My new addiction

So a lot has happened and I have lots and lots to share! Trying to in words would be just bedlam for me right now though, so I will attempt to condense it a little ^.^

In October I went on a retreat with the awesomeness that is scrapchat. I had the best time ever! On Saturday night the fancy dress theme was of course halloween, I had a mask and wore a black long dress thing that I bought and a blue cap that I made from a sheet I bought at Lifeline :D The best costumes were definitely the corpse bride and groom, but I have to say the effort that everyone went to was just amazing! We had a gate crasher from Melbourne too, the lovely Miriam !! was such a thrill to finally meet in real life!!!! Good job! I do have a few photos but they are on my phone and it's flat so maybe another day.

My latest addiction is papier mache. I went online to search for something... something... I still do not remember what I was searching for!!! but came across Stolloween and got caught up in the incredible creations here... I forgot what I was searching for but thought 'hey I can so do this!' and guess what!? I DID!!! and I am planning on making a whole lot more ready for Halloween next year. I already have people willing to buy them!! YAY!!!! I am thinking marketsand word of mouth would be the go here. Fek eBay! to pricey are the fees for my liking thank you! lol. and besides I wouldn't mind trying out the whole market scene just to say I've done it! Here is a pic of my second (first big one) attempt. This is still awaiting painting but it has been mache'd and 'pulped' and I am so very happy with it!!!!
what do you think, so far? You can see the 'stuffing' still in there, I have since pulled it all out so it could dry better, which now it has and I will hopefully be painting it next week. In the meantime I have a few more on the way in various sizes in in various stages :D I really am enjoying this! and you know what? my kids aren't into it?! what is wrong with them? who doesn't love getting messy! haha oh well... maybe one day!
Here is the link to my Public art album on facebook too, if you are interested ;)
click here

Our Jasper is getting bigger and bigger. He loves the bush grrr I hate it because the ticks are still around. Hopefully it will get too hot for ticks soon! Mati is still her adorable self and is Jasper's partner in crime! lol
Jaana's Dove, Chicco (or 'Chiko' - a couple of the girls that went retreating in October will know what I mean by that lol) has been laying eggs?! she has no partner but has laid 8 eggs in the past couple of months... this is odd to me, but anyway!

I will be opening a new 'tab' to my blog with all my papier mache adventures and I will try to keep it updated... at least weekly! Promising daily was silly of me! haha anyways, I am hoping to share my knowledge along the way. A few tips I have figured out so far etc. Not that you won't get what you need from Stolloween... seriously the guy is a freakin' genius! check it out!!! links to all his creations are on the right side of the page.

OK I am off to bed. Till next time!!!!

It's raining

and it is so lovely ! We were talking this morning about the floods in January and how this small amount of rain back then would just sit in top of the ground because the ground was so sodden there was no more room to soak in. Right now the ground is thirsty so it should be all green soon!

I am going to learn to drive a manual - FINALLY!!!! I have always wanted to and I have driven a manual on three or four occasions but very nervously! I WANT to drive a manual because I think it is fun.... it's just well... I am a bit of a scatterbrain and lack the confidence needed... I will either burst into tears or go into hysterical laughter when I am nervous. I am too afraid to even ask questions because I think they are dumb questions. Murray is very supportive and helpful - I just hope he has the patience!! I am generally a quick learner but with this manual thing I'm just not sure.... Twice yesterday I moved the ute and that was ok and so easy because the first time I on;y had to use reverse and first gear and the second was just reverse .... and I know how to change gears etc it's the whole slowing down thing - see stupid!! lol

Ok, I am off to make coffee and enjoy the rain :D
have a great weekend.

For the dogs

Well we had a friend of ours who is a carpenter, build us an enclosure out the back yard for our dogs. It's kinda small BUT it's really just to stop them from running over to the neighbour's place every chance they get!! Jasper and Matilda come inside the house with us for the night, well in winter anyways, as they do not have a kennel as yet. They aren't unhappy there because in the morning when it's time to go outside they run straight to the gate of the 'pen' as we call it (horrid word but it'll do till we figure out a nick name for it lol) They do have fun in there, and they have a few bones and toys too to keep them occupied. Also I take them for their walk daily down the driveway too ... FYI our driveway is about half a km so it's a km walk we do ;) so a half decent walky hehe Here's Jasper ... don't be deceived by the sad look... it's not the pen he was upset with it was Mati LOL she was being an annoying psycho





I have been searching for home made treats for them too, and came across these...

don't they look yummy?
I found them HERE I think I might make some later on today.

