TRIVIA NIGHT, HOLIDAYS, A "ZINA" CLASS & THE SILLY SEASON

i didn't get a chance to scrap much this week as i was organising the trivia night for kait's school.
each year we have a parents' night out where only the parents attend a function associated with the school.
we have had progressive dinners, a murder mystery night (that wasn't a great success) and last night's trivia night, which according to everyone by the end of the night was a HUGE success.
drew, our gorgeous principal, MC'd the night and did a great job; mark and i marked the answers and handed out the prizes; and about 55 parents and their friends turned up to show just how much trivial information they actually did know.
the theme of the night was op shop formal and some the creations that everyone found were just amazing. the winner of the fancy dress night was one of our kindy dads, dressed in a.......................
wait for it....................
KAFTAN !!!
being so busy on the night naturally i forgot to get pics so i am hoping that someone else did.
i wore a lovely lavendar number, complete with hand painted flowers with gold sparkly highlights, beads, support knee-highs with sandals and completed my ensemble with a straw hat with sunflowers attached and my granny glasses.
JUST STUNNING...!!!
(just hope someone got a pic)

the kids are on holidays - YAY !!!!
i love the holidays....no rushing to get out the door, no harping at them to get homework done or bags unpacked.
kait still has physie training in the leadup to her last zone comp and nationals comp but that's ok.
today we have pretty much done nothing but hung out at home and pottered around.
mark and i even managed a granny nap after lunch which was nice
(and much needed after our late night)

and my most exciting news.....the oh-so-fabulous zina wright is offering classes in her home towards the end of october and i have booked a place. i didn't manage to get into town to pay for it yet but so i hope she has still held my spot.
i have loved and admired zina's gorgeous style since meeting her at a retreat a few years agao and she is one of the nicest people you could meet....and so funny too.
i can remember looking through her albums and just being gobsmacked at her amazing talent and i can remember peering over at her as she scrapped hoping that some of her amazing talent would waft over my way and i could absorb it.
i'll admit...her style isn't to everyone's liking but hey....that's the beauty of this amazing craft.

have been thinking seriously about the rapidly approaching silly season. mark and i both agree that we want to tone down the hectic-ness that seems to flood us every december so we have sat down and put everything in the diary next to the phone that we know we have on and if something else pops up we have to put it in the diary straight away.
at least we won't be double booking like last year.
i have bought some calendars to alter as gifts for the grandparents
(now to get a decent pic of the kids)
as well as some extras to alter for friends.
i think, like us, most people are struggling with making ends meet this year with interest rates rising and the fuel debarcle so handmade gifts are the go this year.
and to be honest, i get so much more satisfaction in making gifts for people and receiving a gift that someone has taken the time to make for me.

and on that note, i will end my waffle.
kait and i are having a girls'-night-in tonight as mark and the boys have headed off to the soccer grand finals for the division the boys both play for
(their team didn't make it)
left over chinese, a video and some scrapping i think.....HMMMM
sounds divine.

enjoy your tomorrow and
GO THE STORM !!!!!!!!

~*~ shazz ~*~

TERRI IRWIN

*copied from a post i made on EMM last night after watching this brave woman share her grief with the world*

"the wind blew softly against her face as she spoke and i felt as though it was steve letting her know that he was still around and watching over her and the kids.

never have i wanted so much to reach out and give someone a hug...just to let her know that the love and support of every australian is with her as she steps forward into a future without her beloved steve.

i pray that i am never in her situation but if i am i hope that i will conduct myself with as much courage and grace as she showed tonight.

god bless you terri and your babies too"


i am humbled by her strength and her love for this amazing man and the life they had together.
makes my problems of the last few days seem very small indeed.

~*~ shazz ~*~

WHY...???

do certain people seem to take such peverse pleasure in doing and saying things knowing full well that the things they do and say will make other people sad...???
how can you get such pleasure out of being so downright mean and nasty...???

and why do i let these kind of people have such an adverse effect on me...???

