99 POSTS!!!!!

WOW 99, i thought I would hit 100 before i turned 31! So can I change the name of this blog to suddenly thirty one??? maybe a safer bet would be calling it 9 years til I am 40!!! It actaully might take me til I am forty to finish this post!!!!!

I am working backwards on this post

31.10

Happy birthday Veronika! sorry I did not ring you today, LIFE is on fast forward and I can NEVER seem to catch it

I have had the please of working with heaps of October afternoon papers grom Addicted to Craft and KSK. I can't share some BUT here is one from the KSK portal. this paper range is soo nice to work with and it has coordinating bits and rubons - dont you just love the owls.
27.10

We had a big pool party / birthday celebration. A great night, lots of good food, friends and fun

22.10
A fun transport excursion with my adorable class. In 30 degree heat we walked over the bridge, went for a ferry and monorail ride and had the traditional FRUIT TINGLES lolly comp to keep the natives quiet on the way home. don't we live in the BEST city ever - look at that beautiful harbour - love it

21.10

Alison has a LOT more photos, thanks Miss A for taking heaps of photos for me on my birthday! My birthday was spent in Tassie at the KSK retreat! Karen got me a cake and we had a fun Sunday scrapping, laughing and singing

20.10

A great Saturday in WONDERFUL Launceston - I shopped, ate, drank, scrapped, laughed and walked up the Gorge to take night phtotos. Alsion has some great photos of this day

19.10

The KSK retreat BEGINS!!!! great to see Sal, Ngaire and Karen again and fantastic meeting Kayla, Helen, Cindy and all the KSK girls!!!! It was fun. I LOVED shopping in Karen's Kupboard it is the BEST shop ever as it has SOOO many new and classic things. Kayla can you move into my house please...you cook, clean, are great to chat with and scrap up a storm - please no rent will be charged!!!!

I did have a very happy birthday. It was sad being away from Max and Darren and Sydney was a hot 35 degrees so I missed the pool , but the break was fantastic and when i arrived home Daz had a WONDERFUL pressie - > a point and shot Canon 960 ixus - LOVE IT!!!!!!! thanks honey- I love you!!!!

I am off to DO sooo much school work YUCK!!

scraproom has 3 more layouts to produce then it will be gutted for a major renovation, will post pre op and post op photos as i go!!!!!

thanks Nanna!

thanks Nanna for all the wonderful things we got from you after you arrived back after a month of touring the US!!!!! It was like Christmas and look at the colours in these M&Ms would you!!!! I lost 1.1kg at WW last night, lucky they belong to max. or I would be putting it back on! max is going to be so well dressed with all the sensational clothes he got and all of his CARS toys are cool! I especially love my 7 Roxy and Billabong t-shirts and my beach towel is funky. Darren's grumpy t-shirt is SO TRUE!!! and i will be getting a photo of him in it!!!

Today.....

We had a great day today at Wiggles World..... Charlotte and Max explored and played. it really is a great place to play for the under 5's! Max loved it and we will go again soon!!!!!

I have been blogging for a year....wow that went quick....anyone know how to change my blog name to suddenly thirty ONE!!!!

Here is a LO that i did over the holidays........I love these papers by 7 Gyp.

Off to continue cleaning my scraproom! I have pulled it all apart and it is so overwhelming to clean and FIX UP!!!!!! maybe I will never scrap again

OCTOBER!!!!!!

(already) and half way though at that!!!!

the holidays were great to me, rest and fun, lots of visitors and some of my jobs done!

I did scrapbook, not as much as I wanted as I found myself finding OTHER things to do!!! On the 12th I have been officially scrapping for 5 years. When Veronika and I did our first crop night at Castle Hill. Who would have thought this COOL craft would change my life, introduce me to many fantastic people, give me a part time job, take over a whole room and take me to places like Launceston!
This layout was for KSK, the Basic Grey RECESS range was soo cool to work with. really nice red felt and stitching did not show.

On the 3rd Darren and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary, I figured the night before that he had forgotton and I was right, but a big bunch of flowers, money and a lovely dinner made up for it. Poor guy got a break as he has been flat out at work and working 16 hour days.

Here is our school holidays in pictures

KSK challenges!

the DT have been busy preparing some great weekend challenges! POP on over and have some fun ..and you can even win a $50 voucher!!!!