Murray is at work and didn't tkae lunch so I'll head out to have lunch with him ... might just have to visit Olley's fruit market while I'm out that way.

I have added a few more Shabrics products to my quicksales, see them ->HERE

Today is the last day of term for the kids, and I'm really looking forward to the break. Mika got his assignment finished - year two and he gets an assignment? lol. And he is quite proud of it as I am of him! It was a report on Leopards and it was the homework for the whole term... we crammed it though to the last week - OOPS! bad mummy! Mika also has a little girlfriend - the most adorable little girl! Her name is Brianna and they've known each other since birth!
I have a couple of photos of them together but I won't put them up until I talk with her mum... not sure how she'd feel about her daughter's pic being free to the public on the www :-/

Well that's about it for now. I'm off to get a bit of housework done (not that there is much... thanks FlyLady!!

I remembered my 'promise I'll update daily but didn't' blog

Hello out there :D
What an ordeal we have been through lately. Murray went into hospital on Monday night two weeks ago with pneumonia and asthma and left to come home last Saturday with COPD and type 2 diabetes! OMG! He was so very sick. His oxygen levels were down to the high 80s which is pretty bad, and he was just all in all one messed up puppy. But with the professionals at Logan Hospital and support of family he has come out a better happier person YAY! He had the last week off work and has gone back as of yesterday ... well yesterday I didn't want him to go, actually I really didn't want him to go back till Monday but Murray is a stress-er and a worker... and as the man of the house he takes his job as provider very seriously! I'm just so happy that he is finally getting the right treatment for ailments we didn't even know he had!

Mum and dad have been awesome through all this too. Dad came to cut down a tree and split wood so we'd have warmth while Murray was in hospital. He was funny actually - he put the ride-on away and locked up the shed and did little helpful odds and ends around here - guess we all thought Murray would be more than a week in hospital.

My brother called me too... that was weird!

I have always been very crafty and have always tinkered with all sorts of things... my knitting is nothing spectacular... just socks and scarves... I was soooo excited to finally learn how to knit a pair of socks the 'proper' way LOL

lately though I have been upcycling (reclaiming, recycling, repurposing' ) fabrics from [ugly] op shop shirts I know that sounds mean... and not all of them are ugly - the fabrics aren't but the styles *cue vomit bucket* ... and not ALL styles... I bought one because the fabric is gorgeous... er I tired it on and apparently it has found a new home in my wardrobe rofl... oh well for $1 who is complaining?!

anyways... check them out, I have listed four on quicksales.com but they are all for sale (just wanna see if there's any interest on QS first before I bother listing them all!)






What do ya think?? $3 each?? $1 postage :D if you want to see more (I think I have about twelve different ones and more coming)

If you are interested let me know :D

Well I guess I should get some house work done before Murray gets home LOL. It has been a lazy day in that respect :D

Till next time :D

PS I always check in to my blog daily to check for comments, even if I don't post, so please do comment xx)

Dogs, children and ...and wine LOL

Dogs (not old ones!) Well Murray has been looking at a dog for himself. He found one - a gorgeous puppy called Reuben. He is a Neo mastiff (a neo pet ?lol) But unfortunately we didn't have the right training to adopt him :( because he is such a big dog we had to have special training.
Ain't he cute?!

Children - Jaana was badged yesterday with her sport house captain badge!! It is such a good looking badge this year. So very proud of her and her bestie was badged a captain for another house... rivals in sport best friends in every other way! (our Jaana is on the left)


Wine - (not watermelon wine! lol) I had two glasses of Moscato (kiss and tell) and all of a sudden I got the worse anxiety attack I'd ever had! It was scary! Doubled over with a pain in my chest that went round to my back. I felt like I was being crushed! I got over it about 15 minutes later after a hot shower. terrible terrible feeling and from where? I have no stress?! how bizarre!!!

