SOOCER MUM

i have been a soccer mum since my boys first started playing soccer when they were 6.
(these are pics of the boys that i took last year.
*NOTE TO SELF*...take pics of the boys next week at soccer)
before that i was a soccer girlfriend when mark played while we were still at highschool.
i have also been a soccer wife - mark had a run with the over 35s a few years ago.

each game i watch the boys play fills me with pride and inspiration, fear and trepidation.
yesterday was no different.

jake plays with an grade 16 side.
yesterday they played the side that beat them earlier this year 11 - 1. sounds like a huge score but they had a full side + 3 reserves; we had only 9 boys on the paddock.
yesterday they held them out to only 1 - nil. i think the boys can hold their heads up with pride.

last night we watched matt play in the premier reserves side for his old club, italo stars.
they beat the team they played 4 - 1. matt scored 2 of the goals.
he then backed up for the premier side but only warmed the bench this time.

like i said, each time i watch the boys play i have such mixed emotions.

they are both great soccer players; both have different approaches to the game - matt's abilities lie in his strength, his ball control and his tenacity - he just never gives up the chase.
jakey's abilities lie in being able to read the game play and his ability to organise his other team members, according to how the game is being played.

i am inspired by their devotion to the game.
they both take their training and positions in the team very seriously and often spend hours away from the paddock talking soccer strategies and plays with mark. they watch videos of games, they read soccer mags, they go to watch the teams they know they will be playing in future weeks and take notes on players they think they will need to watch.
they both concentrate on their fitness and their nutrition.

yet i watch each game with fear in my heart.
i hate watching the boys go up for a "header" against another player - head clashes are common.
last week matt took a severe knock to the head that saw him on the ground for far longer than i thought was normal. but he still got to his feet, shook his head to clear it and finished the game.
as they get older and the play gets rougher i have to stop myself (and more than once it has been mark stopping me from jumping up) for yelling out for the opposition to leave my boys alone.
this week matt was shoulder charged and came down heavily on his shoulder but again he shook off his pain and despite the coach repeatedly asking him was he ok, he carried on with the game.
jakey tends to hang back a bit and not get so much involved in the "rough and tumble" but as he grows in height and starts to bulk up i can see the day coming when my heart will lurch everytime he goes in for a tackle.

i just wanted to "write" my thought down about the boys and their soccer - thanks for those of you who have read this far.

i have been busy scrapping all day - will post the finished los when i get them done.
some of the layouts are for the new "PIECES OF ME" thread that is starting up on tca tomorrow and i am co-ordinating it. pop on over and have a look.
i also have almost completed a frame for my sister jo for her birthday that was a few weeks back. i am so happy with it and i hope that she likes it too. piccies soon i promise.

hope that you have had a happy and productive weekend and that the coming week is full of happy times and smiles for you all.

~*~ shazz ~*~
xo

p.s. a very happy birthday to the totally gorgeous, outrageous and my all-round fun gal-pal, ruthy.....love ya babe.
i hope that you had a wonderful day with your family and friends and that you are always blessed with as much happiness and joy that you give to others.
xo

I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO.......

...working mums.

i am almost finished my 2 weeks stint of working everyday.
not all day mind you, just 1/2 days - usually about 4 hours.

and to put it into one word.....i am
EXHAUSTED!!!!

i don't know whether it is the fact i have worked each day for the past two weeks with my eyes glued to a computer screen; or the fact that i have started walking again in the mornings (the alarm goes off at 5.45 a.m. and i am up walking around the hockey fields by 6.30); or the fact that i have tried to do things with kait each afternoon when i get home from work along with the washing, ironing, tidying, preparing meals, etc.; or the insomnia and constant waking up because of terrible dreams the past few weeks.

whatever it is i am looking forward to tomorrow being my last day of work before going back to my one day a week.

so to all you working mums - my whole hearted praise and admiration cause i am sure i couldn't do it.

an early night tonight after i do some more ironing to try and stay on top of things.

wishing you a happy tomorrow and if you want to have some fun and scrap and chat at the same time, tca is having a cybercrop tomorrow night starting at 7.30 p.m.

~*~ shazz ~*~

LEST WE FORGET

this is the smile of freedom on the face of my nine year old daughter.


i pray that in her lifetime she never knows the horrors of war;
that she can always live in peace and she will always know what freedom is;
that she never has to mourn the loss of a loved one killed fighting to maintain that freedom;
that she may always be blessed with a life filled with love, freedom and happiness and not one of fear, persecution and sadness.

thank you to those men and women who fought so that she may know a life filled with freedom and peace.
thank you to those the men and women who paid the ultimate price for my daughter's freedom

~~ LEST WE FORGET ~~

TRAGEDY

i was out walking this morning and heard the first of the sirens at about 6.45. they wailed for more than 45 minutes. i knew something terrible had happened.

mark commented on the number of sirens that had gone past the top of estate, when i walked in the door after my walk.

mark called me at 8.30 to say that a semi (a double B) had tipped over on the infamous alphadale crossroads, about 5 mins drive from our house, and that the driver was still trapped. he wanted me to be careful as i made my way to work as the traffic had been reduced to a single lane under the control of the police.

at 9 i left the house and when i came around the corner onto the scene of the accident, i unfortunately found myself at the head of the line when the police stopped our line of traffic.
i tried not to look at the mangled wreck as i sat there. i prayed that the driver and any passengers he may have had were ok but it didn't look good from where i was.
the officer came over and told me there would be about a 10 minute wait.