My challenge is inspired by Ali Edwards - I love the everyday type snapshot stuff and as her book comes out tomorrow I was feeling very Ali inspired! It is on its way to KSK now so I will have a copy soon!

I have set myself a challenge to get at LEAST one page done each day f the holidays PLUS my reports started - someone hold me to it PLEASE!

it is 27 degrees here so I am off for a swim!!!!

Hope Carl does well tonight...enjoy IDOL !!!!

holidays are here!!!!

WOW a pretty good term finally ended yesterday! two weeks of happy holidays

in typical Max fashion he is sick so resting him over the next few days so he gets better for the 2 weeks ahead.

planning on lots of spring cleaning, shoppping, swimming and resting.

here is my latest page. I tried to use the sunlight to SHOW all the glittery bits off but it is hard to tell still.

Happy!

1.3 K.G for ME!!!! yep one week on weight watchers and I am a happy camper! I also have something else to obsess over and it gets my fertility issues off my mind!!!!!!! I want to loose 10% of my body weight before Christmas - so I am IN THE ZONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my coolest, bestest and hippest scrapping buddy Alison for yesterday! I had a great night on Sunday dancing with you in front of Australian idol. GOTTA do it again!!!! and your DD is a TRUE water baby! my pool was about 17 degrees and she swam in it!!!!! So she holds my record!

Week 11 has been mad at school! Kids just went mental today - 2 suspensions and lots of fights (and that is just the staff) - just kidding! I think week 11 should be illegal - after such a great term this week has shown it is too much to cope with !!! SO HAPPY holidays are here in 2 teaching days!!!!

How much do i love this spunky guy???? So much! even though he woke me up at 12 and screamed until 1am - bloody eye teeth

What a difference

What a difference 10 months make!!!! Yes it WAS a long time, but is finally 99% complete with just the pavers needing some sealer and some more lighting!!!!

SO now the pool is ready where is the GOOD weather!!!! BOO HISS 16 degree September days!!!!!

Both shots are facing the back fence but as lots of land had to be cut out as he had a sloping block the end result is a higher area at the back of the pool. the shots from last April just had NO landscaping or paving done!
He JUST wishes he could jump in!!!! He even blows bubbles from the edge

Will get some better photos with my wider lens ASAP!!!! only had the 50mm on and max refused to come inside just to get a lens!

IDOL night!

Idol show tip - take a pregnant woman!

We were the third group in the line but the lovely man offered Stef to come up the front and not be crushed by the KEEN crowd behind us (100s of people ready to push and shove)! So we got the BEST seats look how close I was to CARL!!!!!!!

we were in the third row to the left of Kyle (5 seats away!) I waved to him and and waved back! He threw choccies at us and promised us a photo but at the end of the night he stormed off in anger at the performers as soon as it ended! I ran around to the stage door BUT was asked to KEEP MOVING!!!!!!!

All day everyone told me HOW bad the SHOW was - YES it may not have rocked at home but being there was awesome. It was so hard to watch all those harsh comments and being live i think it was about 100 times better! AND Andrew G and James were SOOOOO Much fun! they really liked Narrelle - excuse the photos I was laughing so hard i nearly wet my pants.

they both sat on her lap and crawled over me in the process!

MOre of the gorgeous carl!!!

and at the end of the night we got Daniel and Carl's attention and they waved and chatted with us! I really like these two after last night, they were happy to chat BUT the mean mean man would not let me closer to them or them off the stage!

what a great night with the girls!!!!! thnaks Di and Sharron for inviting us!

look for me in the audience TONIGHT

YES i am OFF to see Australian idol LIVE!!!!!
Sadly NO cameras in the studio.
I am scared for Carl as it is ROCK night and I hope he can ROCK it out!!!!

I had a great time at a wedding last night (no pics YET!!!) but the bride was stunning and my work mates and I had a great time! Good to catch up with some x-BPS teachers also!

will post ASAP to tell you what it is like LIVE!!!!