And what the hell are these??

As soon as they felt any vibration near them all their little tail ends would start moving up and down like fish ROFL so funny! The chickens wouldn't eat them either... I wonder what exactly they turn into?! are they case moth caterpillars anyone know??

*SHRUG* beats me!

and now a scrappy share. A few cards I have made in the past week...

OMG great news!

As a lot of you know, the Scrapbooking Memories Forum had problems over the weekend... sadly I think it put a lot of people off joining in.
Cass Bellemore has emailed me and is working with IT to fix the issues...so PLEASE stay tuned this week for more details but I have a funny feeling this weekend is going to be awesome ;)

Scrapping today woohoo!

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning up my craft room so that today I can prepare some example LOs for the cybercrop I am hosting at Scrapbooking Memories this weekend. Cassie Bellemore, the lovely Assistant Editor at SM, has kindly put together some awesome prizes for the four challenges, and I will supply a small gift to the winners of the games we play. I can't wait. Though as it stands it looks like there will only be a handful of people there...maybe people don't know about it, or perhaps they have no faith in me...either way, I hope I pull it off!

I have been looking at alternative sites to sell things. eBay is getting too silly with their fees! even though there is possibly not a single soul in the universe that hasn't heard of it...you would think fees would lower the more sellers they have but oh no! I guess this is how the rich get richer right? I really shouldn't gripe... good luck to them, I'm moving on to find my own way to make riches rofl. I found quicksales (formerly known as Oztion)is a much better place to sell, the fees are possibly on par now (but I doubt it, I haven't sold anything there for ages!) but the thing I like about it is that you put credit onto your account BEFORE you sell anything...and it stays there forever if you don't use it. I put $20 on it when I opened my account (what...about 7 years ago no!) and I still have left over credit from selling a few things over the years. The bad thing about it? hardly anyone knows about it! well it feels that way anyway when your selling. Great for buying!...it's almost a given that you won't be outbid on anything LOL... take the time to check it out, and spread the word!!! It's all Australian too...which I really like!!

Our cat, Luka, had her kittens on the last day of Summer. She had her first at about 7am, the sixth at about 10am...and the seventh 'born sleeping' at about 9pm. They are too cute!! Mostly black and white...not sure how that happened...guess the feral dad was black and white (no really! the father is a feral cat from the bush!). We are wanting to keep a male from the litter, get him desexed and find a home for all the others, including the mother. It might sound cruel or nasty or whatever...but to be quite honest, the mother was not meant to be with us in the first place, she just 'missed the boat' when it came time to taking the litter from our last female to new homes...the cheeky kitten took the bolt and hid int he bush till the next day...so I guess she stayed while her mother got a new home. After having a desexed male cat, who we sadly lost to a paralysis tick last year, we have decided we like male cats better than female ones... males seem to be more affectionate and a lot less moody!

well anyways after all this babble...I better get the kids off to school!

till later

SM CC

I have put up the roll call thread and the pre-cc chatter thread :D at Scrapbooking Memories Forum :D :D

Hope to see you there!!! SM has racked up some excellent prizes too!!

Later tonight I will be putting up the schedule for the weekend :D

A scrappy share and a CC in there!

I am so excited to b typing this new entry on my new laptop...ahem...our new laptop ... I needed to anew keyboard you see and so I called Murray while he worked yesterday to say I was going to go look at what they have at Officeworks. His response to this was that he would pick up a new keyboard and mouse for me because he had time. Okie doke thank you :D Then I get a text telling me about some laptop he was looking at. I really didn't expect him to come home with it lol. He is so spontaneous I love it!! So here I am typing on the new keyboard!!! I relaly should be doing housework and I will but I am watching Charmed also so when that episode ends I will get off this beautiful laptop and get a move on!!

