Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Page of the Day!!!

Well peeps, I finally managed to make the cut! I won Page of the Day at the 12 Hour Crop last Saturday - oh yeah!!!!

So, here you go - this is what I won it with....




There is a hidden journalling panel on the right-hand side, journalling reads:

It's true, we ARE like the colours of the rainbow. Our individual personalities, likes and dislikes can often be quite different, but together we just fit. Us girls, we are close. We share each other's trials and tribulations, as well as our triumphs. It's not often that a day goes by when I haven't talked to Mum!
When I see this photo it instantly brings a smile to my face. It's a rare thing, a photo of us girls together, and we all look SO happy! Here's to many more moments like this in the future. Love you guys heaps, now and forever, B x

But that's not all I managed to do on Saturday, I have another work in progress - a page of J sending his first letter in the mail. Just too cute! Maybe I might get that finished at the weekend....we'll see. Here's what I've managed so far.....


So that's it for now. It's Tuesday already, this week is going SO fast. D is back off to Melbourne on Sunday for the rest of the week, and I have a shitload of study to do while he's away. Fun Fun Fun! Oh well, it is what I signed up for I spose!

Time to sign off again. Toodles, B x

Finally, pics of the 50s and 60s par-tay!

Ok, so here you go - this is what the inside of the wine bar/restaurant part looked like after 5 of us spent about 4 hours cleaning. Not bad!




One of the best things about having a party in an old bar, is that they have great bar fridges! Once we filled it with all of our booze, it looked just like a real one! Ha ha ha. We even had shelves to put all out spot prizes on until they were given out.


Here's Baz showing off some of his hula actions..... mmm...........
Then Sue and Norm tried to cheat at the hula competition - you can't use them on your arms like that guys!!!

Next, Barbara and her daughter had a go... that's me in the background under the spotlight at the bar, judging the number of 'turns' the hula hoop goes.... Lee did best with 6 revolutions, so all in all, we kinda suck at hula!

'Hi, I'm Rachel, your hostess for the evening' She just wouldn't leave the bar - it was HER BAR if anyone asked! Although I have to confess she was very good at making sure we all got plenty to drink :)

Here are some of the crazies at the bar.... Scott, Rachel, Lauren, Nic (obscured), Marg and Jan. Gee, do they look like they're having fun? I reckon!
After the hula excitement, I broke out "The Limbo Rock" on the iPod, and Daz and I encouraged everyone else to make dicks of themselves for meaningless boxes of chocolates! Below is John having a turn (not bad Mr McGlashan!) Note D's 'Revenge of the Nerds' outfit - yummy! He even made the pocket protector himself with some of my scrap stuff, teeeheehee...
And here's Marg showing off the moves that got her second place in the ladies competition...
Mass boogie-ing being done - a little bit later on in the evening. Fabulous darling!
And finally, here's the girls that we on the dance floor when I got there with my camera.... that's me in the middle at the bottom. Heading clockwise from me, there's Nic, Claire, Lee, Lynette, Yvonne and Sue.



So that's it, the best of a rather bad bunch of shots (but alcohol impairment will do that to ya huh?!).
Toodles, B x

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

How many does it take?...

No really, how many photos do you have to take to get a decent one of a four year old these days? Apparently A LOT!!! Have a look - J asked for playdough to play with on Saturday morning, so I made him some (I know, how domestic of me huh?!) then tried to take photos of him sitting nicely with his work.... Funny ha ha...


































Ok, so apparently it is, in fact, impossible to get a good photo of an excited four year old! Ha ha ha!


Toodles, B x


Awesome new chicken recipe...

Yup, I'm one of those people who has trouble cooking chicken - is it ready yet? Usually I'm not sure, then all of a sudden it's dried out and horrible. I found this awesome recipe that uses popcorn to let you know when it's just the right time to take it out of the oven...

Popcorn-Stuffed Chicken

One chicken
One cup unpopped popcorn
One cup premixed dry stuffing mix
Canola oil
Masterfoods Roast Chicken seasoning
Rosemary leaves

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Combine the popcorn and the stuffing mix, place in chicken cavity. Lightly brush chicken with canola oil, then sprinkle over the roast chicken seasoning and the lightly crushed rosemary leaves. Place chicken in roasting dish, with neck end of chicken facing the back of the oven. Listen for the popping sounds. When the oven door flies open and the chicken shoots across the room, it's ready!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I just LOVE this joke! Of course I already know how to cook a chicken, but I had to make the line of bull believable! Ba ha ha.