i really didn't want to look.
but what is it about humans that make us turn our heads to look at accidents we pass...???
in my case i guess it is curiosity, fear that it is someone i might know, and a silent stocktake of where mark and the kids are so i know there is no chance that it is one of them in the accident.

as i sat there thinking about the family of the poor driver, the tarp covering the cab was caught by a gust of wind and i saw a bag being carefully carried to another area on the side of the road and gently laid on the ground.
a man, who i presume was the rescue services chaplain, lay his hand gently on the top of the bag and bowed his head.
it was an awful moment in time but one i couldn't tear my eyes away from.
i could do nothing to hold back the tears that rolled down my cheeks.

i have just learned that 2 men were killed in the accident. no other vehicle was involved, despite the fact all our couriers coming into work today told us that the truck had crushed a car.

i feel so sad for the family of the men killed. i know first hand what it is like for a family to answer a knock at the door only to find the police standing there having to do, what is probably, the worst job in the world.

as yet, no one has come forward to say they witnessed how the truck rolled.
the accident was phoned into police by people who happened upon the scene on their way to work.

i have felt sad and teary all day today.
i probably don't know who these men are but for one brief moment in time their deaths meant something to me and became part of my life. i felt pain and such deep sadness at their loss.

i have hugged mark often today (not very appropriate fro the work environment but who cares) and i have said many silent prayers for the families of these poor men.

sorry to dump on you again guys.
but i really needed to talk about what i witnessed and how i feel.

i am glad i don't have to work tomorrow.
i don't think i can face driving past there again for a few days.

~*~ shazz ~*~

EASTER TAG....!!!

i haven't done a tag in ages but seeing it is about chocolate.....how could i resist.
(thanks marie)

1. What are your feelings towards chocolate - love it, hate it or not really fussed?
is there anyone out there who can truly say they hate chocolate - not me, that's for sure.

2. What is your favourite type of chocolate - milk, dark, white or some other type?
milk chocolate

3. What is your favourite brand of chocolate - eg. Lindt, Toblerone, Cadbury... What do you buy for you as a treat? cadbury's fruit and nut

4. What chocolate do you not like, that probably everyone else loves?
rum and raisen

5. If chocolate is not your vice, what is? What do you sneak from the pantry when no one is looking? What do you get to treat yourself and indulge?
my vice is men in uniforms and i have just got up from the computer and gone to the pantry but alas.... there isn't one in there for me to sneak out to treat and indulge myself....poo poo.

6. Do you have to buy yourself an Easter Egg or does your DH/family actually manage to remember?
i normally don't get an easter egg but matt (ds1) surprised mark and i with an egg this year. kait can't have a large amount of chocolate for medical reasons so we really cut back on chocolates this year and the long earred chappy dropped some dvds off instead.

7. Do your children give out Easter eggs or chocolates to all their classmates & teachers at school?
no...the school ladies auxilliary (sp??) delivers a few small eggs to each child (the beauty of small school numbers) and i figure that most kids would get enough anyways. the fact that kait can't have chocolate, i think it would be cruel for her to hand it out to her friends.
and let's face it, that's not what easter is all about anyways.

i now tag the ruthys - aussie ruth and kiwi ruth.

thanks to those of you who offered support after my last post.
sorry i was such a sooky boom boom la la but i was feeling so very low.
a special thank you to the gorgeous marie who, as she always can, brightened my heart with her lovely words in an email.
today has been better....and tomorrow will be even better again.
and despite changing all the beds, cleaning both the bathrooms and doing 8 (YES.....8!!!) loads of washing and next to no scrapping, i am feeling ok about the things that upset me so much yesterday.

hope to have some scrapping to share tomorrow...i have some serious scrapping to get done in the next week or so.

~*~ shazz ~*~

p.s. i have changed my music too - something a little more upbeat - the corny, toe-tapping vengaboys hit "boom boom boom boom"
crank up your sound and sing along.
i promise you will be humming it all day.....lol

WHY...???

...am i so out of sorts this week...???

- is it because i have had to work every day after such a tiring weekend...???

- is it because i haven't been able to scrap...???

- is it because i have had my dad and step-mum staying with us and despite loving them dearly it has been draining trying to cope with dad's depression and with my step-mum's slightly over-bearing attitude to dad.

- is it my shock at finding out that a dear friend has lied to me about certain things in the past and i haven't yet been able to confront her despite her being so angry at her that i have ignored phonecalls, emails and sms messages from her for the past few weeks.

- is it realising that no matter how hard i have tried i will never "fit into" certain groups that i thought i wanted to be a part of.

- is it the death of another young man on our roads that has brought back such painful memories and nightmares of losing our friends' daughter in similar circumstances a few years ago.

