Monday, November 26, 2007

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS....

i have FINALLY completed some of my RJR DT projects....it was just another month where the gods seemed to be conspiring against me (in many more ways than i could ever tell you) and i was late in getting my projects sent off to jenny.
do i need a note jen...????

jen also has a great new range of heidi swapp ribbons at a really great price so check those out while you are there.

i have placed an order with jen today so i can't wait to get hold of all the goodies i have ordered.
some ribbons, some felt ribbon and some OTP kaiser craft goodies.

so until jen puts my projects up on her blog, here are a few sneak peeks.

a countdown tree made of delicious BG figgy pudding papers

every christmas tree needs a beautiful star on the top

"and the stockings were hung by the chimney with care"

buttons, bling and even more buttons

hope you have all had a great monday.
happy scrapping and remember...
look for the things in your life that make you smile
~~ and let those you love, know that you do ~~

shazz xo

HAPPY THOUGHT FOR TODAY
i have all but finished my christmas shopping.
just a few more laybys to collect but i do have HEAPS and HEAPS of scrapping to get done before the robust jolly gentleman arrives.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

TAGGED

the gorgeous tracy has tagged me and even though i have completed this tag before i will see if i can come up with 7 new random things about me.

no rules either about linking people and the like.
if you want to take part in this tag, do so on your own blog and just pop back here and let me know.

ok.....7 "new" random things about me that maybe you didn't know.

-> i only ever wagged school once - to line up to get tickets at the local cinema to see "Grease". along with my friends we got the last ten tickets available.

-> i had my appendix out when i was 20 years old.

-> i found out i had another younger brother only two years ago.
we "clicked" immediately and it is like he is a part of me and always has been.

-> i was by my step-dad's bedside and my maternal grandmother's bedside when they passed away.

-> i used to sit on my hair when i was 13.

-> i have had over $10,000 worth of work done on my teeth after a dentist caused them to become crooked and weakened after pulling out the wrong tooth when i was 12.

-> i once performed CPR on a little boy that my friend and i dragged from a backyard pool but sadly he passed away.

so there you go....random things about me that maybe you didn't know.
hope that you are all having a great weekend and getting all that christmas scrapping and preparation done.
i am behind on my RJR DT stuff - it's almost finished jen...i promise.
while you wait for it to appear on jenny's blog (go and see all the beautiful designs the other wonderful DT girls have come up with), pop over and check out all the gorgeous christmas ribbons and goodies she has on offer.

remember to look for the things in your life that make you smile
~~ and let those you love, know that you do ~~

shazz xo

HAPPY THOUGHT FOR TODAY
playing games with kait and mark earlier tonight. the boys are both out for the night and after dinner we played a couple of board games.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

AN ANNIVERSARY OF SORTS....

it was 27 and 1/2 years ago today that, on the prompting of my friend danielle, i peered over my english text book and saw the most beautiful set of brown eyes looking at me from across the room.
danielle whispered to me that she was sure they were looking at me but if they weren't, she wanted to meet the guy who had those eyes.
everytime i looked up from my work and glanced over that way, those big gorgeous brown eyes were staring back at me.
and then at the end of the lesson he stood up and boy...did he have the cutest butt too...LOL
why had i never noticed this boy before...???

at lunch i saw him talking to one of the guys i was friends with and when he walked away i casually wandered over and asked my friend who he was.

"what's going on with you two?" asked my friend, "he was just asking about you !!!"

later that lunchtime, my friend dragged the guy with those big brown eyes over to me and said, "you two obviously have things to talk about"

his name was mark. he played soccer. he sailed catamarans with his father. his family owned one of the bigger car dealerships in town. he had two older sisters and a younger brother.
by the end of lunch we had swapped phone numbers.

every lunchtime after that, he came and sat with me and we talked.
i had lots going on in my life at that point in time. ian, my cousin, who had lived with us and was like a big brother to me, had been caught in singapore with drugs and there was so much tension at home as we fought the authorities to get him out of jail.

i was still broken and fragile and probably a little out of control after years of abuse as a child.
i didn't trust many people but this guy had a way of making feel like i was special and important and that i mattered.

it took a few weeks for him to eventually ask me out. we went to the cinema to see ice castles.
that first date we didn't even kiss...he just sat with his arm around my shoulder and after the movie was over, he held my hand as we left the cinema.
i can remember thinking that maybe had decided he didn't really like me after all because, as we all know, the gauge of whether a boy likes you when you are 16, is whether they kiss, or in some cases, attempt to kiss you.