Now, onto the REAL stuff...

I have had a terrible week so far - I have been puking my guts out since Monday lunchtime. Until teatime tonight, the last time I ate was Sunday's cheese toasties for tea. The doc thinks it's food poisoning. Oh joy. Hopefully tonight's homemade potato and gravy dinner stays down. Fingers crossed.

Last weekend's RSM party at the Hydro was a blast - 50s and 60s theme 'Heartbreak Hotel'. Most of us dressed up, which got everyone in the mood from the minute they arrived. It did take about 4 hours to clean the place up sufficiently to have the party there, but it was definitely worth it. It's fun having a private party where you can dance on tables and there are no managers there to tell you off! We gave out prizes for best dressed guy and best dressed gal, as well as prizes for best operation of a hoola-hoop (no really, we did) and best guy and best guy under the limbo stick! It only took an hour or so to clean up on the Sunday afterward, which wasn't bad considering most of us were still hung over! I do have photos, but havent had time to put them on the computer yet, so will update blog later tonight or tomorrow when I get a chance.

Otherwise, that's about it peoples. I have a bit of stuff to list on TM tonight, which takes BLOODY AGES, so I should go get some of that sorted I suppose.

Toodles, B x

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Hi

Hi. Bye. (This one's for Bridgette) Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha

Just kidding!

Sorry Bridgette, but I HAD to do that! Teeheehee. Sometimes I'm so funny, I crack myself up!

So, what have y'all been doing since last week's post? Shall I bore you with what I'VE been up to? Of course I shall, because you all start asking me when my next post is going to be otherwise!

Last Thursday night D had poker night with the boys, still didn't come home with the pot, dammit! Maybe next time?! I spent the evening being the domestic goddess that I am and cleaning, tidying, laundry-ing and dishwasher-ing! (oops, I think I have just made up some new words!)

Friday was work, work, work. D finished at lunchtime so that he and brother Brent could take J to the Red Rocket for lunch and 'hang' until Brent had to head off mid-afternoon. Then the neighbours came over for a couple quiets, which was nice. We got to be grown-ups for a bit :)

Saturday was SUPPOSED to be my study day at the library... I had my family all set for me to abandon them for a day reading about Statutory Interpretation and/or Land Information New Zealand and the Personal Properties Securities Register (I know, fascinating stuff!). Last time I was at the library, they didn't close until 6pm (and that's what the sign on the door still says tbh), but at 12.55pm they turned off the lights and yelled out "we're closing" - what the ??? I was unimpressed to say the least! Upon checking out the Council website, I see that their winter hours for Saturday and Sunday have reduced from 10am - 6pm both days to 10am - 1pm Saturday and 1pm - 4pm Sunday - I AM NOT HAPPY!!!!!! Try finding a nice quiet spot in a house with a 4 year old in it. Not a happening thing. At all.

So...... I ended up at home for the afternoon with my boys, not a bad thing at all, except for the lack of study being done.

Sunday was Mother's Day - did you all get spoilt ladies? I got what I wanted - a nice quiet sleep in until 9am, then breakfast in bed (which unfortunately had to be shared with a 4 year old who used our bed as a trampoline while I ate!). I was lucky enough to get a pressie too... a really super cool brag bag tote - its a huge carry/tote bag with pockets sewn into the lining that hold 6x4" photos behind a clear PVC screen - 5 slots in total. I love it - it will be ideal for carrying stuff (I mean totally useful product) to crop nights. Way cool for a scrap geek like me!

We had the in-laws visit for morning tea, then after lunch we visited my mum. The afternoon was spent chillin in front of the telly watching the V8s. Just like I like it :)

On Monday I did something different - I went to the Drama League and hired an outfit (or most of one) for our work party this Saturday... We are having a bash at the Hydro, calling it a Heartbreak Hotel party and dressing up in 50s and 60s gear. I have a cool blue rock'n roll skirt complete with bright yellow full petticoat underneath, as well as a blue chiffon scarf to wear round my neck and some lovely flat white shoes (mmm, mmm!). I just need to find a top that will do the trick.... Still looking for that.