- is it mark's mother's condescending attitude and need to ridicule me in front of others that is wearing so bloody thin after 26 years.

whatever has me so out of sorts and angry and frustrated and sad,
i wish it would just go away.

i have tried so hard to be thankful for the blessings in my life and i have tried so hard to put on a happy face for mark and the kids.
i have smiled through gritted teeth at customers at work who have been so demanding and so pig-headed about things (what idiot invented the adage "the customer is always right"? - because i am here to tell you, it ain't true...!!!)
i have tried to be patient with dad as he struggles to adjust to life as a retiree.

maybe i do need to crawl into my scrapping room and lose myself in the art that i love.

i am sorry if i have depressed any of you with this post but i have let my anger and frustrations and sorrow build up to almost bursting point and getting it out here on my blog, i will admit, has helped.

have a great day ladies.
i hope when i blog again i will be in a better frame of mind and have some work to share

~*~ shazz ~*~

WEEKEND ROUND UP

this was our weekend away - make a cuppa before you begin and happy reading....lol

* i thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with my gorgeous husband on so many different levels. we love our kids with every fibre of our beings but it was nice to be husband and wife again for a few days without the added weight of being a dad and mum too. and let's face it 9 hours in a car together does force you into conversations to help pass the time - not that talking to mark is ever something i have to force.
love you babe and thanks for getting us out there and back in one piece
(despite me getting us lost in brisbane of all places)


* it was great to go to a different part of australia and do a little bit of exploring. made me appreciate living near the coast and in a bigger town even more.

*on the way to taroom we caught up with the oh-so gorgeous ruthy, her daughters, emily and gabby and her lovely sil, julie. mark helped em out with a computer problem she had, ruthy made morning tea and we all sat in ruthy's lovey NEAT and relatively new scrapping room while i tried not to drool on her albums as i looked through them. took some great pics (they are on ruthy's camera though - including a special message for a special friend that will be revealed soon *wink*) and just laughed and laughed. i am so looking forward to the scrap heap retreat in july now.

* nathan and bec's wedding was "interesting" with some very explosive family dynamics that were barely contained over the weekend. poor bec was just on tenderhooks all day saturday but some fairly stern words from her extended family to the "troublemakers" seemed to smooth things over. her and nath were so appreciative that so many of their friends travelled so far to share in their special day. it's just a shame that petty jealousies and nit-picking by certain family members couldn't be put aside to make their day special for them.
bec's nan put on a huge seafood feast for us on the friday night as it was good friday. it was a nice relaxing way to meet people who would be attending the wedding and i spent ages talking cameras and photography with the guy who took the wedding pics.
most of bec and nathan's friends pitched in on sunday morning and helped with the clean up of the town hall where we had the reception - "many hands make light work" is the saying and it was certainly true on sunday morning.

here are just a few happy snaps from nath and bec's special day.

nath, bec and nath's mum and dad, pam and warwick
pam and wawrick cooked a lovely bbq breakfast in the park the morning after the wedding.

the old milk truck that took the wedding party off to have their photos taken.
pity the guys all had to get out and push when it wouldn't start on the way back to the reception...lol

their gorgeous (and yummy) cake.
each cake was a different type of mud cake - chocolate, white chocolate and caramel.
and yes....those flowers were real.

the amazing bread rolls that were stamped with bec and nath's names.
the people at out table had all sorts of weird and wonderful theories as to how they were created.
i went with the oompa loompa theory....lol

there were so many people taking pics that mark and i eventually gave up on getting a perfect pic of them so we just snapped whatever we could - not perfect pics but we will get some of them off nath and bec once they are settled back in darwin.

* after learning that my gorgeous friend miss marie was a native to the area that we visited i took a few "here's proof" snaps for her.
hope you like them, marie.

don't quite know how that strange woman got in the pic....!!!

proof we were actually, almost there....!!!

* on the way back home yesterday we went through toowoomba and went to look at the old house that mark lived in when he was at uni up there before we were married.
it has changed SO much but just being back in that street and feeling very nostalgic brought me to floods of tears.
mark and i had so much fun in that house and we then spent the rest of the trip back into brisbane reminiscing about old times and old friends. our life is good now but part of me longs to go back to those days when it was just the two of us and we were so in love and young.
like i said before, we wouldn't trade our kids for anything and we love them with every inch of our hearts but life was so much simpler then and i guess a lot less hurried.
oh dear....i am getting all nostalgic and teary here.

* the kids had a ball with nanny and grandad. kait got her scarf knitted and nanny has gone on and knitted another 4 today for the mother's day stall i am running at school. she is a knitting demon with those needles i can tell you.
they all had a visit from the easter bunny although being a chocolate-free household because kait can't have it saw minimal eggs delivered - they were replcaed by dvds this year.

* i have to work 1/2 days for the next two weeks. "not happy jan" that mark authorised holidays for the other girl in the office during school hols (she doesn't have any school aged kids)
let's just say he won't be doing that again.
i spent all my school hols when i was a kid being farmed out because mum worked and i vowed i wouldn't do that to my kids.
hmmmm....like i said "not happy jan"

if you have read this far.....well done.
if you have gone to sleep, it's time to wake up and get yourself off to bed.

thanks for reading my blog and a special thanks to those who leave comments.
it's nice to know that i have friends out there in cyberland.
it's even nicer to meet some of you in person *waving ruthy*
and it will be the "ultimate nice" when i finally get to meet some of you in person, some day soon *winking miss marie*

i wish you all a happy tomorrow.