I want to share the February Sketch challenge posted at Scrapchat I enjoyed doing this one. It was a lovely day :)


The translation is not perfect but it's close...you get the picture anyways...and yes I know there is a spelling error too but ya git that right?! lol

Have a happy scrappy wonderful day and don't forget the CC I am hosting next weekend at Scrapbooking Memories!! I have been sent photos of FOUR prizes that the lovely Cass has rounded up for the challenges too! Getting close now! Gosh I hope I can pull this one off!!! are you all in to support me?? I sure hope so!
Here is a hint-->Look here

I look forward to a relaxing weekend this weekend...apart from going out FINALLY to get our tent and other gear from the camp grounds...yes they have been there since mid DECEMBER!! bout time we brought it home eh? lol

OH and SONS OF ANARCHY SEASON 3 STARTS ON SUNDAY NIGHT!!!!
WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!! I bloody made a mistake just now...I read a spoiler forgetting the US has already run season 3 in its entirety ... grrrr but it's something I'd hoped would happen so it's all good LOL...

OK till next time!!!

February Scrap the girls challenge

Find the challenge here
And here is my interpretation :D

TFL!!

Finlanders - Oikeesti

hmmm

so much for the daily entries lol.
It has been so hot here! I'm really happy that there were no fatalities in TCYasi. Amazingly! It was a cat5 for so long...and ten times the size of TCTracy in 74...yet Tracy was far worse IMO. There were many many lives lost and so much more structural carnage than Yasi. Yasi's eye was bigger than Tracy in its entirity (Tracy was 100kms across) and that is one big mutha of a TC! We all thought RIP to so many towns including Cairns but yet Tully copped the brunt of it, and there were towns with a lot of damage but not nearly as much as predicted. I guess in these days people are more aware and the technology that goes into constructing buildings to make them TC proof is far more developed than that of the 70s.

I had my hair cut and coloured yesterday and I'm so in love with my new do! So much lighter - in colour and weight! lol.

Don't forget to sit scrapbooking memories for the CYBER CROP I'll be running there in the very beginning of March!! visit...bookmark...visit DAILY!!! Newbies are wanted!! It is your gateway to some very true friendships!! The SM forum isn't so private, so don't blurt out your personals - well none that you wouldn't on a blog! lol... but there are so many members that are members of more close knit communities...it was my gateway to a 'scrap family' that I owe so much to, for being there for me and forgiving me for stoopid things I did in the past. Truly truly beautiful people!! I love you one and all at SCRAPCHAT!
Well I'm off to make another coffee and surf the net for a bit. I will update with photos on Monday!
Until then...
Be happy, be loyal and always have hope :D
xxx

Craft from the ETSY lab!!

I actually used this method yeeeears ago to make small boxes using old Christmas cards...I glued ribbon onto the bases so they could be easily pulled out of the lids.. My intention at the time was to make an Advent Calendar with them and put small treats intot he boxes...but alas life happened and I didn't get around to it...maybe this year?! lol

Courtesy Ideas for you - 1st wedding anniversary gift ideas

March smells good

This is a hint I have given on SM forums... A _________ is coming and I know all about it!! ;) Wonder who will join us?!

House

Wow what a holiday season! Drama drama drama!!! TG it's all over and we can all go back to our normal routines! I know that may seem mundane but I like order and I am actually learning to stick to the routines I create LOL.

This house is starting to come together too. I've cleared the gutters from the front of the house...just have to do the rest of it. It has plants growing in it...guess it is time I did it?? We've only been here for about four months and I know that's heaps of time for us to have done it...but seriously these gutters haven't been done since the birth of Christ!! There is beautiful topsoil in there though, so I will have pots ready to be filled I think!

I really like that we have tidied up the front part of the house. It's pleasant to be greeted by prettiness when one comes to visit :D
This was the state of it... before I'd cleaned the gutters. I had to dig through the gardens to make trenches, so the water wouldn't come into the house!!