Today was visiting day - well that's what it felt like anyway! At lunchtime I went to see Nadine and her cute wee man Olly (Nadine was J's favourite teacher at daycare until she left on maternity leave to have said cute wee man). I took them some of J's old clothes that might be useful, including a couple of FORD T's - they are hard to find in small sizes, so thought I'd 'share the love' with fellow ford fans! If I'm lucky I'll get a photo of Olly wearing one of them and post it here :)

Tonight I went to visit Charlette with some more of J's clothes that might be ok for her wee manny Brock... so you see, it was visiting day! I got home about half seven, made some vegie soup, and here I am... the day is stuffed (once again). See why I have trouble finding time to tell you what I've been up to?! (Oh and also finding time to do anything interesting enough to blog about?! ha ha ha)

So for those of you who had been wondering, yes, I am fine, yes, I am still here, and yes, as usual, I have been friggin busy (AGAIN!)

On that note, I'm gonna blow.... Till next time (yes Bridgette, that MAY be next week!), TOODLES!!!!! B x

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The finished article!

Here 'tis - all done! I am STOKED with the finished product, in fact rather foolishly I didn't even want to write in it for a start (for about a nano-second!).







As you can see I went nuts with my flourish stamps and the watermark ink, but I so love the effect. I think it has made a HUGE difference.... what do you think?
Hope you're all having a happy hump day!.... Toodles peoples, B x
PS - Love and hugs to my regular 'stalkers' - Rach, Bo, Bridgette and Karen :) Why? Just cos!

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Here you go Bridgette!

Yes, this is specially for Bridgette, my SPECIAL (and very loud) friend!!!! Ha ha ha. I had to wait until I was past that one week deadline, just to p*** her off :)



Since my last post, well, it's been pretty much same shit different day (what's new eh Bridg?!)



Thursday night last week D had 'the boys' here for a poker night, and Daddy-Jim came along for a laugh too. I disappeared off to Ma's for a while. I hadn't been there too long when I got a charming text message from D..... "Your Dad's a f***in burglar" Oh dear! They were laughing about it by the time I got home at half ten-ish. It took FOREVER for everyone to go 'out', and was about 1am before the last of them left to go home. I think the fact that they were running out of beer helped, ha ha ha!



The next day was ANZAC Day, so I was up at 5.30am to go to the Dawn Parade with Daddy-Jim. Gem and DJ came too, and if Sarah were here she'd be there as well - a bit hard to attend from Aucks. We go every year, listen to the Dawn Parade, then go and put our poppies on Grandad Scott's plot at the cemetery. No matter how many times I hear it, The Last Post always makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Quietly eerie, but very moving. There was a pretty good turnout again this year, which is getting more impressive each year - the actual Returned Servicemen and Women are few and far between these days - it was a long time ago. Just goes to show that there is a tiny little bit of patriotism still out there, which is cool.



I have to confess though that I had to have a large nana-nap later that day for a couple of hours, I am too old to cope with late nights and early mornings at the same time apparently!



Saturday was 12 hour crop day - fantastic! I had nothing planned except to maybe get more done on my address book. I got a bit more done on that, and picked out the matching cardstock shades to make the pages with, but still a wee bit more to be done on that (to be continued)

I did get two double page layouts done - one was a bit of work, the other was a copout really, just a quick chucking together of scrapbooking elements. The more involved one was a layout for J about borrowing Kaia's quadbike - I sewed chipboard shapes onto the page, inked pre-coloured chipboard letters, used dimensional magic (of course) and even managed some hidden journalling on a pull-out tag under the main photo. I am pleased with how that one has turned out :)

Anyhoo, that was pretty much my weekend - Sunday was a quiet day, D got groceries, we all went for a walk in the rain in the afternoon, and the usual sunday afternoon kip in front of the fire was fantastic! MAN I am getting OLD!!! Ha ha ha.