Monday MEANS IDOL

Ok I like him ALOT!!!! I never got him in the THREE IDOL sweeps I am in BUT last night this guy really impressd me!!! Sadly Holly did go and that is OK.
How do you put music on this blog as I keep popping over to IDOL to listen to his amazing version of Waltzing Matilda
http://www.australianidol.com.au/carl-riseley-fan-club.html

On the sweep update
School - Marty (really what are my chances of the jackpot???)
KSK - Daniel (hairy man - might make the top 6)
IDOL girlfriends - Mark (fingers crossed he comes 2nd toCarl for he $40 prize)

CAN'T WAIT until next Sunday!!! ROCK night so my $40 Mark might do alright!!!

the HOWLETTS holidayed at happy hallidays

WOW our first holiday in a long time!!! LONG before max was born!

My great friend Tina gave me the tip and a GREAT tip it was! This park has the niceest cabins and it is FANTASTIC for little kiddies!!! max was soooooooo HAPPY! COME on this place had an indoor soft play centre right near the BBQ area, it is SOOOO family friendly!

Even though the weather was wet at times we still managed to make it down to the sand for a play. We also went to Timbertown and did some fantastic shopping! I got Max the cutest shirts and Darren got some really nice clothes too!

YES max was fascinated by the puddles.

I thought it was SOOO funny that max LOVED the fact that the microwave was at HIS level!!! HE PRETEND cooked everything!!!! I just loved watching him on the beach. He just wanted to RUN into that water. Shame it was a 18 degreee day

The pool at hallidays was SENSATIONAL too! Max was so keen to get in but the weather NEVER went into the 20s (sadly). WHY did we have 2 weeks of sensational weather an then when i go away it is BAD??????

Well in 8 hours I will be back to a HARD week! Parent teacher interviews!!! YEs I have to really tell it HOW it is with a few! Even though my class has come SOOOO far there are a few that i seriously STRESS about. the ones that DO NOTHING!!!!! the ones that by year 2 have really poor number skills and can't add 2 numbers together to save their lives! This class has SOOOO much potential I have worked hard to improve their writing and number strategies but I can take them SOOOO much further.

But tomorrow I have to sit there and remember this beautiful bunch of kids NO MATTER how much they struggle have ISSUES! they see domestic violence, they have parents in goal, they dONT eat breatfast and they worry about things I never had to worry about. I want to break the cycle for them i PUSH them and I QUESTION them in HOPE that one day they will go to uni or Tafe and be who they want to be!!!! I even tell them THEY CAN be who they want to be...........gee i hope it SINKS in!!!!

so please make sure you tell your kids they can be who they want to be....as believe me there are kids out there in homes that are never told this.

APEC holiday

We just got home from a NICE 4 days up Forster/Hallidays point. It was soooooo nice! I am in the process of uploading 400 photos!!! Camera has frozen 3 times

I got home to a nice surprise - a layout on the KSK portal. I love these photos so much. The journaling reads

This was one of those days that I did not want to end. We arrived home at about 4.30pm to finally find water in our pool. You and I sat in the shallow end and played. I loved watching you walk along the bottom, something you won’t do again for many years. As the sun set, I carried a very upset boy back inside. You were so sad you had to leave.
Only 141 days until the next swimming season.

will be back to show and tell about our fantastic holiday!!!

IDOL announcement

If Husny makes the top 12 I will eat a piece of cardstock!

Make Holden you are a washed up HAS BEEN!!!!!!!

I (heart) Thursdays!!!!

A small sleep in, swimming lessons, lunch with max, Max sleeps, I iron and scrap, Max wakes up and we play then we shop, come home to dinner and sorry the day is OVER!!!!!! I DISLIKE working Friday after such a good thursday!!!!!

Here is my album for Darren this Father's Day over at KSK!!!! I had a lot of fun making this one!

and Karen has the CLIP it UPS in!!! I hit the jackpot when i opened up a bag I have not used since 2005 and there was $100 in the pocket!!!! So I am off to buy a cip it up!!!! Karen also has some great Father's day specials! So go and have a shop too!!!!

hoping to go and scrap but I am yawning my head off!!!!!!

I meant to post on the 18th but.......

time got away!!! It was a year ago on the 18th that I first heard "i wish i was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair", it was a year since my matey Sal flew into to Sydney to stay, it was a since a great class at Scrapabout, it was a year since Kiwi scraps SO THEREFORE it was a year since Ali E changed my scrapping philosophy FOREVER, made me cry and HOOKED me to her work!!!