A right rotten mess it was!!! And it was getting me down...so last weekend I got out of bed and made a coffee then got to work!!
this is the result of about 10 hours work here!!
Murray was working for the morning then he came home and mowed the lawns. Then when I wasn't looking (lol) Murray layed the pavers. They had been randomly put in the gardens as potstands...they looke dreally good in their day...but their day was over!!!
Here are some more 'before shots'






(in the last pic, the three pavers are lifted up so I chould drain the water from the other side of the garden!!
Pretty uninviting eh???
I read somewhere that one's pathway to the front door should be a direct line, because the Chi flows way too fast...rather it should be curved...ok so mine isn't curved, BUT I will eliminate that by placeing a round pot in the corner where the pile of pavers are in the pic (when I get one!!)
This is the progress pics of the path...




OK so what about now??

and here is the pavers Murray laid...

The following pic is taken from the same place as the FIFTH before shot above!! big difference eh? lol


Ahhh I'm so in love with the progress here. Obviously it's not finished quite yet. Our bedroom is the last set of French doors (right of the front door) and it's all kinda messed up still...btu I'll get there once the kids are settled at school :D

Please leave me a comment :D I like comments !!!

Logan Reserve flood

These are some pics my father took for me of Logan Reserve Road. Not unusual that it would be under water after the amount of rain we had...it goes under with less rainfall

^my boys^

Rising Waters Flood Appeal for Crafters: Rising Waters Flood Appeal

Rising Waters Flood Appeal for Crafters: Rising Waters Flood Appeal: "Hi all, Like most of you I am sitting here watching the TV absolutely devastated at what is going on in Queensland at the moment. Going thro..."

Cherished Treasures: Toilet Paper Mini Album for Valentine's Day

Cherished Treasures: Toilet Paper Mini Album for Valentine's Day: "It's been snowing here since yesterday morning, the snow is the consistency of powdered laundry detergent.The snow is very pretty ..."

our driveway today...

Just thought I'd update our driveway issues...
I have been watching all day the news and reports n the flooding and it is just devastating. I am one who will do what I can to help whee I can... but ... gotta be able to get out of my place first!!! No visitors for a while, and I can't go anywhere...for now it's not bothering me but it will annoy me sooner or later!





That's it from me for now.

Scrap the Girls - January

Scrap the Girls January challenge
Summer Loving - Scrap your favourite summer memories or moments (girls only!)

Here is my effort for this month "D

thanks for looking! and Thank you to STG!

scrappy shares...and lols

LOLS to the previous post of mine... I forgot the radar image would update ROFL kinda doesn't look so bad as I write this...and it makes the text seem like total weirdness! LOLZ oh well never mind!!

Here are my newest creations... I have been having so much fun eing alone! lol. Murray went to the pub for dinner last night. I was going to go too BUT I only had my purple DOCS to wear on my feet (imagine wearing thongs into the pubs all covered in mud! at least my DOCS I could have wiped down rofl) but my boots were hurting me just from walking around the house for ten minutes!! let alone dowen the driveway and around the pub and back again! no thanks! I stayed home and played 'painty scraps' LOL!




HUGE credit goes to scrapwitch for being a big influence over my painting abilities...although she didn't know it she has been 'teaching' me for years! I have just never had the freedom within myself to just go for it and PAINT! lol... I will I'm sure adopt my own styles as I go...so don't freak out...

HEY! I see a light in the sky!! what is that called now? the mooooo...no wait, the moon is the night time one...the SUN! yes that's it! it's the sun...oh wait...it's gone again :( rofl


ok...next!







O that's about it for now...well for this post anyways. I have joined in at Scrap the girls too, so that will need a seperate post ;) :D

have fun and thanks for visiting!!! I love comments ;) lol

what is happening in this nasty world?

It's so hard to make things beautiful when we are all suffering these terrible weather systems!! Everywhere in the world!! Is it mother nature doing a 'cull' ??? problem is - I bet anyone who dies in these disasters are good people tragically taken! we don't need to cull good people!
And we are in LOGAN and at the time I am posting this here, while it says there is hardly any cloud over us? I can vaguely hear thunder, and it is wanting to rain so badly... there is a few sprinkles here and there... apparently tis crappy weather will last now, till MARCH!!?? march? are you kidding me? how will I get the kids to school? I can't get out my driveway with a car, and it's probably too far to walk, but it might have to be the way!

I hope all the good people stay safe! posesseions can be replaced...lives cannot

Should I start a challenge section in my blog??