~*~ shazz ~*~

HOME SAFE AND SOUND

a very very quick post to say that mark and i are home safe and sound.
such a busy weekend....so much news, such a lovely wedding and sooooooooo many kms under our belts.
so many wonderful memories to share with you - but best of all was catching up with the totally gorgeous and inspirational miss ruthy clarke, the lovely emily, the gorgeous miss gabby and the lovely miss julie.
**BIG WAVE AND HUGS TO YOU ALL GIRLS**

off to sleep in my very own bed now
till tomorrow

~*~ shazz ~*~

HAPPY EASTER AND SAFE TRAVELS

wishing you all a very happy easter.

if you are travelling (and mark and i are travelling out to a wedding at taroom - 8 1/2 hrs away) please be safe. take breaks when you need it, don't drink and drive - my god....i sound like my mother !!!

i hope the long-earred chappy hops by your home and leaves some eggs too.
dunno what it is but NOTHING tatses yummier than second-rate chocolate wrapped in foil shapped like a bunny.

we are spending easter without the kids for the first time ever and i have found myself in tears more than once today contemplating waking up easter sunday without them.
they will have a ball here with grandad and nanny though.
they took some pics tonight for us to keep on the camera to remember them by.

"HAPPY EASTER MUMMY"

hmmmmmm...WHAT THE...???
gotta love my babies.

kait won first place in the egg decorating competition at school today and she got most commendable for her hat. she designed the hat herself but nanny and i helped her construct it and she thought up the idea for the eggs herself. i was very proud of her.



my friend dee and i thought we would get in on the act by donning the kids hats and getting our pic snapped.
"noice, unusual, noice" ROTFL


grandad and nanny also got to meet their grandson today. and it was also my sister. jo's birthday
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS"


kye is doing REALLY well - he was 7lbs 11 ozs born and now at 6 weeks is a whopping 12lbs 1ozs.
such a dear sweet little man.

sorry about all the pics but i thought it would give you something exciting to look at instead of reading about my thrilling life....lol

be good girls and i will be back on monday night.

~*~ shazz ~*~

p.s. hope you like the music change - just LURVE "3 doors down"

I HAVE........

MUSIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

some of it is pretty daggy but i like it.
and if you don't......just turn ya speakers down and hum along to the music that is playing in your own head.

have a great day ladies

~*~ shazz ~*~

THANK YOU

...to all those lovely ladies who wished us luck with mark's appointment with the skin specialist, either via this blog or by email.

we are breathing another sigh of relief that he has been given the all clear again. his next appointment isn't until september now. he does have a few spots that we have to keep an eye on but in some cases they are better left - i would have thought they would have been better to have been removed - but the doctor he sees is the top skin cancer guy in qld so i guess he knows what he is on about.

so again....life goes on for us - complete with sun screen, hats, shirts and a little bit of faith that all will be ok.

i completed a cj on the weekend, finished my sister's birth announcements for her, made a wedding card for this wedding we are off too and spent ages looking at online galleries
(resulting in a combination of being inspired and depressed).

i was lead to these via the gorgeous chris millar's blog - don't i wish wish wish i could afford and justify getting one. how lucky is chris to have been rak'd one.

i was talking to the lovely miss kim from perth last night and along with a few others, she has been inspired to do at least 10 los before adding to her stash (see the inspiration behind the idea here - and man does't THIS lady have a gorgeous scrapping style...???) - i think i need to do this too. my stash is out of control, my scraproom is mess central and my frustration with not using all those "i must have these" items grows everytime i get a tarisota collection delivered or see something i really want and realise i just don't have the room (or the money) to buy it.
so no more shopping for me until 10 los are completed. and i will share them here on my blog so i can keep myself honest.

i hope you all have a great day. i will be busy getting beds made up and starting getting organised for the wedding mark and i are off to on friday.
and some scrapping too i hope

love to you all
~*~ shazz ~*~

*edited after reading back* thanks for your comment cindy about THAT lo but it was the wrong one and i can't find where i saved the right one so i just took out the link - so your comment makes sense to me but won't to anyone else....lol.

{what the...???}

what is going on with you mr blogger...???
have had trouble accessing my comments, half my side bar is missing, i couldn't get the link button to work or upload any pics last night and none of my links in my side bar worked...!!!
so whatever is going on with you, get it fixed quick.

not much to report.
mark has his appointment in brisbane this afternoon with the skin cancer specialist. fingers crossed, prayers said, goat sacrificed....whatever it takes to get some good news.
am having my hair coloured and tizzied up today in preperation for the wedding we are going to next weekend. always love that few hours of pampering and cherina, my hairdresser and i always have a good old chin wag and catch up.
dad and erica arrive on tuesday to look after the kids next weekend. this will be the first easter we have ever spent away from our kids - kait has cried buckets of tears already cause she doesn't want us to be away at this wedding (all i can say nath and bec is that you guys must be special for mark to agree not to be here for easter) matt and jakey are a little bigger and not so distressed about it but kait is just so sad that mummy and daddy won't be here. she seems ever so fearful that we will have an accident and not be coming home - isn't it funny how their little minds tick over about such things. so lots of cuddles and reassurances over the coming few days.
once she gets nanny and grandad here though, she will be fine. she loves having them visit and nanny is bringing up her knitting needles and they are going to knit a scarf.
alex, matt's best friend and our neighbour, turned 18 yesterday. he was so excited about "the big day". the only down side is that his dad, rob, who sadly passed away 2 years ago wasn't here to take him to the pub for a beer. so mark offered to take him up when he got home last night. instead they bought some beer and bought it back here and had a few while they sat around and talked about all the normal "blokey" things. i love alex as if he was one of my own - he gets fed, yelled at, made to clean up the kitchen after the boys have a marathon cooking session (ALWAYS steak, eggs and chips) and he gets a cuddle when he needs it too.
he really misses his dad - we all do - but i am glad that we could help make his day a little special for him. i really think, dell, his mum, is at a loss sometimes as to how to deal with him and help him over the rough times.
anyways....the morning is racing away.
have a great day everyone