The final touches are being put on our pool as we speak! 5 more days and it will be DONE!!!! the pavers are being laid and landscaping done this week! YES it was a long process - TOO much needed to be done on our sloping block but OH the rewards! todays weather was GOOD enough for a dip - 26 in Sydney!!!! roll on Summer

I am also admiting to being a very SLACK penfriend! My buddy Kirsten and I have been friends since we were 14 and we wrote letters (remember them!!!!) for many many years! well Kirsten I owe you the biggest biggest biggest hug as I have been slack - I owe you pressies and cards ...just need to let you know I never want to loose you as a friend and I cant wait until you come out here on your holiday!!!!! here is us too in 1999

I have to go and plan an Athletics carnival and a DINOSAUR-cooking-cake-volcano thingy for my classes procedure writing lesson tomorrow. I am crushing biscuits, they will place their natural Confect. Dinosaur on the earth!!!! and then a choc mousse volcano will errupt, kill the dinosurs and turn them into fossils and then we will eat it!!!!!!!!!!! YUMMO!!!!!!!! will take photos of this creation if I can!!!!

Here are some photos of the spunky monkey max - growing way too fast!!!! He was 19 months yesterday! I will do a max catch up soon!!!!!

TOO much fun for one weekend

I packed WAY too much, I ate way too much and I scrapped alot but would have loved MORE!!! thanks for a fantastic weekend girls! I enjoyed it all! The location was fantastic right near the car so no dragging my stuff up a mountain and 10 m from my bed which I crawled into at 4am each morning and was up again at 8 for breakfast. We laughed, we sang, we had a moan bond about hubbies, there was lots of PUSHING AND SHOVING to win the fantastic prize from SCRAPLOOT in a game of musical chairs!!!! GO Lee and Bridget!!!!
I really would love to do it again!!! Merroo was great - peaceful and way up the back so lots of privacy!!!
and YES girls I have started to work through the list!!!!!
So here is what i did! I scrapped Max's 6x8 mini album nearly finished 3 months to go!!!!!!

Ok I need some rest as I have soo much washing to do - thank goodness i get my mid week weekend tomorrow.

1.43am!!!!!

I am HYPED!!!! swimming, cleaning, washing, ironing, playing, talking, shopping, hair dressers, eating, school work then the big thing PACKING!!!!! Just finished!!!! I better get it all scrapped or I might NEVER do another retreat again!!!!!

Veronika if my son turns up at Alex's party without a card I AM SORRY!!!! cant seem to find it!!! Have a great day and take lots of photos for me of Max and Alex (YOU know what a scrapper needs!!!!)

I have the BEST photo of Max asleep this morning...he slept until 9am and I had to wake him for swimming...silly thing wont upload as batteries need charging!

Here is a weekend survey to leave you with......

Do I need to attend Heidi SA (stampers anon)??????

4 were missing as they were in an UNPACKED scraploot bag - added to the little family NOW!!!!

If there is any BREAKING NEWS can someone SMS me!!!! I am SOOOO going to miss my friend the computer.
Here is my cutie (make that Mr Trouble). going to miss him this weekend. He loves the new shutters and peeps at the neighbors!!!

too much to do

Yes I am procrastinating AGAIN!!!! thinking about what i have to do rather than doing! packing for this weekends retreat and KNOWING if I dont pack well i will get nothing done and then I will......PROCRASTINATE!!!!!! I am sooo looking forward to getting away with some GREAT scrapping buddies. I have done the massive shop and all I need is TIME to prepare the millions of things i want to achieve!

Here is a layout I did last night ! At the retreat I am teaching some stamping techniques and water colours! Here is one of the examples! i stamped the title and stars and used my water colours on it! the rest is patterned paper by one of my favs Scenic Route

Today I caught up with David, Christine and Daniel at Lollipops! Max was soooo happy to play and explore and was not the clingy baby he has been over the past months! and yes Max was a gentleman and pushed the pretty little girl on the bike, half an hour earlier she pulled the lawn mower out of his hands and threw a ball at him! GOOD to see he holds no grudges. Then we went to see Dad (or as Max calls him Darren) at work. Max was so in awe of all the cars and tools.

A very busy day tomorrow and then it is OFF for ENDLESS scrapping, eating singing and dancing!!!!! have a great weekend !!!!!