Not really sure what is happening with Scrap the boys. I know it's a busy time of year and all, but some kind of update as to what is happening would be nice yes? Does anyoe know???

Maybe I should host some kind of monthly challenge ... *taps chin* hmmmm ... what do you think?

Epic catch-up...grab a cuppa!

Well I said I'd write out an epic so here goes!
Just to catch up a bit...

So the kids finished school ok. Glad it;'s over they were! Jaana's and Mika's report cards were great! Jade's and Trent's well...not great. Jade thought hers was 'pretty goo' ... yea for a sp'ed! Jade is not a sped...she is very intelligent...just doesn't care enough anymore. trent had a problem seeing, so now that he has glasses hopefully his grades will pick up. He actually enjoys reading now so that's a start!

Jade and I clashed one too many times and now lives with her father and step-mum. I have too many conflicting feelings about all this to make a comment... all in all though - we are all much better off and happier. I know that sounds really terrible because I am her mother...but can I just point out a couple of things here...

1. She is turning 14 in February this year, she's not a baby
2. I din't put her up for adoption!
3. SHE IS WITH HER OTHER PARENT...how can that be a bad thing?

She didn't hug me - or even look at me - when they left. Since leaving she has changed her facebook family members - her step mother is her 'mother' ... that's great...it only hurt because she never had me down as 'mother' on FB...ever! We've hurt each other a lot over the years guess. Anyone who has known me since Jade was a babe, knows that we have locked horns since her birth...it's just the way the stars wrote it. i'm Aries/Fire Dragon...she is Pisces/Fire Ox ... anyone who knows about these things will know we are pretty much mortal enemies on this front!!! that's life I guess. No need for hostility when the fact is we don't get along!

Enough said on that.

So then we get really excited about finally going camping to beautiful Flanagan's Reserve, past Rathdowney from here. YAY!
or not...
Everything was fine and dandy but then the rains started...and just didn't seem to stop!
this is the 'meandering creek' that we normally see when we camp there...not so gentle! more like a raging murderous torrent of a river!
It actually rose up 7.5 metres, and went from being only like maybe 5 metres across and you could touch the bottom...heck you could SEE the bottom LOL! ... to being i'd say 50 or MORE metres across!!! saw a wallaby that had gotten to close to the water and drowned :(




we had to pull the tent under the tarp, because a mangey possum made a home there while we were away for a few days (we set up the weekend before Xmas, went home for a few days so Murray could go to work, then returned on Wednesday b4 xmas) so the roof was leaking too...

By boxing day I'd had enough and cried and cried "I want to go home! this isn't fun. the kids aren't having fun, the dog's depressed!" (yep, that's her curled up in a tight ball in her basket, water flowing freely like a river under her, god love 'er!

Murray was very sympathetic to us, he on the other hand was ok with it all still on Boxing day (that was day 4 of the rainy camping!) So pack up we did...only the valuables. We left the tent and tarp and beds etc, just secured it all. We had every intention of returning when the weather fined up. We didn't intend to return an hour later when we realised my car wouldn't SWIM over the bridges and flooded roads :'( so we tried again on the Monday to leave...again no go....



then Monday night we ate soup for dinner, at 6pm. (By this point Murray had had enough too.) The rain had stopped, so we went to bed at 7 praying the rain would not return till we were gone. We knew if the rain would just stop for a few hours even the roads would free up a little... I told the kids time goes faster when we sleep...and it did. As soon as our eyes were open we were securing our belongings again into the tents and we were GONE! thank the gods! we were going home! then we got all the way to Jimboomba -

some 15 kms from home and Mt Lindesay Hiway was flooded OMFG! lucky Murray knew the back roads and we came out at Camp Cable road ... HOME AT LAST!

Yea. great. home. washing machine and dryer going for 10 hours a day three days in a row...still raining at this point, and everywhere int he world it seemed!
then home was about to be flooded too. perfect.
The amounts of rain we have had is just mindblowing. They are opening the flood gates AGAIN at Wivenhoe dam...but y'all don't go using it from the taps now! still the restrictions stand (can't fine people without restrictions right? lol)
This is the 'flood threat' of our home...

