Victoria Stegall (FREE from Oscraps). Jewels are by Jeanelle Paige, stitching by Kim Hill and the doodle by me.

We went scuba diving on Saturday so that might be where these layouts came from :) I always seem to be creative after a dive.. must be something about the relaxing atmosphere underwater, the variety of colours and shapes.. I was paying lots of attention to the "boring" things like sea sponges and plant life, rather than the interesting things like fish, starfish, cuttlefish etc.. although there was one funny cuttle fish.. they were hiding under leaves and I couldnt see them and nearly squished one! His friend started getting all aggressive and changing colours and getting all up in arms. LOL I love how cuttle fish just start flashing and changing colour.. they look like a real life cartoon! LOL The water was freezing.. well about 16 Degrees (celcius) whcih wasnt too bad.. but after 60 minutes of being underwater I was starting to freeze! LOL

And that was basically my weekend. Did the cleaning, cooked some meals in advance for the week, bought some new stockings, did the fruit and vegie shopping and basically spent the day whinging as I was just generally feeling off yesterday.. had a headache which didnt go no matter how many panadols and cold and flu tablets I took, and my throat was feeling a bit sore too... Feeling much much better this morning though, albeit a little tired..

Better get back to work! LOL