the boyfriends birthday…

Posted on November 30, 2006

Yes – it was M1’s ‘boyfriends’ 4th Birthday yesterday.  We went to a most gorgeous maze and gardens for a picnic, and I took a million photos.  All in RAW.  They turned out well if I may say so myself!!!!

The terrible two, at three and four!!!!

There’s more – check them out HERE.

My fantastic new lens arrived yesterday afternoon as well.  How AWESOME is it!  Here’s a few pics – these are pretty much straight off the camera – I took them in RAW – so I did need to adjust the WB – coz I haven’t quite got that sorted yet!  One day I will!

Love the coloured rug in the background of my thumbsucker!!!!

Of course I have played with this one in PSCS2!  M2 is not smiling – that is more of a grimace that is code for “let me go”!

A quick happy moment.

And – a quiet moment!

There are others HERE.

Feel free to go to those galleries and leave comments, and criticism if you feel the need.  I am still learning this photography thing, and could quite easily devote many hours each day to it – but alas – I have children, dogs and a guinea pig – they all need me!

We put up the Christmas tree today.  “We” is a term that shall be used very loosely!  Went to Santa’s Place, and bought a tree that is just under 6″ at a cost of $29.  Pretty good- but than they slugged me for the special stand for the thing.  Apparently a couple of bricks just doesn’t do the job anymore!!!  Then – I pulled out all my shiny new baubles.  Great – let’s go- chuck ‘em on the tree – will be done in half an hour!  What was I thinking.  The manufacturers of those shiny bally things have now omitted attaching the little tie doo-dads that you hang the bauble with.   So – what was going to be a quick job, turned into a knot-tying bauble hanging marathon.  Oh well – at least the loops are there for next year!  M2 had a great old time.  I had a whole heap of those mini-gift boxes to hang on the tree.  Nup – not anymore!  She painstakinly undid each and every one of them, pulled out the styrofoam cube and had a great old time!!!  that child is getting a box of tissues for Christmas!!!!

Argh – this was meant to be a quick one – it’s 10pm – so I need to get me much needed beauty sleep!

looky looky looky

Posted on November 28, 2006

At what I ordered today….

It’s on it’s merry little way to my house, and should be here tomorrow – along with a UV filter!  Woohoo!  I bit the bullet and bought it- coz I want to get some practice in before our family Christmas weekend, and all the other fun stuff that happens at this time of year!  I might even do a shot of the girls for a Christmas photo.  I am not making my own card – coz I bought some GORGEOUS cards to send – and I couldn’t do them any better – so I will slide a photo into each card!

I also ordered the RUSS  Advent Tree that I spoke about yesterday – can’t wait for that to get here.  Also got some great paper to start making some decorations for our tree – the one that we don’t have as yet!

Here’s a quick layout -

Credits can be found here.

Cheers:)

they caught me in a moment of weakness….

Posted on November 28, 2006

Oh golly – what was I thinking. Went to the AGM for M1’s Kinder for next year.  All was going well.  My buddy N and I were sitting up the back – having a giggle, and just enjoying ourselves.  Then all of a sudden I was the President, and she is the Vice-President.  What happened!  How does that happen.  If I was going to be on the Committee – I wanted to be the Newsletter Editor.  Hmm – someone else got that job.  So I am President.  What on earth does a President even do?  I guess I will find out.  Gee – I hope the Kinder doesn’t end up in complete dissaray after we have finished with it.  The new directress is in strife now.  She has M1 and her bestest best friend ‘Ginky” (who happens to be my buddy N’s son!) in the same group. And – then she has myself and N ‘running’ the Kinder!  Lucky woman!!!

I happened upon a new website yesterday Bright Bambini.  they have some beautiful things.  I am thinking of Christmas shopping for my girls.  Both have some larger presents that we purchases ages ago on Lay-by (of which we have barely paid anything off on – so really – I don’t know why we bothered the LAY-BY).  They won’t be getting those on Christmas Day – as Wilbur is working.  We are going to have a special family Christmas the week after when he isn’t working – and they can get their big things then.  I am thinking of getting something for ‘on the day’.

For Madison -

A gorgeous little finger puppet theatre:

and some finger puppets to go with it:

How cute are they.  the question is- would she enjoy them?

As well as buying her some – I am going to try and make some out of felt and buttons and stuff that I have lying around.  You know – do all this in the spare time that I have so much of. Wait – let me stop and get my tongue out of my cheek.

AND – for M2 – some dominoes that you build a trail with and then watch them fall -

My two are so hard to buy for.  They have the attention span of a newt.

Will also get them some new funky clothes – I remember always having a new outfit for Christmas – it was a great tradition.