Right now it is Wednesday night and I have been to visit H tonight (it's her birthday). I took round her presents and we had a glass of wine and a bit of a catch-up. Really awesome - too long between drinks me thinks :)

On Friday, Sarah arrives, and we have TWO family dinners to go to on Saturday night at Benny's Again - yes, TWO! My family are going to Benny's Again for Ma and Pa's 35th Wedding Anniversary, but so are D's family, on the same night for the same reason, except theirs is the 40th Anniversary. It will be interesting juggling two families for the night.... D will sit with his lot and I will sit with mine, J will have to run between the two all night! Oh dear oh dear :)

Sunday we have the Lister boys christenings to go to, so I must go out hunting tomorrow for Christening presents x2 and Anniversary presents x2 - Ouch!

For now I spose I'd best go - it is nearly half ten and I know that the alarm will be going off at 5.45am (which rolls round surprisingly quickly unfortunately) BUT from the sounds of the rain and wind outside, I might not have to go for my walk tomorrow morning, so I might get an extra half hour in bed (but not likely)

Righto, time for me to bugger off.... Toodles peoples, B x

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

PHOTOS!


Alright! The photo upload problem has been fixed at last!
Below is a pic of my address book (current work in progress #1)
I have yet to design the pages to go in it and get them printed off....



And now, Jake's book a-la Nic Howard's blog.... I have put my own spin on it and used a chipboard concertina album that I have had for ages...




Cover


Page 1
Page 2
Page 3



So that's it from me, gotta go get ready for work - Toodles, B x

Monday, April 21, 2008

I had a hot date today....

No really, I did! My boys picked me up and we went to the Ale House for lunch - we finally got to use the voucher that Helen and Jamie gave me for doing their wedding photos.

D was at home for the day, recovering from his huge weekend away (he only got home at about half one this morning, so he was pretty tired).....so they came and picked me up for lunch - lovely! I don't often get to go out for lunch, especially not with both my boys anyways.

Oh, and I got started on my album for Jake on Saturday - when Blogger lets me upload photos again I will show you :)

I got one of my Progress Reviews back today - the first one for the Introduction to the Legal System so far.... I got a great mark, so am stoked - thank freakin goodness for that! Now I only have 6 more months of studying, testing, studying, testing, studying etc.... Ha ha ha!

Well, that's it for me, I have stuff to do, then sleep to be doing. Toodles, B x

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Yeah - it's the WEEKEND!!!!

Hey peoples - how are we all today?

I spoke to D this morning, and he is in the corporate site for Porter Hire today - he said they have free programmes, gift packs etc. So I said "fill your bag up honey!" Ha ha ha :)

This afternoon J and I are off to see "Horton Hears a Who" at the movies... He has asked GrannyRose to come along too, so hope the movie isn't a pile of crap! It's based on a Dr Seuss book, so hopefully should be ok.

By the way, if you think that "Atonement" sounds like a good romantic chick flick to hire, DON'T BOTHER. It was the biggest pile of CRAP I have seen in ages. Talk about disappointed. I was expecting this romantic tale of torn lovers separated by a lie, reuniting in the end, but they didn't, in fact they couldn't because they were DEAD. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Waste of an hour and a half watching it. So as you can see my evening last night was a little disappointing - am hangin high hopes on today's movie extravaganza being a whole lot better!

Otherwise not a lot else to report since yesty. Oh Ange, Vanessa and Jono are coming here at 10am this morning to talk wedding photos, so that's cool :)

Was going to post a pic of my address book (now covered, just the pages to design), but I seem to have lost the ability to post photos today, blog keeps crashing, so will have a go later today and see if I can manage it. It looks awesome if that's any help? Ha ha ha!

Will go now anyway and see what J is up to - it's awful quiet, so I am getting suspiscious.

Toodles, B x

Friday, April 18, 2008

Go FORD - Yeah!!!!

Hi all, well it's the Hamilton 400 this weekend, and I have just sent D off on his way to Hamilton to spend the weekend inhaling burning rubber and avgas fumes.... I will most definitely be watching it live on tv this weekend :)

Not a lot has happened the past couple of days - I have been laid out with some sort of virus thing - nasty headaches and dizzy spells (no blonde jokes please!). Seriously, it was not very nice - I thought I was going to pass out at daycare on Wednesday morning and had to get Daddy-Jim to pick me up and take me home because I was too scared to drive. I basically spent Wednesday lying in the dark avoiding any sort of noise or light to try and make the headaches go away. Thursday was marginally better, although when I felt better and thought I'd rest in front of the telly instead of in bed, even that gave me a headache, dammit! I finally started to feel better about 4 o'clock yesty, thank goodness.