~*~ shazz ~*~

p.s. happy birthday to my dad for tomorrow - not that he reads my blog.
enjoy your day and i look forward to giving you a cuddle when i see you on tuesday.
love you daddy xxoo

TODAY IS WEDNESDAY !!!!

well here it is wednesday already - where has the week gone...???

i started walking again bright and early monday morning (6 a.m. to be exact) and walked again yesterday and as a result of the damp ground leading to wet socks and the bottom of my trackies and not having my walking shoes on for a few months i have ended up with massive blisters on my heels - hurt like sin (especially after they burst yesterday.....EWWWWWW), look gross and should make wearing sling back shoes to a wedding next week VERY interesting.

still haven't photographed my scrapping from the weekend but will do so soon.

i booked a place at the retreat that the scrap heap are running in late july at margate. i am tagging along with the gorgeous ruthy clarke, her daughter emily and her sil, julie - thanks ruthy for allowing me to do so. i am looking forward to it and have started ferretting my pennies away so i can have a little splurge up there.

debra, my "boss" from tca, paid me a visit on sunday. it was great to finally meet debra in person and sit a while and chat to her over a cuppa. we tossed around a few ideas about scrapping and a project for her site. we may only be a little site but it is visited by a lovely bunch of ladies. and debra has some really good prices in her store.

i was also stoked BIG TIME to be the first person to post a comment on julie love's blog and she is going to scrap a lo for me. i can't wait. i don't "know" julie but i have admired her work for ages. i can't wait to see what she scraps for me.

woke this morning at 5 a.m. to a massive storm. thunder, lightning - the whole box and dice. what a gorgeous way to wake up. i love storms - despite my fears of a gum tree branch coming down on the house. i snuggled up next to mark until his alarm went off at 5.30. love snuggling with my fella.

mark has to see the skin specialist this friday in brisbane. just a check up but i am always fearful of what they may find. usually he gets a good report - "see you in 6 months mr pratten" - but we have had more than a few scares over the past few years. he copes in the week leading up to his appointment by working long hours and avoiding talking to me about it. i cope by stressing about it and having horrendous nightmares about him not being around - it was a doozie last night.
"what will be will be" is how i am trying to look at it and if there is a problem we will just have to cope with it the best we can. we have coped with bad news in the past, even though i didn't think we ever would when the diagnosis wasn't good. just gotta be psoitive and hold onto the love that we have for each other and our kids.
skin cancer is an insidious disease - the damage was done when he was young and there is nothing we can do to stop these cancers from appearing.
but.....he will be fine.....just you wait and see.

time to get lunches organised for the kids and mark.
i hope you all have a fabulous day.

thanks to all who read my blog.

~*~ shazz ~*~

SUPER SATURDAY

yes i know i have been a bad blogger....do i need a note...???

firstly a big thank you to the girls who offered their support after my last post.
although i am not sure that chris coming over to "give me a good belting" constitutes support - i am truly grateful to you all for taking the time to comment and offer support.

well not much has been happening. i have made a start on a tribute album for a friend who had to have her beloved pet dog put down. i am really happy with how it is turning out and i hope my friend is too. i have basically put the title and pic on each page and embellished it and left spaces for her to do the journalling.

today i went to a scrap/card making day organised by my lss. it was held in a VERY hot hall about 5 minutes out of town and even though i didn't know anyone else there it was a lovely day.
a VERY delish morning tea and lunch were provided and the group of about 19 women (most of them were card makers) was divided in half and each group did a different class in each session.
lots of stamping - which i always find a bit of a challenge - stamping and i get on as well as pastry making and i get on - NOT AT ALL...!!!
but the other ladies who did know what they were doing were very helpful.
it never ceases to amaze me that this form art that we love seems to bring out the best in people most of the time (although i have been hearing mutterings of discontent between some of the online forums again - hope it doesn't get out of control again - EEEK !!!)
as silly as i felt that i can't seem to stick some ink on a stamp and plonk it on a piece of card and get a clear image, not one of these women looked down on me and at one stage i had to stand up for air as three or four women crowded around me looking to help.
it was just a really feel good day.
julie, the lss owner, had planned some great classes. her friend julie (just to make it interesting as there were 4 julies there today) taught the first class and what an amazing woman she is.
the examples she brought in were breath taking, jaw dropping and any other superlative i can use here.
she gave us lots of good ideas and i never cease to be amazed at how many different ways there are to do things and make things look special when you are a scrapper or a card maker.
we all started with the same base products and what was created was so different for everyone.
it was too late to take pics of what i did after i got home so i will take some pics tomorrow and post them if anyone would care to have a look.

debra, the owner of tca, is hoping to call in here tomorrow for a visit. how nervous am i to be meeting her as she is kinda my "boss" as i am on the dt for tca. it will be great to finally meet her though.

well daylight savings is over for a few months tomorrow morning at 2 a.m. and it will be so nice to wake up in daylight. i am hoping to start back on my morning walks - i never felt comfortable walking in the dark. the physio has recommended walking as good therapy for my knee. plus i might be able to start and shift this weight a bit faster. i noticed the other day that my work skirt has become quite loose so hopefully i can really make a concerted effort and drop some of this weight.

wishing you all a happy tomorrow and for those of us who have been living an hour ahead of ourselves for the past few months....enjoy your sleep in.

