Hey!

I have SO MUCH to tell you, because I've been blog-absent for a bit... but when you read all the posts I am about to get started on, you'll understand why :)

See you soon! B x

Today was a GOOD day!

No, in fact, today was a GREAT day.....

First of all, I did really well at the weigh and measure today at the gym - I have lost 3kg and 10cm over the past 3 weeks (most of that in the last week alone - I've been trying VERY VERY hard).

Then I got home to find K-Bars in the mail from my good friend Mandy in Wellington - THANKYOU!!!!! Gotta love getting lollies in the mail... and I totally forgot how tooth-pullingly good K-Bars were. Yum yum yum.

AND THEN I got inside to find a message on the answer-machine to say that I had won Harvey Norman's August photo comp - I think I get a whole bunch of photo freebies, including 100 6x4 prints, from memory. I'll have to phone them tomorrow to find out!

BUT WAIT, there's more.... I have finally found a couple of cars on Trade Me that I like, so I might be getting rid of 'The Rolls' sometime soon (ie. before it croaks completely!). We are going through the 'vetting' process with the potential new cars atm. Yeehaaa!!!!

Finally the tides are starting to turn.... in the right direction for once!

How was your day? Let me know, yeah?

Toodles, B x

Oh PS - I haven't forgotten to put the photos in that post, I just haven't been able to get my hubbie off Pokerstars.net to get onto the laptop... I am posting from the old desktop so y'all don't miss me too much! :)

I have become 'that' woman...

You know, 'that' woman that yells over the fence.... that scares children into submission with a mere glance in their direction...

You see, a boy who lives in our nice quiet culdesac street was walking up and down the middle of the road with his mates this afternoon, throwing fruit at each other and letting it splatter all over the road. Right. Outside. MY. House. Grrrrrrrrr. Needless to say I yelled out 'Oi, you can cut THAT out, and you'll be picking up ALL that fruit off the road before you go anywhere' C'mon, you can picture it now, can't you? See? I am 'that' woman.

I must be getting old. *Sigh*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a different note, I know I have been absent of late, and I had told you I was seriously behind in my study. I have talked things over with my hubbie, my tutors and the Practice Manager at work, and decided to defer my studies until next year. There was just no way that I was ever going to get through all of what I needed to get done before exams in early October. I had let it get too far out of control. I could have spent my lunchbreaks studying my butt off, which believe me, I have tried, and I totally become an emotional wreck. So that's just not achievable. And by the time I get home from work and get tea etc out of the way, my brain is starting to go to mush. Attempting to read about legal matters late at night doesn't work either - I end up falling asleep at my desk. Really, I do. It's been done. Studying in the evenings is FINE when you are only doing bits and pieces, but when you are trying to cover large amounts of material in a short amount of time, you really are pushing nasty stuff uphill. Deferring the study is disappointing, but I have decided to put my family and me first this time. It's important, just not THAT important.

And on top of all that, things have been a bit messy at ours lately. Hubbie nearly lost his job in a 'restructure' at his work. He's been there 15 years, so that thought was a bit scary. And now that the restructure has been done, the workplace is a bit empty, and those left behind have to work a lot harder for the same money they were earning before. That sucks. Therefore I have a pretty tired and slightly demoralised hubbie at the moment. After 15 years somewhere it is hard to have people start second-guessing your every move. Having to justify how you do your job and why is not a nice feeling. Not nice at all.

And MY work, well, don't even get me started on THAT. Those of you that know me well know what that's like. Fun, fun, fun. Sorta.

And me... well I have been trying to commit myself to working harder at the gym during my lunch breaks, which not only stops me from shopping and spending money, it also stops me buying food I don't need to be eating. Trouble is, it does tend to make me a bit weary.... However, needs must. I am not going to have a bod worthy of shorts this summer unless I do the work, am I now? And for me, my wellbeing has to take precedence over study. As much as I sometimes grump about going up to the gym, I do feel better once I have been there. Besides, it's got to be doing some good, right? At my last doctor's visit my blood pressure was spot on, and it's usually a little higher than it should be, so that's all good.