Speaking of traditions – I am trying to get hold of an Advent calendar (thanks to kylie for letting me know what they are called!).  I have found one:

Isn’t it just yummy. All the decorations start in the numbered pockets, and each day – one gets put on the tree.  Finally on Christmas Day – you have a cute little decorated tree.  I found them here on Ebay.  Unfortunately they are in America – but I hunted around and found a little store near me that sells them.  Yahoo!
We are going to buy a real tree for Christmas this year.  AND – make some decorations.  I just need to pick up some more coloured paper.  It all sounds very artsy crafty – but anything to keep the girls busy!

M1 and I have been struggling a little lately – so I figure I need to do more with  her.  i don’t think I have been paying her enough attention – which results in lots of attention-grabbing behavior.  None of which is good.  So – we are going to do some stuff together.  Making the decorations is number one.

ch ch changes…..

Posted on November 26, 2006

It may look like I just change my blog look for the fun of yet. Well – yes I do – but there is an ulterior motive. I also change it to home my css skills! I like the look of this – clean, simple, yet quirky. I am happy. Great challenge to completely customise. If anyone out there wants a complete blog makeover – then I’m your gal. I am trying to build up my web design portfolio, and have some sites in the works at present – thanks to those who have some faith in me!!!!!

Nothing major to report from my end. Went for a huge row yesterday.J (the sweep) let some other bloke sweep yesterday for a bit, and it was awful. The boat was so unbalanced, I could barely get the oar out of the water, ‘coz it was scraping against my knees. I was beginning to wonder what had happened to my so called ‘excellent technique’ (J’s words!). My husband would be proud of me – apparently I am doing really well. I am sitting in seat number 3 (the one on the bow side, directly in front of the stroke – is that number 3?) – I am quite comfy there. Is that where the newbies row – am I in the ‘dunces’ seat? I don’t want to be at 1 or 2 anyway – the pointy end scares me a little!!!!!! I got myself a pair of gloves yesterday – so that made it a lot easier on my hands. I’ve been doing too many dishes – they are all soft and spongy!!!!!!
Today was voting day. I nearly forgot. Doesn’t look like Ted Bailleau is going to make it. Steve Bracks holds way too many seats around the State. (Listen to me – I sound like some sort of avid political supporter!!!).

Didn’t make it to the beach with the dogs today. We got out to the car, and I discovered that I had locked the keys in the house (duh!). As I got them, I left the front gate open. Came back after getting the keys. No Max. bugger. Spent a good 20 minutes calling and looking for him. As you can imagine – I was starting to panic a little! Even though he has a tag on, someone could still snaffle him, coz he is so cute. Finally < found him, sound asleep in the back of Hervey’s kennel. Max seems to think that is a good spot. Hervey agrees with him, but would prefer it if Max wasn’t in there! So – we never got to the beach, coz by that time, M2 was cranky and wanting lunch, then it was nap time. Another day gone!Speaking of M2 – she is getting a few more words under her belt. She distinctly said ‘Max’ today! She’s also VERY good at ‘bikky’, ‘more’, ‘mummy’ (a million times a day!), ‘soo’ (shoe), ‘yummy’, ‘bath’, anhd< others that I can’t remember. She is extremely good at letting me know she wants a biscuit!!!!!! She pushes me until I move, and then trots over to the cupboard, opens the door, and pulls out the biscuit jar (if it is in reach!). Oh – she can also sort of say ‘water’!

M1 can finally say her ‘l’s’. She actually said ‘Alice’, rather that ‘Awice’. She still gets stuck on ‘yellow’ though, and says ‘lellow’! She can also do up her zipper on her jacket by herself – a milestone she is extremely happy with. She has taken to sleeping with her head down at the foot end of the bed as well!!! She fell asleep after dinner on the couch tonight at around 6:45pm, coz she is not really wanting her afternoon nap anymore. Bugger. I can’t be bothered fighting it. Not worth it. If she is on the way home from somewhere in the car, and she falls asleep, then she will transfer to bed, and stay asleep for a good while. But, if I ask her to go to bed in the afternoon, she is not overly interested. We had a big ‘fight’ over dinner tonight. She put on the tears (as she is very good at), and did the big sook thing. I made her sit and eat. Finally it was all gone = no worries at all. When she will learn that it is much easier to just eat rather than fight and eat – I will never know!

Max is a little guts. I am also giving him tinned food. I put the tinned stuff in his bowl first, and the dry on top – the idea being that he eats the dry to get to the tinned. No. Not our Max – he nudges the dry food out of the way, and tucks into the tinned! His tummy is so round after a feed – and his farts are so pongy! Hervey got a good feed the other night. While I was out, our ‘over the road neighbour’ came over and took the BBQ back to their house (I hadn’t used it since Wilbur last cooked eggs on itl, and was a little embarrassed to hear that there were four eggshells still in the BBQ!), for a barby. Apparently Hervey was there the whole time – eating all the scraps! Didn’t get any beer though!!! He’s sitting next to me now – letting out lovely little snores and grunts (he’s as louder than any man!!). – I am going to sit on the couch and have a relax before bed. Make a nice cup of tea, and watch whatever rubbish is on TV, or I might do a bit of crochet (I taught myself the other night – it’s like knitting, but with a single hook instead of two needles!).

