Quilt

Well, the quilt for our godson is finished! I am so pleased - and these are the daylight ones. I had it professionally quilted by Sue Burnett who has two huge industrial quilting machines. I would have been happy with straight up and down lines but I am soooo pleased with the stars etc she has put in. I finished the binding tonight so that we can give it to him tomorrow when everyone comes for a Father's Day lunch. I hope that he loves it as much as Colin loves "Quilty" given to him in 2000 by our friends in the US. "Quilty" goes every where - in fact, as I type he is sitting cuddled up with "Quilty"

The complete quilt

One of the panels

A closer view

Here he is snuggled under it - he is now so possessive over it - Adrian was trying to

take it from him but he wouldn't let go - I am so pleased

Weekend

Saturday was the last soccer match of the season and then we had a team bbq after that. The weather was good and the kids all had a great time. It finished later than we expected but we fetched Ross and headed for the shops. Ross has saved enough money so he pre-ordered a new PS3 Slim which he will get on Wednesday.

We also looked at a replacement outside light (ours has died) and at home security and a new post box. Yes, we've had a further egging and our post box was stolen - the second in six weeks. There wasn't enough time on Saturday so back they went on Sunday morning and came back with everything they needed. As they were about to start working, the rain started and it rained and rained and rained all day.

I've been looking out for our Postie all morning and she's just arrived so I could explain to her what is happening. She also approves the new site - on the garage wall as she can just ride her bike straight in.

I'm home today because we have a school holiday - Yay! The seniors finished trial exams on Friday and so technically we're all marking today but I worked really hard last week and got all mine done and then some. I brought someone else's marking home and finished that yesterday.

I also finished about 12 UFOs yesterday so a very productive day

I was going to take my parents out to Lyall Bay to find the use-by-date shop but we've decided it's too miserable so we'll just go to Norht City Plaza and look at the shops there and have some coffee as well

Since I made this private, Google reader doesn't update people so I'm going to try something else - I hope that it works! I can add up to ten names to get email notification - I've added some names; I'll add more if possible.

Oh, and today's the 12th anniversary of the boys and I arriving here! (Also 12 years since Dianna dies).

Cards and newspaper article

I made a birthday card for Ross

I made a card each for the two soccer coaches

and one for the dad who was always the referee

And our recently demised magazine has hit the newspapers: http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/2813411/New-magazine-and-publishers-can-t-be-found

Some photos

Colin with his Player of the Day trophy - I think he has really improved this year

After Ross' birthday dinner we decided to go to Strawberry Fare for dessert

Ross' dessert with "Happy Birthday" round the edge

Doj the cat (the one who was injured so badly earlier in the year) in his new sleeping place - yes it is the laundry hamper!

Weekend

Yay! Actually it my 17th wedding anniversary and Adrian has gone to Auckland! No matter, I bought take-aways tonight and 2 litres of ice-cream and will get take-aways again tomorrow night. I have to cook on Sunday because I will be the mother of a 15yo then. Eek - where did all those years go and now he's talking about getting his learner's license!

I am going to set up my new scanner this weekend (I bought it in July when Jenny was here) and start scanning some of those bazzillions of slides that live here.

Our seniors started trial exams today so I have a pile of exams to mark and more coming next week.

On a sour/sad note, it appears as though the owners/publishers of the new NZ scrapbook magazine Innovations have done a runner which means that people who have paid for subscriptions and advertising have lost their money.

And as far as my scrapping is concerned I haven't done anything for ages. I finished my godson's quilt and will now send it to a professional quilter. I'm also over challenges etc - I've decided that my scrapping must be what I want to do, not what others suggest. No more competitions (and I'm sure I'll change that one soon!) either. I am gathering together some photos from our trip to Auckland and getting dood ideas for l/os from Jenny, so keep them coming!

Coming to you from Raetihi

Here we are in the NZ Police Ski Lodge having just finished dinner which was spaghetti and meatballs and sauce and/or fish and chips - lots of it! Except that it was served and cooked with no salt. We came to help our home Lions Club (Ruapehu) with Camp Quality which each year in winter takes either cancer kids or kidney kids for a weekend skiing. This year was kidney kids hence the lack of salt.

It's been hard work but fun; I feel as though I have done nothing but dry dishes! Actually today when all the kids went skiing, three of us stayed behind. After we had cleared up I started sewing -yes, I brought my sewing machine with me and finished the quilt that I'm making for our godson. Now I'll send it to the professional quilter and then I'll just need to edge it.