I have managed to make time for a nice break recently though - Winter Camp at Raincliff (run by my 'dealer' Rach at Embellishit). I love camp. It's always a blast. I have managed to become part of a slightly rowdy bunch of AW-SUM ladies (yes, that's for YOU, Jo!), and we always get up to a little bit of mischief. Of the harmless and slightly alcoholic variety of course. And I get some scrapping done, which is often an impossibility at home with all the other things going on in our daily life. I have some pictures here somewhere, so I'll update this post with them later on tonight.

After camp I had some sad news about a very good friend of mine. You see, she's from the UK, but she is married to a Kiwi guy and they have a couple of cute wee kiddlies. She's my closest friend here. She listens to my insanities on a regular basis, poor soul. Unfortunately she had to find out over the phone (and her poor mother had to tell her) that her sister had died, back in the UK. Just awful. She had to sort out an emergency passport for their littlest one, and get her butt back home at extremely short notice. I hope she's doing ok - she's not back here until the 5th. She's in my thoughts every day at the moment. We had her hubby and their 2 year old over for tea at the weekend. I know they've had at least one feed of vegies since she's been gone!

AND.... to change tack YET AGAIN, I have a couple of vids that I think you should watch, here and here. The first one is the first public enmasse tribute to MJ, in Stockholm, by swedish dance troupe BOUNCE. Quite amazing, and very well done. Very cool that a whole lot of complete strangers just joined in and made it a HUGE thing. Very cool. The second one is Montreal's take on the same thing. Also very cool. Spot the cop in the second vid, trying to take part too! I know you're probably all sick of hearing about MJ this, and MJ that, but they ARE worth a look. And to be honest, as much of a nutter/drug-addict type that he was, I am not surprised that his death has now been called a homicide. I mean, look at him here, just days before his death. Certainly doesn't look like he's on death's door there huh?

Right - things to do, dinner to cook, washing to fold, and lots lots more.

Asta la vista baby! B x

Wow - just watched this vid on YouTube - loved it - check it out :)

I see that Heidi has given me this blog award...

And now, according to the rules I have to tell you 10 true facts about moi... so here goes...

1. I took ballet as a child until I was 10 years old (not that you'd think so now!)

2. I was a carrot-weeder on an organic farm one summer for a holiday job

3. I used to pick the light meter at the school squash courts with a bobby pin when I was in High School - I don't think I ever paid for lights once.

4. My cousin Rachel and I broke Gordon Handy's clothesline once by swing on it when we were old enough to know better (oops)

5. I was a Junior Brownie Leader for two years.

6. I was a makeup assistant and backstage hand for two of the TGHS/TBHS stage productions.

7. The first time I got drunk was when I was in Sixth Form after my School Ball - and it only took 2 cans of DB Draught (oh dear oh dear!)

8. I didn't get my drivers licence until I was 21 years old (far too late, by the way... wouldn't recommend leaving it that long)

9. I have my Bronze, Silver and Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards (achieved in High School)

10. I am terrified of spiders... no problem with mice, but terrified of spiders. Ick.

Right.... I have to pass this on to some others.... RACH, MANDYB, TRINA and DANICE :)

Gotta get wee man off to school, catch ya laters.... Toodles, B x

Hiya...

Hey! Just a quick post from me tonight folks, the end of the year is fast catching up with me, and I have a whole heap of study to be getting on with....

Yeah, I know, I've hardly mentioned it, but I have a shite-load to do, and then revision to start (and finish) as well. This time just over 12 weeks, my exams will be over - THANK GOODNESS!!!

So..... I will try to update you when I can, but this is my excuse for the forseeable future if the blog posts are a bit scarce, ok? Ok!

Righto - back to it, head down, bum up, and all that (you're picturing it now, huh?! Ha ha ha)

Toodles, B x

Time for an Update...

Hi-de-hi campers - how are we all?