~*~ shazz ~*~

TODAY IS TUESDAY...YEP YEP YEP

not a lot going on.....bit of this...bit of that.

i have been good and have dragged myself along to the gym two days in a row now....and will be back there tomorrow....don't know that is doing me any good but i figure it can't be doing me any harm either.
my knee is holding up quite well - still a bit stiff after i do my workout and i am still very hesitant to put any weight on it - i feel like i can't trust it to not buckle under me. back to the physio tomorrow and hopefully i will be down to weekly visits for a while.

my dt lo is up in the craft attic gallery so i guess it is ok to share it on here.




voting is underway for the "best use of the products in the challenge pack" - personally i think maursie has used the products the best.
i am feeling quite "BLAH" and flat about my scrapping at the moment.
i look at the amazing work that some people are doing...
for example
for example
for example
...and i hate everything i do.
i hate the fact that the los i see in my head are great, spectacular, impressive, jaw-dropping... but when it comes to putting them onto cardstock, the wheels fall off, the transmission seizes and i end up hating what i have scrapped.
i know i will get over this feeling of "BLAH" soon but for now i look at my scrapping suppiles and i feel flat and uninspired, and sad and yucky and "BLAH".
nothing left to do i guess but shop......
or at least browse the online stores.
*SIGH*
please girls....i'm not searching for any sympathy.....just venting on MY blog.

and on that note, i am off to my scrapping room to push and shuffle supplies around my table in the vain hope that i will be struck by the inspirational and talented scrapping fairy.

wishing you all a great tomorrow.

~*~ shazz ~*~

WEEKEND UPDATE

not much to report this weekend.

yesterday i completed my introductory course in photography through my lss. it was basically a run through all the bells and whistles of digi cams. things like what to look for when buying one; what to avoid; what all the buttons and dials mean on them; and just basic instruction on appeture; shutter speed; white balance; etc etc.

i found it really interesting and despite forgetting my camera manual yesterday which would have helped me enormously i feel like i got a lot out it.
and as paul the instructor said, even for the so called "experts" it really is a case of trial and error in most cases. he told us that some of the most amazing pics he had seen in his career were taken by "amateur" photographers with basic cameras and little knowledge of what makes a "good" pic.
so i practised my new found skills at soccer today and these are the results.

geez i love this face !!!

"enough photos mummy.....really....i mean it"

"i was serious mummy. daddy and i DON't want our photo taken anymore"
(not a good pic but it was part of my day)

not bad at all i don't think.

the craft attic site has been down all day which i am sure has been very frustrating for debra. i know i miss not jumping onto the site and seeing who has got what to say.

jakey's team had a win at soccer today - 5 goals to one. i still can't get used to seeing him in the "workers" strip, but he seems to be enjoying being in this new team and FINALLY getting some decent coaching.
the only downside was one of the opposition players suffered a very severe asthmatic attack at the end of the first half and next thing you know he was on the ground having a seizure !!!! it was very frightening for the team coach who was out on the field with him and not only upset his team mates but really rattled some of our boys too.
an ambulance was called and the poor little guy (well he was 16) and his very distraught mum were taken off to hospital. our team coach was going to head up to the hospital after the game. it really but a dampener on the game and there was very subdued cheering after that.

i have struggled to complete a dt challenge pack lo for tca this weekend. all the pieces are there but i am really struggling to get it done. i have walked away from it several times in the vain hope that when i go back i will be inspired and get it done.
*SIGH*
no such luck. i will share it when i can.

with tca down i spent ages looking at galleries and los that people have posted on their blogs. it never ceases to amaze me, the wealth of talent we have out there in blogdom land. if i die having achieved getting my scrapping to look like half of those out there i will die a happy woman. until then though i will just have to keep plodding along.

anyways....time to chain myself to the ironing board, mark and the kids have cleaned up the kitchen (no....that is not a typo) so i am free to get the ironing done. I think i am happy about this.

one last thing before i go.....in my blog surfing today i managed to catch this little pearler. get your tissues ready and make sure you don't have a mouthful of coffee when you read it...
it is a hoot and i apologise if i got the link from your blog and can't remember who you so i can acknowledge you.

have a happy day tomorrow dear readers.
love, happiness, rainbows and scrappable moments to you all

~*~ shazz ~*~
xoxoxo

p.s. go and check the gorgeous miss ruthy's exciting and VERY well deserved news.
her blog always has the best music playing and seeing her beautiful los and that stunning smile of hers smiling at me makes me so happy and so pleased that the wonderful world of scrapping has brought this special lady into my life.
love ya ruthy
xo

THANK YOU MR BLOGGER

FINALLY....mr blogger has allowed me to upload a pic of one of the rolodex cards i did for the tca rolodex/atc swap.
good show old man (in my best upper crust pommy accent)
i really like the way they turned out and as one of the tca girls so kindly commented...
"they certainly have the smile factor"
and yeah.....i think they do.

i was pleased to find out that my friend kate was safe and sound, as are her babies and josh and her hubby after the big blow up cairns way this week.
R.I.P. for ling ling the axolotol and josh's fish though....oh....and paul's beer fridge.
my heart still breaks as i see the devastation for some families though.
how do you ever recover from losing EVERYTHING...???
i just pray that compensation and insurance and aid arrives swiftly for them. it's that "where the bloody hell do we start...???" look on their faces that gets to me. where the hell do you start to rebuild your life and the life of your family and your community...???