Ross and Colin were treated as part of the group and got ski gear too and went skiing and were told to go anywhere they wanted to ski. Not only did they have a great day skiing but they were awesome in helping out .... carrying dishes, washing, drying, putting away - I was really proud of them.

We'll go home around midday tomorrow for a good night's sleep!

Private?

I am thinking of making this blog private for a while. I had some place "Feedmil" suggest that I could list my blog there as they already claimed to have it listed. I don't know who they are and my blog cannot be Google-searched. So if you want to be a reader, please email me so that I can add you

Some more from Senz

I thought I'd post some more photos from Senz - mainly of us ... and we have become known as the Pink Ladies

From left to right: Kylie, Ashley, Jenny and I outside our motel room; the same but our backs; next two is in Nic H's class; all of us at the Crop; sitting at the Crop; two Jennys; two nieces

Oh and I made the collage using Photosheet that I spoke about a number of posts down

Help!

So I've "lost" my pretty blog and I don't know where to find it! Actually I was trying to replace it with another template from Allie Brown and have no idea how I did it before. Can someone send me some directions please?

Updated: I appear to have done what I wanted to do but in doing so I've definitely "lost" some of the bits from my sidebar. If "you" were there or you know what I've lost, please let me know

The Week

It feels a lot longer than just two weeks back and ERO arrive tomorrow. Three of us got together bought lovely sparkly blue, green, yellow, black, red and white (actually silver) hats and have them up in our classrooms for De Bono's thinking hats. I will use them with my Yr 13s when I do a flatting exercise. I must take a photo

We went to a concerto yesterday: the Rachmaninov piano concerto was wonderful, but the 52 minute Shostakovich was a bit excruciating! Afterwards we went to dinner at Monsoon Poon .... to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary which is in three weeks time. And then I will have a 15 yo boy who's talking of getting his driver's license! I'm not ready for that yet.

I see that Chch is almost leading in the Senz 2010 voting ..... I'll need to find some cheap airfares then.

Our house was egged last Friday night but Ross saw who did it. We reported it to the police and then went down to the mother of the boy that Ross saw. No, never her boy and he denied it when she phoned him. About an hour later she came to our house to say it was not her boy at all; we stood by our facts. Saturday afternoon both she and her son turned up - no definitely not him .... but he did know who did it but wouldn't say. She left in a foul mood telling us she was going to phone all the relatives she knew in the police to close our complaint. Sunday afternoon she came back! ............... But this time with her son, his two mates and one set of parents all to apologise. How awful for those parents to have to do that but I was really pleased that they did and appreciated it very much.

On the same afternoon we had our godson's birthday party here - what fun and he is turning into a little delight

On Thursday I took my dad to the hospital for a 24 hour heart monitor. Both my mom and I don't understand why they're doing all these tests - he's nearly 86 and his body is just weakening. And it's sad to watch it happening

Well, I suppose that's a catch up from me; I need to do some UFOs (UnFinished Objects) ie l/os that need completing some of them from the beginning of June!

And then Happy Birthday to my lovely SIL, Jenny - have a great day

Have a good week

Senz 2010

Go here and vote: http://www.senz.co.nz/

Road trip

My SIL arrived on Thursday 9th July and we had a fabulous weekend doing all sorts of fun things, shopping, eating and chatting. Then it was time for our road trip. We were really packed in and had the roof box on. A feature of this trip was Wild Bean Cafes - lattes for the adults and hot chick stix for the kids! Too funny
We then headed to Napier for a night. On the way we had at least a one hour stop in Otaki at the Bendon shop to replace a few tattered undies. We arrived in Napier and it was cold and overcast but we found a nice warm restaurant (Thirsty Whale) over on the West in the old warehouses and had a lovely late lunch. Our motel (Napier Art Deco) was very comfortable. The next morning was beautiful weather and we headed up to the lookout. After petrol and "elevenses" at 10.20am we headed for Taupo and National Park. The drive through the mountains is very pretty but very windy. Unfortunately the mountains were clouded in so we couldn't see them but we went up the "hill" and then down to Happy Valley where the kids had fun in the snow.
Thursday morning we spent a long time chatting and around midday set off for Auckland. Our motel in Auckland (Camelot Arms) was close to the Telstra Events Centre; it was quite small but didn't matter as we only slept there. Most of our weekend was spent at Senz and the three boys went to movies, the Sky Tower and Rainbow's End. They also went to the airport to watch an A380 plane come in - much excitement. Then we went out to dinner at The Bog (an Irish restaurant). Yummy meal but the desserts were not impressive.