Earlier in the week was no different to any other week - Monday was work, eat, study as per usual. Tuesday was DWTS final - I so LOVE that show! The final always rocks because the finalists get to do a funky freestyle number, but unfortunately the final means it's the final - no more DWTS until next year :( I am totally bummed about that...

Anyway, I am feeling much better now, so it's back to work for the busiest day of the week. Oh and I made Green Tomato Relish last night at about 9pm...I had to try some on toast this morning to make sure it was ok - delicious!!! Sorry, rambling...

Gotta go get ready for work peoples...Toodles, B x

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Twins!

Well, we survived the weekend, ha ha ha!





We had the Newall twins, Brock and Isabelle, for the night at our place last night to give our friend Charlette a night off (as her birthday present from us). I personally think we may have not been thinking clearly when we offered, and I think Charlette thought we had lost the plot too! HOWEVER, we did offer, and she did accept, because of course she'd be stupid not to take us up on this once only offer :)




The babies arrived at about half three on Saturday afternoon, and stayed with us until lunchtime today. It has been a LONG time since we have had a baby in the house, let alone two - that woman deserves a friggin medal.... every time you get one baby sorted/settled/fed/asleep, there is still another one to sort out too, not to mention in Charlette's case a toddler too. I have to say that it makes us appreciate our reasonably well behaved 4-year-old!




I have a confession to make though.... Sorry Karlos, we had to do this to your son...



Brock (son of a MEGA Holden fan) playing with Jake's Ford Flag!




...and wearing Jake's Ford T-Shirt! (might be a bit mean, but it IS bloody funny!!!)


Brock and Jake playing under the play-gym. Note the fact that Brock is just about to grab a good-sized handful of our son's hair.... guess you could call that payback eh Karlos?! Ha ha ha!!!


Finally, try getting someone to take a photo of you with TWO babies, and try to get them both looking at the camera at the same time.... Arrrgghhh, impossible! (Oh and yes Karl, he's yanking fairly visciously on MY hair in the first pic!)




Well, that's about it from me.... After the babies left, D and J went to the Weber Bros Circus, which sounded like it was a little over-rated, but at least J got to go (thanks Ma for shouting your grandson!)
We called round to see Ma and Pa for a cuppa after the boys got home from the circus (I cleaned, then studied while they were away), then late in the afternoon, J and I went for a walk for about an hour - he rode his scooter flat out the whole time! He needed to get out and get rid of a bit of energy after spending so long sitting on his butt at the circus.... a half hour wait beforehand and a two hour circus show equals one 4-year-old with excess energy to spare! Problem solved!
Well, that's it from me for today.... I am going to go watch Men in Trees (just finished watching Grey's Anatomy while doing this - LOVE that program)
Toodles peoples, B x

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Quick update....

Hi all - here's a quick update from me - I got a little more done on my birthday/address book last night - here's a teaser for you (sorry it's a bit blurry)...



I think it'll be really good when it's finished! Gotta fly, catch you laters. Toodles, B x

PS - How'd the modelling go Rach?! :)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

It's HUMP DAY!

Hiya - yes, it's Hump Day again (the day in the middle of the working week!) It's a downhill slide from here into the weekend - yeah!

I must be nuts, we are having the Newall twins for the night on Saturday as a favour for Charlette, well actually, as her birthday present - they were only born late last year. It's been a while since I had to pull an all nighter with a baby, let alone babies plural! Oh crap!

Not a lot else to report tho, same sh*t, different day in our house at the moment.... work, study, eat, drink, sleep, work, study....... etc etc etc

I did manage to get some scrapping done last night though, which was awesome. I am making an address/birthday book to sit on my kitchen bench. I have painted the edges brown and covered the mdf with periphery papers so far. It's gonna be real cool I reckon. Hope to get more done later in the week, but only after some study :)

Well, time for me to jump thru the shower and get off to work/daycare... Talk later, Toodles, B x