i was also pleased to talk to my dear buddy, the gorgeous miss shari today.
her emails kept me up-to-date on her progress as she moves through a difficult stage in her life but it really put my mind at ease to hear happiness in her voice and hear her plans for the future...you don't get to hear the "happy" in an email.
you go girl...you are strong, you are invincible.......
hey....they should write a song using those words....lol

read all about the fabulous miss marie's family trip to the comm games here.
she is the only person i "know" who actually went to the games - no wait....i think di, my sil, went down for the netball as she is a state ref.
how exciting to be a part of such a great sporting event.
and miss marie, that is one VERY gorgeous wind-swept pic of you on your blog there too i might add.
this gorgeous lady sent me the most stunning journal for my birthday to jot all my ideas down in...it is so pretty and at the risk of incurring her wrath. it is almost too good to use. she also designed a lo for me to just add a pic of my new nephew kye to it. i will scan them and upload them soon to share them with you.
everytime this beautiful lady emails me she either has me in tears of laughter or tears of pure joy. we are gonna get together one day soon and crack a bottle of champers together. and not in the too distant future i hope.
thank the good Lord for this technology that brought me so many wonderful friends.

off to the gym tomorrow....oops.....i mean today. my knee is still giving me grief and making my physio rich but hopefully it is on the mend. my anti-inflammatories ran out on wednesday (first stop today....the chemist to get the script refilled) so i am very stiff and sore in the knee and especially in my wrist. i had to wear my dynamic brace at work today for the first time in ages - my wrist is very swollen tonight and mighty damn sore. i guess typing on the computer isn't the best thing for it but i will not let this damned disease win.....nope nope nope.

matt and i also have to give blood. they are really short of supplies at the moment after larry's little "visit" this week and the threat of wati looming so if you are able, pop along to your local blood bank and give give give.
i have been a donor since i was 16 and only ever stopped when i was pregnant or breast feeding. it's a free check-up every 10 weeks and a cuppa and a biccie and the girls at the lismore branch are a riot.

anyways...i'm gonna head off and do some more ironing while i wait for mark to arrive home. he is STILL at work (it's just gone 1 a.m. here) after a major disaster this afternoon with one of our biggest clients. he works so hard that gorgeous man of mine and i do worry about him so much. he tells me he loves the work he does but i do worry about him and his shocking sleep patterns.

have a fab-u-lous-o day today girls.
adios for now

~*~ shazz ~*~

p.s. sorry for the long post AGAIN girls....i do tend to go on.......and on...and on...and on....and on...sorry...!!!

BLOODY BLOODY STUPID UNFAIR BLOODY TAX

mark and i should have known that our accountant's advice to ignore a request for a tax payment was wrong...hell...we both did economics for the HSC and mark has a degree in business.
but we did follow his advice and now we have to pay a H-U-G-E bill today or face prosecution.
silly thing is that they will probably owe us the amount we are paying today and more once our tax is done for 2004/2005 and even more once 2005/2006 is done.
i am sick to death of doing the right thing all the time - we pay our taxes; we have private health insurance (although i doubt we will keep it after this latest round or rises); we insure our house, our car, ourselves; we don't claim any child support and the one year we did get the grand sum of $182.91 (1991/1992) for the three kids for 12 months we had to pay it back because our income was $43.00 over the threshold.
i am sick of saying no to my kids when they want stuff because all our income at the moment goes to paying bills.

so the belts are gonna have to be well and truly tightened for a few months until we can get back on our feet.
don't get me wrong....we aren't quite in the poor house yet but if one more bloody politition tells me how well off middle income earners are i am gonna hunt them down and bloody well sit on them.

now i have that off my chest i feel as guilty as all sin and a typical bloody aussie whinger when i think of all those poor hard working folks in nth qld who have literally lost everything - their homes, their belongings and their livelihoods. i guess the one good thing about it is that they all heeded the advice of the authorities and evacuated or made sure they were as safe as they could be in their homes.
what devastation thay have suffered and as i said to mark this morning....where do you start to pick up the pieces of your life and start over again...???

it seems that the scrap needs retreat went off with a bang....or at least the girls did...!!!
sounds like they had a great time - not sure too much scrapping got done but you can read about some of the exploits here and here and here as well as see some "interesting" pics of some of the girls. i bet there are a few stories and pics though that may very well never see the light of day.

i completed my rolodex/atc cards for The Craft Attic's swap and i must say i am pretty chuffed with them. they will be on their way in the post today. mr blogger is being very unco-operative this morning so i will upload an image later today. i love how bright they are and hope that the girls like them too.

off to do some dreaded housework now.
have a great day girls

~*~ shazz ~*~

QUICK UPDATE

sorry i haven't posted for a while - no excuse really. just busy busy with day-to-day living and trying to get my head around some personal stuff that is causing me some grief. hopefully that is all behind me now.

well kait had her appointment with bruce purkiss, the "voodoo" doctor.
he is a chiropractor, bowen therapist, vega practitioner; does reflexology and a heap of other stuff. he is an elderly gentleman but man....can he tell you some things about yourself and your body.

he asked me not to tell him anything about kait and then he started to touch her body lightly in different places. he spent a lot of time with both his hands touching her head.