Monday morning was time to go to the airport; amidst tears we said goodbye. Jenny had left an envelope for us to open after they'd left which I opened in the car on the way home. I could hardly read it for crying and all three boys were crying too. None of us has been able to look at it since then, but we will.

We were thrilled to have Kylie and Jenny with us and very grateful to Alan for sending them along - love you all

Senz 09 aka Cut, Cut, Cut!

*This may have to be over two or more posts depending on the length. A piece of white paper on the l/os represents the photo/s yet to be added.*

What a blast! Especially the crop night – but we made it fun too. We all had pink T-shirts that had “two jennys and two nieces” printed on the back. These we wore all weekend. We started with Nic Howard’s three l/o class – FANTASTIC – how to do it quickly and looked great. Everything supplied and a bit extra “because it co-ordinated with the other papers”. Nic really is very professional and even though she was losing her voice, she kept going. I have to add photos to all three. Then it was on to Lisa’s Fresh and Fancy Free where we had to CUT around intricate patterns. (Cutting was a noticeable trend at this Senz). The two l/os were very intricate, very blingy and quite girly but I do like them. However, I didn’t use the birds or “adore”! I want to use photos of the four of us on this one and my l/o has “fabulous” on it. Next class up was Lianne’s Celebrate Her and we cut again………..this time a tree out of fabric. To make it easier we stuck the fabric onto Jac paper; again the bird didn’t feature in mine. None of us did all the French knots that we were supposed to do either. Nice, again too tricky and intricate for me but I did have a photo for this one. (Sorry about the blurred photo)Saturday we were in Nic’s card class – the one she has taught many times before and I have never been too. Kylie and Jenny had thought it was a very strange choice but politely kept their opinions to themselves! I can see why people rave about it – it was fun from start to finish. We each were given more than enough supplies for six cards and we were then given (almost) free reign on the card buffet – literally supplies spread like a buffet. Nic did ask us not to be greedy and I understand exactly what she was asking as I have had that before in my beginner’s classes. I made seven cards in class and took supplies for another two. If you get a chance to do this class book in as quickly as you can as you will enjoy it. And try to beat the record which is about 25! And it was great to see Lynda there

Second class of the day was Heidi’s female heritage class. Again, another cut, cut, cut class and we had to sew on a sewing machine! A first for me. The three of us used a photo of Granny Ivy (Jenny and my MIL and Kylie’s granny). Another nice l/o but lots of frills and flounces and not something I would do at home. Where the pearls are was a great big "ball" which I removed and put in the pearls instead.Last class on Saturday was Rachel’s Colours of Summer l/o and yet more cutting. I cut some but had had enough of cutting so I went downstairs and bought orange flowers to replace the ones we had to cut out. Another nice l/o and I’ll find some photos for this one. And it was great to see Trina (the TA) again.
Saturday night was the crop and the theme was “Come to the Ball”. Unfortunately we couldn’t get all dollied up but we did buy some cute tiaras to wear. The best dressed competition individual was won by a lady who hired a ball gown and looked wonderful. The group was the two ladies who had flowers all over a pinafore but I thought it wasn’t right that they won the prize as they won it last year with the same outfits. Then we won third prize! Too funny. It was a Kaiser Craft memo board kit supplied by Kaisercraft and Hastings Rubber Stamps. Kylie distributed all the bits and pieces and we were all very happy with our share of the spoils.

Now it was time to make the world’s biggest scrap page. We were given a piece of card 9” x 8” and had to fold back a one inch flap (to join them all). There were lots of supplies on the table and we set to it. All the 8 x 8s were then joined together. Some of the ladies had done such creative work – it was awesome to see. At one point I thought Kylie’s sheep was a tree! I haven’t laughed so much in a very long time - we had a blast and had lots to laugh about and lots of chocolate to eat. I did four l/os and finished the two extra cards blanks I had got in the morning from Nic. Two of the l/os Jenny and I had the same photos so go looking for hers too.

