NOT MUCH TO REPORT

like half of the population i have been fighting this damn flu - i am not ill ("half ill" if that makes any sense) but i am not 100% well either. just keep battling on like you do when you are a mum and have responsibilities.

kait competed in her first inter-club last weekend....she didn't place but i didn't really expect her too. she seems to be so busy this year with soccer and physie and isn't doing the hours of practice that she needs. i think she realises that now and she has started her stretching routine each morning. hopefully soccer will be over for the year soon and she can get back to twice-weekly physie classes which is where i think her downfall has been too.

here she is competing

love the colour of her new leotard this year
i was a little worried it might wash her out a bit but she looked great in it and it really stood out on the floor.

her hair looked great too
(thanks to my friend terri who curled it for me on friday night)

terri, my other friend cheryl and all our kids piled into jim's unit at tweed on friday and saturday night and had a great time. once all the kids were in bed we sat up chatting and laughing - great fun. not sure i would ever go away again with that many kids when i'm not feeling 100% but we coped.

just a few pages to share - one from the scrap lounge CC that was on a few weekends ago that i didn't get finished in time.
love this pic of miss kait taken at the futsal champhionsips in brisbane in april.

and a second one for my CT comittments...using the gorgeous double-sided Bella PPs that rondelle sent to us.
the biggest problem always being which side to use.
cutting out these flowers seemed like a good idea at 11 p.m. last night when i started it but i was pretty much over it by 2 a.m. when i finished.
though it does feel good to be back in the scrapping mood again - welcome home my little mojo
LOL

anyways....mark and i are off to a football (soccer) dinner tonight so i better run and get my glad rags on.

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

~*~ LIVE OUT LOUD ~*~

shazz xo

THE LOUNGE CYBERCROP

we had our monthly cybercrop over at "the lounge" this weekend.
go and check out the challenges - they are a lot of fun.
here is my LO for my challenge...

and this was the criteria that you had to use....
BON'S SCRAPS was the sponsor for this cybercrop.
in honour of this, my challenge is based on Bon's name.

-> create a LO using only brown and/or orange patterned papers and cardstock (your patterned papers should be predominantly orange and/or brown or tonings of these)....but you can use small amounts of white and black for your journalling and/or stamping, stenciling, etc.

->no commercially made embellishments can be used on your LO - you must make them yourself (think handmade flowers, handcut shapes, punched shapes, cutting designs from your patterned papers, doodling, etc)

-> your title must be handcut or stenciled (no die-cuts or machine-cut headings)

-> you must use your own handwriting for your journaling.

-> you can use paint, chalks, ink and stamps (but only brown, orange, black or white) but no brads, sewing, ribbon, brads, stickers, die-cuts, etc.

you can see what the other girls have come up with here
not a lot of entries but those that are there are just gorgeous. the girls have really risen to the challenge i feel.

i hope that you have had a great weekend. been mighty chilly these past few weeks and our fire has more than earned it's keep. we will be looking for another delivery of wood early this coming week i think.

whatever you have done...however you have spent your time and whoever you have chosen to spend your time with, i hope that you have been blessed with lots of smiles, happiness and special moments .

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

~*~ LIVE OUT LOUD ~*~

shazz xo

SOME SCRAPPING AND SOME NEWS

a couple of LOs to share today.

this one is using some of the GORGEOUS bella products from THE LOUNGE CT pack that rondelle sent out.
simply gorgeous co-ordinated products and so easy to work with.
also used some of the UNLEASHED diecuts that are lots of fun and very topical.
for this challenge we had to scrap a LO with the words "MAD ABOUT...." in the title as "Mad About Scrappin" sponsored the challenge for this month.
we also had to include some handmade flowers - lots of the girls that have uploaded so far have used felt which looks great but i used some scraps of PP to make these funky flowers - easy as and FUN to make.
i "altered" the die-cut to change it from "KAPOW" to "MAD" which i thought was pretty cool.
there is no "scrapping rule" that says you have use embellies and PPs as they come.

this pic is of me and our baby girl, miss kait (although she tells me she isn't our baby girl anymore - sorry sweetie - you will ALWAYS be our baby girl) taken at a physie interclub in brisbane a few years ago - i was so ill that day.

this is our friends' baby boy, jack. isn't he just a cutie-patootie....???
we really enjoyed "meeting" jack a few weeks ago when nathan and beck brought him down and we were all quite taken with having a baby in the house again.
this LO uses the "BABY" die-cut from UNLEASHED and is the first time that i used my "new" typewriter for journaling.
let me just say that starting to do the journaling at 11.30 at night was not the best idea i have ever had - and after 6 attempts i was finally happy with what i had done.
turned out pretty cool though i think.

this weekend is the monthly cybercrop over at "THE LOUNGE"
head over here to grab some clues prior to the night and then join us at 7.30 on friday night for lots of fun challenges and some trivia and the infamous "challenge the challengers" challenge that debuted last month - and what a doozy it was i can tell you.

and an exciting bit of news in my inbox today.
i have won a sewing machine
i can't tell you how shocked/thrilled/stoked i am - i was sure that anna at "Living Creatively" had made a mistake until i emailed her back and then she called me.
she also is sending me some entry tickets into the Sydney Stitches and Craft show which i was going to give to my sister but she can't take them.
so i will offer them to a sydney-sider via THE LOUNGE forum i think.
i NEVER win anything so i am still grinning from ear-to-ear about the whole thing.

a quick family update.
mark is nursing torn ligaments in his shoulder after a heavy fall in soccer a week ago. has made sleeping difficult for him and he spent the first few days doped up on panadiene forte. he saw the physio on friday (i think we should have our own revolving entry door at the physios) and has it heavily strapped which is painful in itself.
he tells me he is playing this friday but i have my doubts.
hopefully common sense will prevail.

matt had his first game back last friday night after getting clearance from all his physios/chiros/doctors. i wish he had decided to sit out the rest of the season but you can't tell them i guess. he fell VERY heavily in the first 10 minutes of the game and i was reduced to tears. i know he has worked hard to get his back to as normal as he can, and i know that he has enough brains to stay down when he is hurt but as i told him after the game, it is my job to worry about him.

jakey is still studying hard at school. he missed out on the job he went for at McDonalds - maybe the girl who interviewed him and said, after seeing his awards that he took with him, "i think you might be TOO smart to work here", wasn't joking.
he has picked up some work out at VA (our new business) a few sundays ago and picked up a nice little pay packet at the end of the day.

kait is enjoying her soccer. she played in the school team last week and they won both games and even though she isn't winning a lot of games at club level, she is having a great time.
we are off to surfers in a few weeks for a physie interclub and will be staying at mark's dad's unit with some friends which will be a wonderful weekend.

and me....well, i'm still plodding along. trying to find some balance and peace in my life after so many years of being lost and wandering and broken.
it's happening - it's a slow process - well it did take 44 years to get to be the person i am - but i think i am finally on track to find that peace and balance that i crave.

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

~*~ LIVE OUT LOUD ~*~

shazz xo