Oh, while I think about it, apologies to Rach and Heidi for not getting your CDs in the mail yet, but I promise I WILL do it this week! Really, I will! Honest :)

So, I have just come back (and am still recovering tbh) from SENZ in Auckland last weekend. It rocked! I decided that I really wanted to go, so bit the bullet and went on my own. I did FOUR classes, AND the charity crop, AND the SHOPPING (of course!). Nicely timed to almost coincide with my birthday, I also had a bit of spending money to take with me, thanks to Mum and Dad, sister Sarah and lovely hubby :)

Anyhoo - SENZ.... Friday:

First class was Nic Howard's Card Buffet, definitely a firm favourite. Not only do you get to make 6 awesome cards, you get to 'play' a bit, deviate from the rules, and get creative. Gotta love that. Not to mention that it's always cool to hang out in a Nic class - one seriously cool chick. AND it turned out her lovely assistant was Lucy van der Loos... Nic's co-conspirator for Autumn Escape (which I have registered for). Me thinks that AE is going to be GOOD! Ha ha ha.

Second class was a Hero Arts Card Class run by Hastings Rubber Stamps. After the joviality, freedom and creativity of the Nic class, this one was a little flat. We made 3 cards in two hours. To be fair, I think that they should have promoted that one as a beginners class. If I hadn't already had a good ol' play on my own in the past and made a card or twenty of my own before going to SENZ, I may have learnt something, but I didn't really get to take a lot out of that one. Good class, but a little disappointing.

And then to the shopping... Three Day Pass-Holders like myself were allowed into the arena for shopping from 5pm on the Friday night, rather than 10am Saturday morning like the general public. Bring. It. On. Ha ha ha! I had a small wish list, which I set about fulfilling first, then I went around the stalls again to see what else was around. Lots and lots and lots and lots and... you get the picture! My two coolest purchases were a Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, and a Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper. AND I won a raffle prize which included Blossom Nesties, some Hero Arts stamps, some microglitters, and a couple of ink pads. Wahoo!

After all that, it was time to retreat to my sister's flat to chill for the evening.

Saturday:

I (amazingly) slept until 9.30am, and still felt tired! After brekkie and a shower it was time for SENZ round two! I was supposed to meet up with Kath when she arrived up from Christchurch, but unfortunately for her, Christchurch Airport was closed by fog and she didn't manage to make it. How disappointing would THAT be?

I did another round of 'browsing' the stalls, did a make and take, then tried to co-ordinate catching up with a computer-email-blogging-RAK friend of mine, Trina, in person. Between us we managed a grand total of 10 minutes face-to-face in the cafe. Just enough time for a photo:

Awww, isn't that nice?! No matter how short the time, it was nice to meet in the flesh - we have emailed often enough! Then it was time to head off to class....

My third class was one run by Beth Barnes for Create - Messy Play with Inks. We were supposed to end up with a completed 'recipe book' of inking techniques at the end of our two hour class. NOT SO. I have to confess to being incredibly disappointed with this class. The idea was brilliant, really. I mean, who doesn't like to have fun making a giant mess?! But the application fell short. A long way short. Beth seems like a lovely person. To be honest I think the problem was a combination of trying to squeeze too much messy play into too little time, and leaving a lot of the prep work to class participants, some of whom struggled. A lot. So consequently I came home with a large jumble of incomplete, mis-matched pieces of paper. And the chances of them ever becoming the pretty little recipe book we were shown at the beginning of class? NIL. To be fair, in hindsight, there was no way that the book we were shown was going to be made from start to finish in two hours. Not even on a good day. BUT, if some of the paper cutting and folding had been prepared before class, and if time slots of say 15 minutes were used per technique, we might have gotten a lot closer to the finished article - like maybe a book minus the cover and finishing off/stamping etc. Anyway, enough about that. Too disappointing to bother ranting about any more!