Sunday morning we had a sleep-in which we all really appreciated. Then our class was another heritage class by Heidi which was fantastic because there was no cut, cut, cut! Awesome l/o which I love. But, there was more than enough time to do a second l/o in the two hours class for which we paid.
Last class was a Stampin’ Up class and I was unimpressed but Kylie and Jenny really enjoyed it. For me there was too much on the page and it looked too CM! I also thought it was quite a hard sell class as everything required an SU tool

Some comments to teachers/designers/organisers:
§ If we will be using paint brushes – supply them
§ The same goes for the ink pads – if you want a particular ink pad, get enough for three or four people to share. I’m already paying quite a lot of money to come to the class and I don’t want to have to buy an expensive item that I may never use again.
§ Please provide rubbish bins on the tables – two litre ice cream containers are fine
§ If you’re teaching a two hour class make sure that the class lasts two hours and not one. Gather a few friends and “teach” them the class to check your timing.
§ It was great to see teachers using current papers and embellishments.

By far, the best teacher was Nic Howard – she is professional, relaxed and supplies chocolate! Seriously, she is good and she may be teaching in South Africa in May 2010 so if you can go, you won’t be sorry.

Well done if you made it this far and come back later for our road trip!

Some more creating

I made some cards to go with the bags (see the next post down) that are now wrapped up.

There is a poem inside written by Colin:

From faraway places you have come,

To meet each other and have some fun,

Napier, National Park and Senz you will visit.

Abounding in chocolate, coffee, wine and laughs,

This your memories will hold and keep,

Collected with love along the way.

There are still T-Shirts to get sorted


I also made a card for a friend who is not well ....... idea totally borrowed from Lara!

Holiday!

I love school holidays! And not only because I don't have to deal with other people's sweethearts! I love the no-rush, not having to get out of bed, shower, make breakfast, brush my teeth, get dressed, go to school rush in between checking on other people's hair and teeth (yes, you do need to brush your hair, you haven't brushed your teeth) etc.

I have been trying to print on T-Shirts but cannot mirror image the document. If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know asap

Then, I'm almost certain she won't come looking, so I can show what I made.One for my SIL, mine, one for my niece and one for my SIL's niece - you'll know us if you see us a Senz, so please stop and say hello.

I've been busy getting things ready at home: the bedroom, filing many l/os that have been lying on the dining room table and we bought a new lounge suite. Nothing expensive but we really liked this one and it looks good in our lounge.
Off to play a quick family game of Soduko before the new programme starts on TVOne

Update

I now have two boys lying in my bed both have flu. I will do the grocery shopping tomorrow night because I'm sure I will have it this weekend!

Flu!

Yes - we have it in our house! Ross asked for a ride home today (something he never does) as he said his body was aching and he had a headache. He's been in bed all afternoon and has been drinking blackcurrant juice which is all he feels like. We are doing nursing shifts tomorrow: Adrian will do the morning shift and I'll come home at lunch time. We had a 60% absentee rate at school today so lots of our kids are sick.

Ross had better be better tomorrow night as we have tickets for Starlight Express! I am so looking forward to that. I was doing some reading about the show and one of the characters in SE is based on one of the engines from the Thomas series! Just the ticket for us.

And right now my SIL is sitting at Johannesburg airport waiting to board her 1pm flight!!

Not much to say

Only one week to go to holidays! So I suppose that is something to say.

Only two weeks until my SIL arrives in Wellington (but she gets to NZ in less than one week)

Boys reports arrive next week so that should be interesting. We are currently making a Turkish outfit as Ross is in the Year 10s UN activity next Friday. About 80 kids are taking part and the will each be representing a different country.

On Wednesday we went to fetch our godson from his daycare - he was so pleased to see us! The muffin he was eating was forgotten in the excitement of Aunty Jenny and Ross and "Tolin" arriving to fetch him. This was in case we ever do need to fetch him and it all went really well.

Tomorrow we will have 8 teenagers here: first they're off to see the new Transformers movie and then back here for pizza and a sleepover. All in lieu of a birthday party in August. I'm going out and leaving ALL the boys to themselves!

It is so wet and there are so many sick kids that I hope that soccer is cancelled tomorrow. We had a 21% absentee rate on Thursday but other schools have been much higher. I notice that rugby is already cancelled but we have to wait until tomorrow morning for the powers that be at Capital Football to "let the secret out".