~*~ shazz ~*~
xo

TIRED

after what has been a full on week of looking after kait and then mark getting ill and lastly me ending up in bed by 8.30 both friday and saturday night, all i can say is i am one tired mummy.

kait continues to get better by the day.
she returned to school today and all her little friends were waiting at the gate for her when we got there this morning. they squealed with delight when she got out of the car and hugged her and asked to see where the drip had gone into her arm - which is still slightly bruised.
all the teachers at the school were shocked at how skinny she was.
she had a good day though...was a little tired by lunchtime but she got through the day so that is a good thing, in my books.

her appointment with the paediatric neurologist is on october 30. her paediatrician, dr ian, would have liked the neurologist to have seen her before he (dr ian) did in october but that's not gonna happen. just hope we can get some answers....we need them and kait needs them too.

no scrapping today but my new CK arrived in the mail so i will probably have good old squizz through it tonight after dinner.

and lastly, i want to send all my love, hugs and positive thoughts to my gorgeous friend ruthy who is going through some "stuff" at the moment.
love ya heaps ruthy and you know where i am if you need me.

hope everyone has a great day tomorrow.
until then.
be happy and smile - makes people wonder what you have been up to...!!!

~*~ shazz ~*~
xox

{SHARING}

thought i would share some of the pages from the album i have been scrapping for my dad and step-mum to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.

the cover of the album.

matt's page - what a smile...!!!

wish i had used a pic taken AFTER jakey had his haircut...!!!


love this pic of my baby girl....she looks so happy and healthy.

have completed several more pages of their other grandchildren but thought i better not share them without the permission from my sisters and brothers - you will just have to take my word for it...they are great....ROTFL!!!
don't know what is up with our silly scanner but the pages are such different colours IRL. i got sick of playing around with them for ages this afternoon so this is as good as it gets.

kait is well today - she has been eating well and getting lots of rest.
i am going to take her down to physie this afternoon to see the girls in her group - she really wants to do some practise but i will see how she goes when we get there.

enjoy the rest of the day.

~*~ shazz ~*~
xox

SO MUCH BETTER

kait is so much better.
and each day she gets a little stronger.

she is watching lots of DVDs (helps having a brother who works for Video Ezy...LOL) and this afternoon has wandered up into her room and has been colouring in and playing with her toys.
we played a couple of games of backgammon yesterday - she has her daddy's flair and cut-throat attitude to playing and beat me 3 out of the four times we played...LOL
she is also eating good size meals and drinking lots.
i just hope and pray
(are you listening up there Big Guy...???)
that she will continue to get better as each day passes and that when we finally get to see this paediatric neurologist we will get some answers.

yesterday would have been my darling nana's brithday.
she would have been 85.
it's times like this, with kait being ill, that i miss nana the most. she always called and cooked us a batch of biccies when we had illness in the house. she said it was important to take time to sit and have a cuppa when you were stressed, so she always baked anzac biccies and brought them to our house.
i miss being able to pick up the phone and just call her for a chat and even now, 10 years after her death, i still think "i will just give Nana a quick call to say hello"
if only i could.
her cuddles and advice and her love and support are the things i miss about her.
she was honest and hardworking and supportive and just so cuddly.
oh how i miss her.

i managed to do about 30 minutes of scrapping this morning while kait was watching a DVD. i am still trying to get the "grandkids album" for dad and nanny finished.
only 5 more grandchildren to go.....LOL

i hope that everyone is having a great day.

~*~ shazz ~*~
xox

HOME

kait is home...not 100% but home.
a HUGE thank you to everyone who has emailed, left posts at the EMM forum and sms'd.

we got her home last night about 7 p.m.
her paed has given us a referral to a paediatric neurologist in brisbane because FINALLY we got him to agree that her life changed the moment she fell off that bench 4 years ago.
he finally listened to us when we said all this shit with her weight and the migraines and the episodes started that night.

she has dropped in weight from 25.9 kgs when she was weighed a few weeks ago to just over 24kgs when she was weighed yesterday.

now we need to to try and build her up...put some weight back on her tiny little body so next time she gets sick she, at least, has something to fight with.

i think there will be lots of cuddles and kisses and just loving our little girl this week.

so probably not a lot of scrapping being done
(i did get to read lots of scrapping mags in the hospital though and answered lots of questions from nurses and other mums in the ward about scrapping)

thank you again everyone.