Golly gosh – sorry – no pictures tonight- there are some sitting lazily in my camera – I’ll sort that out tomorrow!

Went to the Pet Expo today.  Silly me – I thought I’d challenge myself a little, and take both M’s and the two dogs.  It was like having four children under the age of four – only two of them are unable to talk (three really – if you count M2!), and two of them have four legs that are inclined to tangle everywhere!  It was fun…….. sort of – not at all relaxing!  Too bbusy trying to keep up with my little clan!  Oh well – I learnt my lesson!

Hey- if anyone tried to comment, and the blog doesn’t let you – try the email link in the sidebar over there!  Apparently people have been having troubles commenting – it’s a pity – coz I love to hear from you all!

sc dc tr ttr dtr

Posted on November 23, 2006

Yep – I am starting to talk in code – my girls have sent me mad! No – not reallly – it’s my foray into the blue-rinse era! I have taken up crocheting. yes – I know – I need another hobby like I need a hole in the head. But – I spend too much time at this computer of a night – so when the girls are in bed, I can do some work on the computer, and then wind down by dabbling in some hooking. I found I was going to bed wiht lots of code (html and php) running through my head, and trying to problem solve that AND go to sleep all at once, was not working! So – I picked up a crochet needle, some foul-looking purple wool, and I’m on my way. I also picked up this:

The Happy Hooker. NOT as the name implies – a little bit of undercover ‘night work’ (if ya know what I mean – *wink wink*), but a great crochet how to book! It’s not just for the blue-rinse set after all! I also picked up (apparently you save if you get two items at once….hmmmmm!) -

Another great little resource, although not as many cool pictures as the first book – but never the less – a real winner! Thanks Amazon for making me spend more than I intended! Love your work!!!!!

Speaking of hobbies- here’s a couple of layouts…..

My cheeky cheeky tiddler…

Credits can be found here.

AND – thos eyed look so beautiful – I just had to take one of those photos and give it a page of its own….

Credits can be found here. Gotta love the dried up snot as well!

Wilbur is going to be on the job until after the New Year – so – we are moving Christmas until the first week of January. I would much prefer to celebrate it with him rather than without – and it just means leaving the Christmas tree up for a little longer than usual. Speaking of trees – I need to get a newie this year. Our old one (mind you – it was only three years ‘old’) got eaten by rats in the shed. Eewww. So – new tree hunting I will go.. Do I get a real one – or go the fakey? I think maybe the real one – they are quite cheap – $29.oo, and they smell so yumboliscious!I think I will have to take the girls to Santa’s Place to check it out! I’m really looking forward to getting into the spirit of Christmas this year! I even have my Christmas cards ready to go (oh – apart from the whole writing on them and sending them bit!). I’d really like to get a ‘countdown calendar’ – oh gosh – what are they called – I can’t for the life of me remember – but you open a little flap each day leading up to Christmas, Arrgh – my memory is like a sieve. Someone remind me please, and tell me where in Australia I can get hold of one.

Went rowing again last night. Surfboat rowing. Not piddly little dinghy rowing, but big ginormous ‘oars longer than I am’ rowing. I love to be on the water. Didn’t love the whole blister on my hand thing. These are not your little blisters, but the big full-blown ‘prick me with a pin and stuff will fly out and hit you in the eye’ type of blister. See – I added another hobby to my ever growing list. Anything to keep busy I guess!

bits and pieces……

Posted on November 21, 2006

The girls had crèche yesterday, and it was super hot. I picked then up at around 5:15pm ish (I had dropped them off at 7:15am – coz they were up and about by 6am!). I had dinner ready and Mackenzie sat down to eat it. Madison took one look at it and burst into tears. You know – mouth wide open, jumping up and down – tantrum type of thing. I kept calm and ended up putting her in bed with no dinner (her choice) by 6pm. She slept without a sound until 6am this morning! Now’s she’s being a pain in the backside!

On the other hand – Mackenzie did not. She ate all her dinner, plus Madison’s, plus yoghurt (she calls it goyo – but it isn’t very clear!). The she wanted a ‘bik ‘. There were none left (coz she had eaten them all!), so I gave her half a banana (only $8 a kilo!). We had a cuddle until 7:15pm at which it was bedtime. As it was hot – she was just in shorts and singlet. By 8:45pm, after she had come out to me for what must have been the 10^th time – she finally went to sleep. Little bugger. Then she was up again before Madison this morning. She is soo tired – but will not sleep enough!