Hopefully I will have some time over the weekend to do some UFOs - the pile is growing! Have a good weekend

Senz, this week and Innovations

The Senz classes went on sale on Monday for three day pass holders - that's me woo hoo! I stayed home on Monday as I've got a dreadful cold (the second in three weeks) so I could quickly phone to book my niece, my SIL and her niece into Nic Howard's three l/os class. I left the others until I heard from my SIL as she had gone away fro a long weekend. By Tuesday night I discovered that a couple of classes were full already. That meant a quick call to my SIL on my BIL's cell phone and then she phoned me back so I could get us booked into the other classes. I got three of us into seven classes and then my SIL's niece decided she wanted to join us at Rachel Tucker's Colours of Summer class - no space :-(. Anyway, we're booked and some of those classes are full already so we're happy to be in the classes we're in. What has caused huge enjoyment is having to give all our names and as some of you know, my SIL and I share the same name so every time I book I have say we are two different people! When I email Fiona at Senz I always sign my name as "the NZ one" - she thinks it's very funny the two of us.

This week has been even busier than usual: Monday and Tuesday nights were parents' night at school so even though I stayed home on Monday (sleeping and resting), I went into school in the evening. Junior reports were due today. There was a water polo play-off yesterday (they didn't win and we're all happy as they stay in the more comfortable league) and June Tunes last night. June Tunes is the annual showcase of the choral groups at school and it was lovely. Tomorrow is teacher only day and we have to go into Wellington (leaving at 7.30am to miss the traffic) as the Maths group is there.

Last weekend we went to National Park to the Lions Club meeting and I joined Lions! Too funny. I mentioned on Friday night that I thought it would work and on Saturday night I got my badge. We had such fun on Friday - five adults who've known each other for a long time, a few bottles of wine and no one needing to drive. We laughed, we joked, we ate, we drank wine. Such "comfortableness". Saturday we went up the mountain to the Top o' the Bruce where it was rainy and cold. Couldn't see the mountain at all. Saturday night twelve adults from National Park got into the school van and went to Ohakune for the Lions change over night. Another fun evening. Sunday morning we went to Out of the Fog for breakfast which is a tradition for us and then headed home. We went in the Suzuki and it was great - traveled well and all our luggage fitted in. If we'd had to take a chilly bin and food we wouldn't have fitted in though.

And when I got home tonight the second issue of Innovations was waiting for me! It looks good so I am looking forward to reading it later.

Keep warm and keep away from those with "the" flu!

New Car

Doesn't it look smart?

And look at the odometer reading!

A snapshot of my week

Monday: Leave school at 4.20pm to pick Ross up to take him to gym. Stop at Woolworths to get anything urgent (bread etc). Get home cook dinner have it ready to eat by 6.10pm when Adrian gets home having fetched Ross on the way. Pack up my sewing stuff and leave by 6.45pm to go to sewing and Adrian and Colin leave at the same time to go to water-polo. Home round 9.30pm

Tuesday: A reasonably quiet day as the only after school activities is Ross' music and he walks to that. I get home round 4pm

Wednesday; Depending on what time Colin's waterpolo match is depends on what time I get home. We usually have to leave by 4.45pm so as not to be in the thick of the peak hour traffic. Leave Nae Nae by 6.15pm to get back to teach my scrapbook class. Home around 9.15pm

Thursday: Usually stay at school until 4.30pm when I fetch Colin to take him to soccer practice. Home to quickly get a meal started, fetch Colin at 5.45pm

Friday: Take Ross' badminton team to wherever it is they are playing. Wait for them, drop them at their homes, pick Colin up, home to cook dinner.

Saturday morning: Colin's soccer match and then whatever chores I have to do - grocery shopping etc

Saturday night: sometimes the boys go out or have friends over

That's winter. In summer both boys play bowls so that is on a Tuesday and a Thursday after school. In between there's school work to be done. Housework? We've employed a cleaner. Time to organise things? A little bit. Catch up with friends? Thank goodness for emails and phones. Scrapping? Once a month at my crop day

The above is why I often choose not to go out on a Sunday as I need time at home to recover and rest and prepare for the next week.

This past weekend I had designated "UFO weekend" Unfinished Objects as I have a lot of l/os that need finishing. I managed two as I was out car shopping with hubby. He's made his decision and will take delivery of a Suzuki .... something or other either tomorrow or Tuesday - he's very excited. (Jenny - if you read this first, please wait for him to tell you)

Adult and Community Education

The Government this week announced that it was cutting funding to Adult & Community Education (ACE), in other words, night schools.