My fourth and final class was another Nic one - her Gift Card Class. A nice, relaxed pace class, decorating a journal cover and making some kraft gift cards. Got to christen my corner chomper and butterfly punch! Not as much fun as the card buffet, but a nice way to end my classes :)

After class finished Sarah picked me up and we had Indian takeout for tea, then I went back for the charity crop night. Other than two South African ladies who were at the crop with their Auckland rellies, I was from the furthest-away place! Cool! I sat at a table with two ladies from Rotorua, and three from Whangarei. We were provided with choccy biccies and lollies, and tea/coffee etc. We used donated product to make 8"x8" mini pages for the Kids First Hospital, then joined them all together to make New Zealand's largest card, which was going to be put up in a corridor at the Hospital once SENZ was over. I did a 'cow jumped over the moon' theme with mine. There's a photo around here somewhere, I'll load it if I get the chance. Anyway, I got back to Sarah's about half eleven, and that was it, SENZ, done and dusted.

Sunday was spent trying to fit my scrap stuff into my bags (a lot of which you can't take on a plane!) , and travelling home. My flight out of Aucks was delayed, and then I got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for the two hour drive to Timmers. Grrrr. Sometimes I can SO understand road rage! People are stupid - who knew? Ha ha ha!

Well peeps, that's about it from me tonight, I'm blogged out. I have more to tell you about our surprise trip to the West Coast, but that'll have to keep for another night.

Toodles! B x

And we have a winner(s)....

Congrats to Rachel and Heidi, winners of 'Beck's Scrappin Tunes' on CD. Am off to SENZ tomorrow, so will burn them off and pop them in the post early next week. Thanks for playing!

Toodles, B x

Acetate box...

In answer to 'Anonymous' - the acetate box instructions can be found here at Split Coast Stampers. They have HEAPS of really easy tutorials to follow under their 'resources' section. Good luck!

MORE giveaways!

Check this out ... man it's definitely giveaway season atm huh?! Ya gotta love that - and you've got to be in to win, yeah? Yeah! Righto, lots to do today, so must be off...

Toodles, B x

Glimmermist has a new look?

Why yes it does! Check it out:

Glimmermist is the same great product with a fabulous NEW look. Don't they look cute! Check out more about Glimmermist at the Tattered Angels site here.

I LURVE Glimmermist. I spent a few hours with Ma today making cards, introducing her to Glimmermist. As I suspected, now that she's used it, she's a fan too! Well who wouldn't be, I say - it's such FAB stuff! So I've had a great great day. Hung out at Mum's, played a bit and got a bit messy (and let's face it, that's always fun!), then got home in time to have a cuppa and a bit of 'chill' time on the laptop. D got home from work and said that he'd be happy with soup and toast for tea 'cos you're on holiday, so you shouldn't have to cook'. How sweet is he? And of course I'll take him up on the offer... why not! So, it's been a lovely day, and it's not even 5pm yet!

Right, I have some other blogs to check out before I go off and make soup (SUCH a hard job, ha ha ha!). If you haven't done so already, check out my previous post here for a giveaway. Catch y'all tomorrow,

Toodles, B x

Where'd THAT weekend go?

Yup, it's over already, although fortunately for me, I'm on holiday this week with J... but I do suspect that I'll be ready to go back to work after a couple days! Ha ha ha

Not sure 'bout you lot, but MY weekend went super fast. Like the speed of sound (or so it seemed!). Seriously. Oh, can you tell I've been watching Grey's Anatomy?! LMAO!

Saturday got gobbled up by my WONDERFUL sleep-in (my turn on Saturdays, D's on Sundays), our fortnightly grocery shop, a little bit of finishing work on UFO scrap items (that's Unfinished Objects!) made easier by the foul weather, a short visit from some scrapping friends, and a long visit with my oldest and dearest friend Ange and her fiance Andy.

They are back from Kuwait for a bit while school has it's summer break - they teach kids in an American School over there - so it was good to have a catch up. The boys indulged in a bit of Jim Beam & Coke, and Ange and I had a Chateau Cardboard! (mmm, starting to sound like a habit, huh - oops!)