but the lunchtime visits continued, and the occasional phone call.
and the rumour mill of 16 year olds and the bitchiness of teenage girls, as it does, worked overtime.
girls walked up to me at school and told me he liked someone else too and was trying to choose between us. being the person i was at that time, i spent hours at night crying and writing these painful letters to him (which i never sent), begging him to pick me over whoever this other girl was, promising that i would always love him.
looking back i must have looked so desperate and dateless.

a few weeks later i was at the beach with my family and i looked up to see this figure running up the beach towards us. it all sounds so corny and so cliche but i can still remember what he was wearing and what i had on too.
i introduced him to my mum and step-dad, we sat on the beach and talked.
when mum called me to go, he leaned over, put his hand on my cheek and kissed me.
it wasn't a passionate, "from-here-to-eternity" rolling-in-the-sand kiss, but a gentle first kiss.
i will never forget how i felt but i do remember thinking one thing.....

"this is the man i will spend the rest of my life with"

and the rest, so they say, is history
and here we are.....
3 kids,
2 dogs,
a mortgage,
a business,
almost 21 years of marriage
later.

mark and i at my 21st in 1985
look how young and in love and skinny we were...LOL
(i looked for some earlier photos of us but tis is all i could find)

so happy anniversary to us darl.
the road to this point hasn't always been an eight lane highway.
in fact at times it has resembled a country lane full of potholes.
but i still do love you.
thank you for 27 1/2 years of happiness and love, tears and joy, friendship and laughter.
thank you for our three beautiful children and fulfilling my dream of being part of a loving family.
thank you for believing in me when no one else did.
thank you for standing by me when no one else would.
thank you for being my anchor when the stormy seas of life got really really rough.

have a wonderful day everyone
and remember to look for the things in your life that make you smile
~~ and let those you love, know that you do ~~

shazz xo

HAPPY THOUGHT FOR TODAY
he loves me
he loves me not
he loves me
he loves me not

no.....he really does love me !!!!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

THE SONG SAYS IT ALL

weren't they just the cutest little bugs you ever did see...???
this LO has been in my head for ages and it came together in about an hour which is quick for me.

i have lots to update but also lots to keep me busy - EMMie scrapping, christmas gifts and cards, DT projects for RJR - (plus lots on my mind at the moment which is seriously messing with my head - hence the change in my choice of song - i'm just a little bit "over" being "easy-going-shazz") so i hope to find some balance over the weekend and get an update done.

have a great weekend everone and remember....to look for the things in your life that make you smile
~~ and let those you love, know that you do ~~

shazz xo

HAPPY THOUGHT FOR TODAY
jake has finished his school certificate and feels he has done well. he is SO happy to be finished with history and geography and science - his least favourite subjects - and was doing the "happy dance" when he arrived home from those exams this past week.
although he is 100% sure he is going onto year 11 and 12, i feel like another chapter of his schooling life has closed which is kinda sad (for me anyways)

Thursday, November 01, 2007

SCRAPPING SHARING

this is the last of my EMMie projects for October.
YAY !!!

this was based on a sketch by sara one of the EMM DT members.
who would have thought a pic with such bright colours in it would have worked so well with a green/pink/white colour combo...???

this is my OTP project for September/October.
it is a baby journal for the daughter of my friend at work. i hope she likes it.
man i HATE doing OTP projects. yet there are some people who just LOVE to do them. i really struggle to do them every two months for the EMMies, i can tell you.

only 7 more sleeps until the EMM retreat and i have SO much to get done. ATCs, kits to pack, chocolate stash to buy....LOL
plus i have been busy tying hundreds of ribbon bows for my ribbon hat which is part of the saturday night fun and frivolity.

anyway....i just realised the time....OMG...!!!
i better toddle off to bed....have a great thursday and remember to look for the things in your life that make you smile
~~ and let those you love, know that you do ~~

shazz xo

HAPPY THOUGHT FOR TODAY
mark's aunt ruthie, uncle colin and aunt helen are visiting from victoria and i am making a quick trip up to bruns (brunswick heads) to see them on saturday.
they are staying with mark's other aunt joanie and i am SO looking forward to catching up with these gorgeous and amazing people who have welcomed me so lovingly into their family.