• There are approximately 220,000 students attending Adult & Community Education (ACE) classes in New Zealand each year and around 2000 tutors.
• There are about 212 schools providing this kind of learning opportunity
• Many schools support local community groups who run courses for adults by allocating around 10% of the school’s funding to them
• There are more students enrolled in adult learning classes (night school) in secondary schools than there are enrolled in the day school classes
• If school funding is cut and schools decide to go on the “self-funded” path, course fees will rise significantly and tutor pay rates may fall
• NZ is unique in providing accessible ACE programmes for all people, regardless of age, gender or ethnicity. Countries that no longer provide these opportunities to their communities are regretting the loss of these accessible learning opportunities

The government has refocused ACE to align with its priorities in literacy, numeracy and foundation levels of education, and will make a small pool of funds available for ACE courses that address those priorities

This means that any "hobby" courses , sewing, computer courses, scrapbooking, jewelery making, cooking etc etc will no longer be funded. This is a tragedy as many, many people get much more out of their course than just learning a skill.

What you can do: email your MP; Anne Tolley, the Minister of Education; Bill English, the Minister of Finance (who in 2005 spoke strongly in favour of ACE in schools); Trevor Mallard, Opposition Spokesman for Education and tell them why you think this funding should not be cut. If you have been to any night school classes tell them what you got out of the class and why it's important that these classes continue. It is FREE to write to any MP. You just have to send it to FREEPOST Parliament, PO Box 18888, Wellington. If you want to e-mail or phone any of the above you will find their contact details at http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/MPP/MPs/Contact/4/c/0/00HOOOCMPPMPsContact1-Contact-list.htm. You can also download a pdf list for easy reference.

Let's not lose this very beneficial service to the community

Queens' Birthday

Queen's Birthday this past weekend so a long weekend for us.

I went away with a couple of friends to scrap ........ I can quite understand why going away with a few friends is such fun - there's not as much pressure for one and it's a whole lot more relaxed for another. When these friends suggested it, I wondered how it would work but it was fantastic. We went to a place in Paremata - that's about 20 minutes away from here and we had the run of the house. I managed 27 l/os and I know that I had 28 page kits but some of those page kits had more than one l/o in. For example, our trip to the US in 2002 had ten l/os in it.

On Sunday it was so cold that there was snow - even where we were down near the beach. At home there was more but not enough to make a layer on the ground. On Monday I went to the Warehouse near the airport and the waves were crashing at Lyall Bay which is a popular surfing beach. I wondered why there was no one surfing and read today that a surfer had died in the wild surf at about 3.30pm in the afternoon - how sad for his family.

This coming weekend I am making a UFO weekend - I have l/os from ages ago that don't have journalling, or titles, or need to be put away. And on Sunday we'll probably see our godson.

And we are on the downhill slide to the end of term and my SIL visiting

Where is all the decent Bazzill?

Why do none of the shops here keep Bazzill anymore? All that's left locally are the yucky colours - nothing bright at all. From my online shop there's not much either. Why? Aren't people buying it anymore and am I the last to know this? And if people aren't buying Bazzill, what are they using?

I am going away this weekend and I have 28 page kits packed! Go me. And one of them is all our Orlando 2002 photos so more than one l/o in that one. The weather forecast is miserable so I just hope that for those landing at the airport tomorrow it's not windy. I also hope that we have good heating.

Happy Queen's Birthday everyone - have a good break.

End of Week 4

What an original title!

Another busy week because reports had to be completed. Then I was very cross with someone at work, who in my opinion, said some very unprofessional things to me. (I asked for an hour off to take hubby to the airport and this person suggested that he catch the airport flyer ..... which doesn't come anywhere near our suburb. Then he suggested that hubby catch the train and then the airport flyer ..... Perhaps I should just have phoned in sick on the morning)

Wednesdays are very busy at the moment as Colin has water polo across at NaeNae (about 35minutes drive away) and I teach my beginners s/b class. We have found a great take away place there called A1 Roasts - take away carvery with veges and gravy - yum.

Hubby has gone to Auckland until Sunday night and the boys and I are home alone - not to bad because we can chill on the food front - fish and chips tonight, Noodle Canteen tomorrow.

It is so cold here at the moment and the wind is howling a gale. I'm dreading soccer tomorrow morning because we have to go to the other side of Wellington and to be there at 8.30am. The weather site I look at is saying that four layers of clothes are necessary to be comfortable at these temperatures - hope it rains all night then soccer will be cancelled.