Today the weather just wasn't much better (check out how it's looking here). J and I made birthday cards for Gem this morning, then we headed off to have morning tea with my Nanny and Grandad, and followed that with a visit to Ma and Pa's to give Gem her cards/present. After lunch I did a bit more scrapping - even finished a layout, while my boys dozed on the couch! Next thing I know it's tea time, then 'crash-in-front-of-the-telly' time, and here we are!

So that's that. A lot to say about nothing much at all really. Well, you DO insist on reading this, don't you?!

I have another pressie to give away.... While I scrap I listen to my ipod, a mix of real old school tracks, top 40 hits and everything in between. I will make up a disc of 'Beck's Scrappin Tunes' (assuming someone wants it of course, ha ha ha!), and post it out to the lucky winner. So, if you wanna get hooked up, let me know y'all.... I might even send out more than one, who knows? Leave a comment and you never know your luck.

Right, off to put more wood on the fire and turn it down for the night, to hopefully keep us roasty-toasty in the morning, then it's off to bed for moi.

Toodles, B x

I've been creatin!

I think I'm pretty safe showing you this (I don't think Gem reads my blog) - here's a wee gift I have made for her birthday on Sunday...

She's seriously into all things with skulls on, and loves both black and pink, hence the decoration! So easy to chuck together, maybe took half hour tops? Probably not even that long tbh.

Right, off to get showered and ready for last day at work (next week off, yeah!).

Toodles, B x

Or this one....?

Here's another one, here.... must be blog candy season! Yeah!

Ooohhhhh!!!!

Wow - check out this fab candy here... pick me, pick me, pick me, puh-lease!!!! Ya gotta be in to win! I might tell you about it, but I hope like heck that none of you enter, so that I increase my chances, ha ha ha!!!!!

Toodles, B x

Hiya!

Yup, we're still here, just flat out, as usual. So what's new?!

I've been getting some study done, but I have a LOT more to do to get on top of it tbh, so you know what I'll be spending a lot of next week doing while I'm on holiday huh? Bummer. Oh well, no-one to blame for that but me. J is getting tired - only two more days left at school. Man, is he ready for a holiday! Talk about Mr Cranky-Pants! Attitude central at our place at the moment. And D has just about finished work on their stocktake, which is a HUGE job for him. Nice for it to nearly be over.

I have next week off work (week one of the school hols) to be at home with J, then D is taking off the second week. Half time, change sides... passing ships in the wind... (add more cliches here).

It'll be a busy ol' time over the next few weeks... it's my little sister's birthday this weekend, and D's the following one. I am off to Auckland to SENZ on the 16th, which I am starting to get excited about - I have booked into 4 classes and Saturday evening's charity crop, so I'll be busy busy busy! My other sister conveniently lives almost right around the corner from the Telstra Clear Events Centre where it's being held, so I'm crashing at her place for three nights. And a few days after I get back, it's MY birthday. Phew! I said it'd be busy, huh? I kid you not!

Oh and I nearly forgot - the winner of the RIFF-RAFF (see earlier post from last week)... Congratulations to.... Jenn! I will email you shortly for your postal addy. Yay you!

Last night J and I whipped up a wee gift for his lovely teacher, Mrs Wood. He is changing classrooms after the holidays, and won't have Mrs Wood any more. She has been just fabulous with him, especially when he went through an unsettled, clingy phase with me in the mornings a while back. So here 'tis...

It's just a little jotter pad wrapped in patterned paper, using magnets to hold it closed. I trimmed the paper, but J rounded the corners and glued it on all by himself, coloured in the teddybear, and wrote the little note for her on the front. How CUTE is that? Hope she likes it!

Anyhoo, what has everyone else been up to? How are you coping with the colder weather? (although at least we are past the shortest day, so summer is coming). Who is out there today? Leave me a comment to say 'Hi', I'd love to hear from you.

For now, I'm off. Lunches to make, bags to pack, yadda yadda yadda.....

Toodles, B x