I tell you what – this laptop needs a good cleaning up – it keeps stopping on me. I am getting frustrated!

I took Max and Hervey to the beach yesterday arvo. Of course Hervey loved it and played plenty of ball. Max on the other hand – he has a long way to go until he is a beach dog!!! He was a bit crook yesterday – he ate some old food I put down for Hervey. In fact – he hates his puppy food thatWill bought – and only wants to eat Hervey’s food. I spoke to the vet about it when I got Max weighed yesterday (for his worming tablet), and she said to just persevere. He’ll eat it when he gets super hungry. The last thing I need is a fussy dog!

I swam another 1km yesterday morning. I am just closing my eyes and putting my blinkers on – to all the hair and gunk at the bottom of that pool. But gee – it feels good to be swimming again! I always forget how much I miss it until I do it again!

Went to a mate’s house for a BBQ dinner on Sunday night. It was lovely. Poor old Mackenzie fell down the stair though – this is after tripping over a bucket and landing on a brick here at home earlier in the day. She had a huge lump on the back of her head from that one! I will take her to see Dr L tomorrow – he can check her ears – coz she seems to be falling over more than usual lately! We go to see Dr G on Thursday – might finally get some conclusive results about what is going on with her heart. That would be good!

Hey – I saw a Kia Carnival yesterday – it wasn’t the GRANDE but gee it still looks good. They had taken out the backest back seats altogether. So much room – a huge deep boot. Sigh. Looking forward to having one of those!

Hey – I have a little TOOT! I am to be a Guest Artist for the Digital Artsit MAgazine! How cool is that!

Things are starting to calm down a bit now.  I am used to Will and his new job – and that is great!

Umm – photography-wise – haven’t had much of a chance to do alot of snapping.  I am waiting to purchase a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Then I am wanting a backdrop set-up – the stand and two muslin drops – one black and one white!   A reflector will also be handy coz I really want to do natural light – and the space that I have will need a reflector.  AND – when I get some room (in the next millenium!) – THIS would be OK too!  OK – enough dreaming!!!!

Back to reality – M1 is putting on a display coz I haven’t picked out the correct skirt for her.  Wht she can’t pick out her own is completely beyond my comprehension.

having a …..

Posted on November 16, 2006

..lonely moment….

what’s going on….

Posted on November 15, 2006

With the weather? It’s like winter here at present. Very unnatural for this time of year. What happened to nearly Summer? Very disappointing – although my vege-patch is enjoying it immensely! It even hailed today (and last night apparently- but I was lucky enough to sleep through the whole thing!). I have a great photo of the hail – but unfortunately it’s still on the camera!

I have been trying to work hard on my assignment.  It’s due at the end of the month – and I am struggling for time!

Feeling a little down at present – haven’t been able to hit the gym as much as I would like for the past week or so.  With Wilbur starting his new job, the girls being snotty, and me so tired – it just hasn’t happened.  Patience is a virtue I guess.  I need to prioritise more it seems.  And with that – I’m of to do what’s number one on the list – SLEEP!

not until Christmas….

Posted on November 13, 2006

Apparently that’s when Wilbur’s current contract will finish.  Great.

Just a quickie post this morning (I have been up for what seems like EVAH!).

Off to the gym this morning after taking girls to creche.   It’s their creche day today – and they LOVE it.  Creche offers them so much more than what I can – and they just love the interaction with all the other children.  Soo – that means I have the whole day to myself.  I am going to get down and dirty with my website – need to add and customise the blog BTW – that’s something I do – blog customisation – so if you want your wordpresss blog beautified – I can do it $80 AUD will give you a gorgeous blog, and I can alos sort out hosting and domain names at a VERY reasonable price.  Go on – jump on board the blog wagon!!!!!!

juist a quickie….

Posted on November 12, 2006

I need to share my new favourite photo and layout!

Credits can be found here.

So much for relaxing today – took the girls to a play centre this morning – non-stop action, and then this afternoon – the girls from over the road came to play. So – once again – no real nap for either of my two – BUT – both were fast asleep by 7:15pm!  Yay – gotta love quiet time for me!!!!  Why I am not sitting relaxing with a cup of tea – I will never know! Oh yes – I know why – I have a huge assignment due in 20days – and here I am blogging – what a conundrum!

I stumbled across a cool little site today – delightful blogs. I must join soon – once my blog gets delightful that is!!!!!!!!

Hey – check out Designer Digitals – Mindy Terawasa has joined the fantabulous design team – and she has some great stuff!

OK – I must get back to the daily grind – The Creating Garden is coming along well – if only I had more time!!!! Sign up for the newsletter so you are in the ‘know’ (touches the side of my nose in a conspiratorial way!)

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