It actually came right up to be licking at the top of the brick under the door!
This is around our yard, not at it's worst - I had no time to take photos at the worst - I was busy digging trenches and diverting potential disasters!

I know the last few pics don't look bad...and they aren't really, but the one that has a river you can see behind the lattice? well that river was a real RIVER last week, about two metres wide and up to my knee deep! COPIOUS amounts of water with no where to go but into Murray's shed! so I opened the back door of the shed to let the water out then go tto work first diverting the river to go out past the shed, using planks of wood, funnily enough it worked! then I dug trenches in front of the shed to drain away what was lef there.
this is the front of the house, now that the gutter had fallen I had to dig trenches here too...the place looks just depressing :(

this is the area into the carport... can't use it or the car will sink!

and this IS the carport..


The only reason I did it was because...well Murray was at work, and even if he was home...this was him on New Year's Day...



His hand started to swell on the middle knuckle a coupld of days before NYE. on NYE it was reeeeeally painful, and he doesn't have a lot of feeling in that arm because of a previous injury that had damaged a lot of nerves. took him to the GP on Saturday, he sent us straight to QEII hospital, who of course had no surgeons on that day being new year's day, so they put in a canula and sent us to Princess Alexandra Hospital...yea you read it right - QEII PUT IN A CANULA (that's the thing for the drip, into the vein...making it an 'open vein' !!) and sent us away - how unprofessional! anyways. the lab reported no culture growing in 48 hours, so we have no idea what bacteria caused it, as it wasn't caused by any injury nor insect bite... well it's getting better now, and he has an offsider to help him on deliveries, Murray is ok to drive but can't lift anything for three weeks.
We have also given away smoking. When Murray cme out of the anaesthetic, he almost died. He told me he could hear the Dr say 'we're losing him' his oxygen level had dropped to 23%. So we haven't smoked since then. I haven't even wanted one, there is no craving it's bizarre! Murray on the other hand, isn't coping very well. He was a pack a day smoker though - I only had a few a day. He had two yesterday because he was gettng the shakes. It helped and he is being really strong, he hasn't bought any...I told him I had thrown his packet away last weekend but I knoew he wouldn't handle it and I kept them for emergency LOL. I will admit I lit one when the gutter that I'd just spent two hours cleaning out (they had top soil in them - never been cleaned in FOREVER!) had collapsed and that broke me...but as soon as it was lit it was put out because I almost puked! and that's a good thing!

we won't be having visitors for a while...

this is our driveway...what's left of it! and this is only the worst part of it. It's pretty much a wreck all the way up. Our next door is the same, just a huge canyon all the way. SCARY! a small car would simply vanish.


And yes, I know could whine all day about our troubles and problems, knowing well that there are hundreds of families out there in much worse situations...but like I was taught...my issues to me are just as important as other people's are to them...
I am doing what I can to help those people worse off than us. I will be donating clothes, and scrap supplies. Also I will keep an eye out for other things I can do to help... Lucky Murray has a 4WD - my bets are on my car not moving for at least another two weeks...the ground is just too soft!

I have moved into Jaana's old room now, as she moved into Jade's old room. My room is a craft room, and I am so thankful for it!!! I just love having my own space that I do not have to share!! WOOHOO!!!!

Anyways, there's the epic update. There is a few other little things, like Murray and I both have reading glasses now, so Mika is the only one in our household that hasn't got them, and my guess is he doesn't need them, although his eyes will be checked early this year.

Well I guess that's it for now. When the days brighten up I'll be able to take better photos of my art and scrapping I've been doing!

Wait...one more thing...we have to have our hot water system replaced...it's about 2012 years old and has leaked...so now the carpet in our hallway is wet because...yep the hot water system lives in a cupboard down rthe hallway...not outside or in the laundry like NORMAL houses ohhhh no...not this house!! such a gorgeous house though! the real estate keep offering us the option to move but I just can't...I refuse to let it beat me for a start! and I love it so much!!!

I have also uploaded a tutorial on how I make flags. Check it out

Till next time! xxx