he then proceeded to tell me that she had had a quite traumatic head injury - YEP !!!
the injury was to the right rear of her head - YEP !!!
the she was experiencing headaches - YEP !!!
that she was having mild epileptic seizures - dunno about this one but she has had EEGs done that show nothing - bruce claimed that they were so mild that an EEG may not even pick them up - might explain the "zoning out" she occasionally does.
that she has bouts of vomitting that are severe and cause her to lose weight - YEP !!!

he then proceeded to "re-align her chakras" that he claims were so far out of whack that he was surprised she could even function.

now whether you believe in what he does or not, i don't know but he told me things that there was no way he could just "know" by looking at her.

we spent almost an hour in with him while he prodded and poked and tapped and "swept" (this is what he called it when he swept his hands quickly over parts of her) her and then told us to go away and come back in a fortnight.
he told me that he has worked on getting her body to start making better use of the food that she is eating (she surprisingly has a good appetite for the weight that she is) and to get it to start to heal itself.

he begged me not to put her on these meds until he had a chance to get her body to start to heal itself.

so i guess we will just have to wait and see how she goes.
she was exhausted on friday night but he did say she would be and so far this weekend she hasn't complained of having a headache.

i will keep you informed of her progress.
thanks to everyone who asked after her - you are all such wonderful friends.

we are off to soccer this afternoon. jake is playing in his second game with the new club. i still can't get used to seeing him in the Lismore Workers' strip. it takes me ages to find him on the field during a game. mark's parents are supposedly coming up to see him play after having a huge dummy spit this morning that they haven't seen the kids in a while. as usual they will probably sit there talking about themselves and not watching the game, get the poops cause we are watching the game instead of talking to them and leave early.
*sigh*...i just pray i have the strength not to lose it with them.

and finally for this post i want to send a special cyber hug and lots of positive vibes to my dear friend shari who is closing a chapter in her life this weekend and moving onto the next one with her two sweet boys, lucas and simon.
i am sorry that i can't offer you more practical support my friend but know that i am thinking of you and the boys every day.

have a great wonderful day girls

~*~ shazz ~*~

NOT SO GOOD NEWS

***WARNING - long and possibly boring post ahead but i need to get this out of my head and onto "paper"

firstly thanks to everyone who has inquired about kait via this blog or via email.
i wish the news i had was better.

she was re-weighed at the paediatrician's yesterday to give a more accurate reading of her weight. she had weighed in at 26.1 kgs at the gp's last week and even though it wasn't the kilo dr lennon was after, i was pleased that she had least put some weight on.
i was shocked when she was weighed at dr lennon's surgery yesterday and found that she had only put on 99gms !!!!!
she was 25.5 kgs in december and yesterday she was just shy of 25.6 kgs.

the look on dr lennon's face was not one of optimism when we went into his rooms.

the problem with her not putting on weight is that she has grown almost 4 cms in that three months and her body doesn't seem to be "putting" any energy into increasing her weight. her height and weight should be increasing in proportion to each other and they aren't.

as dr lennon said, if she wasn't also experiencing these migraines and having these periods of "zoning out" as well as the vomitting, he probably wouldn't be so worried. with every bout of illness she has she loses more weight and it is visibly noticeable on her tiny body.
after the last bout of illness she looked like a skeleton - her eyes were sunken in her head and her little hip bones looked like they were going to burst through her skin.

dr lennon had her case reviewed by some visiting top-notch paediatrician last week and this other dr is of the opinion that there is some underlying cause that is triggering the lack of weight gain. we just have to find what it is.
easier said than done though.

so we now have a script for a preventative drug that will help her with the migraines. and the side-effect of taking this drug is that she should have some weight gain. she will only take it when she has a migraine so that means maybe once or twice a month.
if she was to take it all the time she would probably have a weight gain of possibly 5 kgs in a short amount of time but then that would put undue strain on her heart.
neither mark nor i want kait on meds for any length of time but at this point in time i guess we don't have any alternative.

and round and round the bloody mulberry bush we go.

dr lennon has given her another 3 months to put on a kilo in weight.
hopefully with this migraine preventor she will but if she hasn't we are facing some time in brisbane where she will have some pretty gruelling tests done to try and get to the bottom of what is going on.

reading back over what i have written, kait sounds like a sickly child but the odd thing is, she is far from it.
she is our smiling, bright, witty, laughing baby angel girl.
she loves swimming and playing with her friends and having horsie rides with her daddy and playing board games with the boys and drawing and dancing and playing dress-ups.
she is a normal little girl who unfortunately has the periods where she is debilitated by migraines and these periods of "zoning out".

mark and i both just want some answers.
is she so ill because the bloody doctors ignored her symptoms for a week...???
is it something genetic...???
is there a dietary change we can make to stop all of this...???

i am taking her to a local herbalist/iridologist/bowen therapsit on friday to get his opinion.
mr purkiss is an old guy who has been practising for years.
he "cured" kaitlyn of her bed-wetting a few years ago with only two sessions or just lightly touching her arms and head.
maybe he is a "quack", which is what many of the doctors in town call him but we are willing to give anything a go at the moment, to get our baby girl better.

so that is the continuing saga of our kait.
i will keep you up-to-date on where we are at with things.

if you have read this far - well done.
but thank you to all you sweeties who have given us support.

have a great day

~*~ shazz ~*~