I have to buy some groceries and then get some photos printed. Then I need to pack some page kits for my weekend away. Yay! So looking forward to that.

Tomorrow night, Ross' barbershop group is singing in the regional competition so we will go to watch that. Here he is on Wednesday morning ready to go into Wellington to sing at the Victoria University graduation. I think he looks so smart and grown-up! I was so proud this morning - the director of the barbershop choir that he is in, told me that he is wonderful to have in the choir and gives it his all.
Sunday we will just hibernate at home!

Oh and the good news is that we will be Godparents again in November! Our lovely Jacob will be getting a brother or a sister - so exciting .... now I need to make a quilt or a jersey or more.

Busy Day

After school finished, I had to go to the uniform shop to buy Ross' Dress uniform - blazer, tie, grey longs and a white shirt. Since when did so many people turn up with the same idea? I stood in the queue for nearly 30 minutes. On the way home I bought fish and chips for the boys' dinner and that was at 4.15pm. I was too stressed to eat (hard day) so didn't bother for myself. Colin helped me get my s/b teaching things into the car and then we headed to NaeNae pool (usually 20 minutes away but because it was peak hour traffic closer to 35 minutes away) where he was playing in his first water polo match. I was so enjoying it that I forgot the time and had to rush off at 6.25pm so I could be back at school to teach my s/b class. Mats is what we did tonight and variations on mats - tearing, distressing, inking etc.

It's wonderful to see everyone starting out slowly and getting into it as the time goes.

And then I did my random number draw on my calculator and the winner is Julie! Please email me your snail address and I will get a parcel off to you soon

Happy Mother's Day

to all Mother's out there!


I have had coffee in bed, got given some lovely hand made gifts, and Ross has served me breakfast ... not in bed as I don't like eating in bed, but minus a knife and fork! It was delicious nevertheless. Colin is making lunch and my mom and dad, and our friend Karen and Jacob are coming along too. (Karen's husband is working today.) Here are my gifts: a wooden box painted pink and lined with polar fleece for my "treasures" and a water spray bottle painted in the colours of my cat Sally!

All in all, it will be a very busy day and what I'd really like is a quiet day by myself!

So, I will share some of my sale bargains with you - tell me what you're doing on Mother's Day or what you'd like to do :-). Post a comment by Wednesday night 9pm (NZST) and I will use my random number generator to choose a lucky winner after I get home from my s/b class. I don't know yet what you'll get - but it will all be new and I will post overseas

Have a great day.

Magazine, sales and teaching

I see Memory Makers Magazine is to cease publication after the Sept/Oct. I am very sad about this as it's a magazine I really enjoy. The reader submissions are different and show many styles; not just the same old, same old. Then I have to wonder with two US magazines going/gone and a third on very shaky ground how TWO NZ magazines will survive. On the other hand this may be good news for those magazines as people will possibly buy them

Spotlight has been having a sale of craft items and our local one has 50% more off all sale items. I got BasicGrey papers for 10 cents a piece! Thickers were $2 each and there was so much more on sale! I spent a fortune

My scrapbook teaching classes started last Wednesday and they have been so lucky as I got lots of bargains at Spotlight to give them. I have six ladies and that is a nice sized class with which to work

And we have a new family member! His name is Speckles and he is a six week old pied cockatiel! He's actually Colin's bird who has been saving his pocket money for a while now. I will take a photo in the morning ....... after I've made a Mother's Day card for my mother

More Praise

If you've been reading my blog you will know of my quest for a paper kit. I bought four from Scrapbook Dreams and I am very impressed with them. They arrived wrapped in tissue paper (in a box of course) but even better is that each kit had a contents description - Make and name of each patterned paper; make and colour of the c/s.