~*~ shazz ~*~
xox

UPDATE 2

kait was admitted to hospital with suspected rotar virus.
she is severely dehydrated, has lost almost 3 kgs and is one very ill little girl.
just before i left the hospital they were ringing the paediatrician to get him to order more blood tests...she has broken out in a rash and they are testing for the nasties (menningicoccal for one)

mark is up with her now so i can come home and get some sleep as i have been up since 3 a.m. this morning.
i suspect if they find anything too nasty in her system i will be back up there before morning.

so please....keep my sweet baby girl in your thoughts and prayers.

thanks
~*~ shazz ~*~
xox

UPDATE

kait is still quite ill. her excursion on sunday isn't looking promising.
FINALLY got her in to see a doctor yesterday and got the standard "it's just a virus and will have to run it's course" line.
her paediatrician is away at a conference until monday so if she doesn't go on the excursion (and i pray that she will be well enough to go because she will be heartbroken if she can't) i will call him and get him to see her.
i think he will because the weight has just dropped off her again.
when i had her in the bath the other night she looked up at me and said "i look like a bag of bones mummy".
my poor baby...i just want her to be well again.

actually...i just want her to be well FULLSTOP.
no more illness; no more "failure to thrive"; no more being so weak that she can barely move.

my heartfelt thanks to each and everyone of you that left messages or emailed me
(specially my gorgeous girls marie and ruthy)

i hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
and all the best to the gorgeous chris millar who is having her big crop day tomorrow in brissy....wish i could be there matey....i am sure it will be a blast.
give all the girls a big hug from me, ok...???

~*~ shazz ~*~
xox

MY BABY IS ILL

poor kait is ill again.
i swear it was only the space of 30 minutes last night from when she said, "mummy i feel sick" to when she was throwing up violently, shivering, high temps.
it's these times i would give anything to swap places with her.

we put her into bed with us last night and while mark and i were both lying there this morning, watching her breathe, mark said how thin she was....and she is.
her paediatric appointment is a month away but i can't see that her weight will have increased at all since her last appointment almost 3 months ago.

most people say that she is just thin/fine/tiny and be thankful we aren't battling a weight problem with her at the other end of the scale like many families are these days.
but these people don't know her history (see here)
and as her paediatrician says, had she not had the head injury and the ongoing problems with migraines and these violent bouts of vomitting, he would probably say that yes...she is just thin/fine/tiny.
his theory is that maybe the head injury caused "something" in her head to be altered but all the neurological tests that she has had have all been clear.
the next step will be a visit to a neurologist in either brisbane or sydney where they will do more extensive testing (and unfortunately quite invasive) tests on her brain.
that's a step neither mark nor i want to contemplate at the moment.

thankfully she is sleeping again at the moment. she looks so tiny and frail lying in our big queen size bed.
i just hope whatever is wrong with her will soon pass because she is supposed to be going on her big school excursion next week.
she was so upset last night thinking that maybe she will miss out.

fingers crossed, prayers sent skyward and all the positive vibes i can muster for my baby girl that she will be well again soon.

have a great day everyone

~*~ shazz ~*~
xox

NOTHING MORE TO SAY

what can i say that hasn't already been said about the untimely death of steve irwin.
love or hate the man, no one can ever underestimate the impact he had on australian culture or the way we looked at the more "unseemly" animals that we share this earth with.

death is supposed to happen to the old and the ill.
not to young vibrant dads, who love life and live it to the fullest.
my initial shock and disbelief has been replaced by a numbness that comes from knowing that someone so young and semmingly indestructable is now gone from our midst.

i watched the repeat of his interview with andrew denton last night.
i was glad the kids were in bed and mark was still at work.
it gave me a chance to do a bit of grieving for a man i didn't know personally but whose death affected me as much as if i had lost a friend.
i laughed till i cried and i cried till i laughed.

my thoughts go to his wife terri, his children bindi sue and little bob; his dad; his close friends; his employees and the millions of people who felt like he was their mate.

as one of the talkback hosts said this morning "we are all a little poorer today at his passing but so much the richer by having had him in our lives"
i really do feel like i have lost a friend.

rest in peace steve.

~*~ shazz ~*~
xox

SOMETIMES...

...it is the simple things in life that are the best.

the song playing from my sidebar is one of these things.

a simple song, with simple lyrics, sung simply by a woman with a simply stunning voice.

love it....hope you enjoy it too.

here's to the simple things in life.

have a wonderful day

~*~ shazz ~*~
xox