I will be purchasing again and even better I can purchase a number at time and save on postage

Innovations

I have one in my hand! And I have to say it is fantastic! Love the size and the way the l/os are one to a page. And I love the variety of articles eg Double your Scrapping - How to go from a single page to a double page. I love the "Top Tip" that is printed in brackes on pages. And given all the comments that people have made I think that if you haven't seen one of these magazines RUN to your nearest shop to buy one

Thanks for all your comments on the other s/b magazine

NZ Scrapbook Magazines

For the last five years, Up2Scrap has been the only NZ magazine published. Up until now, they have published a magazine four times a year, but it is now bi-monthly. Personally, I am a bit tired of all the articles being a Step 1. Cut your green paper 11" x 5" type of article. I want more than that. Maybe some articles about Using a Word document. I also like to see lots of l/os. In the last issue received yesterday, out of 24 reader submissions, 13 of them were from NZers and the rest were Aussie. Now that's okay, but I really don't think that the Aussie magazines have 46% of the reader submission from NZers! I know that NZ scrappers submit and are rejected. I must say that I get a bit tired of seeing the same style of l/o published. And I have given them my opinion for what it's worth. I am also probably their longest subscriber.

Enter Innovations to be published monthly. I am desperately awaiting my copy so that I can compare.

I am really enjoying Memory Makers Magazine at the moment - lots of different articles and lots of different style l/os

I know there are a couple of discussions going on elsewhere about the two magazines, but tell me your opinion

First week back, (inter)National Scrapbooking Day and more

Well, one week down, nine to go! Mostly it's been great except for four Year 13s who really should no longer be at school. No matter, I have four weeks to go until my weekend away with a few scrappy friends and less than ten weeks to go until my SIL gets here! The Year 10s did a common test at the end of term 1 and we're waiting for all the results to come in. So far Ross is first (out of over 250) and likely to remain there. He also got an E on his animation in ICT and his teacher invited me specially to go to view it. I was impressed.

My plan today was to cut out my dressing gown (done), get some more page kits done (not done) and to prepare for this term's Beginner's Scrapping class (sort of done). The boys had friends over - five teenage boys playing PSP etc so for lunch I made bacon, cheese and corn scones. I was going to do macaroni-cheese but there was not enough pasta of any kind. Got to fill those stomachs and legs with something substantial! And I need to do the grocery shopping too!

Onto scrappy things ...... it is always National Scrapping Day on the first Saturday in May in the US and down under we follow suit. At SBO there have been challenges all day so that's what I've been doing.

9am challenge: Easy as counting to 5 recipe challenge 1:Get together 1 half circle, 2 swirls, 3 rectangles (photo can count as 1), 4 flowers, and 5 buttons. Mix well and create!!
Didn't manage this one

10am challenge: no right angle cornered photos! circles, stars or even the old corner rounder...just don't have any photos with 90 degree corners on! p.s. your page can still be a square or oblong!
This one I used some old photos of the boys that have been calling me for a week now

11am challenge: create a page using the title 'Wish Granted'
I used a photo of the boys' favourite treats from SA - I love the colours, don't like the photo or the l/o! Doesn't matter - it's scrapped!
midday challenge: Using the classic Tupperware Shape-O-Toy as inspiration I wanna see you use at least one of all these shapes somewhere on a page... a circle, a triangle, a star, a square, a cross and a hexagon
Not for me thanks :-)

1pm challenge: Colour Combo - Create a layout using the following colour combo as the dominant colours in the layout. Charcoal Grey and Hot Pink"
Well, my version of hot pink anyway! I love this one: photos from my second Beginner's class back in 2006 - and it's a lot "pinker" IRL
2pm challenge: Easy as counting to 5 recipe challenge 2:Step 1: Create a layout with only Black and White Step 2: add a TINY splash of colour, Step 3: Embellish with hearts and diamonds Step 4: Include the word LOVE in the title Step 5: Add Sparkles - i.e glitter, bling, sparkly ribbon etc
I didn't think I'd manage this but I found these photos from 2002 and they were so dark that the touch of colour was there
3pm challenge: "Frame it! - create a page or a couple of cards with a 'frame' or three! Frame your journalling, your whole page or your photo...try a paper frame, a paint frame or even some brads & ribbon..."
Messy and so not me! I should have put the photo on the right. But it is a tribute to a special sister
4pm challenge: A journalling Challenge. The prompt (thanks to Oprah) is 'what I know for sure'. Your challenge is to complete a layout which contains journalling of some sort that answers this prompt. The prompt can be interpreted anyway you want.
Hmmmmm ... now this is hard!

5pm challenge: Grab it and stamp it... grab some paint or ink and anything (that's not a traditional stamp) you can lay your mits on to use as a stamp on your layout A stamper I am not and finding something different ... hmmm not for me

I'll see how many more I get done - I've had a lovely day today so far; tomorrow our precious Jacob is coming to visit so I must make a cake in the morning