Well this weekend has flown. We had a pirate party to attend for my godasons 7th birthday..

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Now have you ever tried to dress up a 1 year old in fancy dress..lol...what a laugh.. tried to dress Jack as a pirate but.....

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didnt like the eyepatch, got to like the bandanna and the side burns, but wasnt having anything to do with the stick on moustache, think it tickled his nose..lol..

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well he stayed dressed for about an hour so we got some photos..lol

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Well even though i havnt felt motivated to scrap much this week, i have managed two layouts this weekend..

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I know this isnt much and i have so many scrapping things to do..lol

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Still have my Chookscraps DT to do and a couple of CJs so i better get going!

well ive been tagged!!! Thankyou Jolene! lol
ok
FOUR JOBS I'VE HAD
1. Child care worker, in my teens.
2. We owned a pin ball parlour, so i was cleaner, receptionist and cotumer service.
3. Owned a business delivering to school tuck shops. So i was delivery driver and accountant.
4. Now im a primary school teacher.
FOUR MOVIES I CAN WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIn
1.the money pit
2. Top gun
3. scream
4. Titanic
FOUR TV SHOWS I LOVE TO WATCH
1 CSI
2. lAW AND ORDER CRIMINAL INTENT
3. ghost whisperer
4. Supernatural
:(FOUR IMPORTANT THINGS TO ME
1 My family: all six of them
2 My sanity, having me time
3 My career
4 scrapping
FOUR SONGS THAT PLAY IN MY HEAD
Well i would have to go for four artists i love: Steve Wonder: The beatles: Creed and Enrique
MY FAVOURITE FOOD DISHES
1. Italian, cant go past pasta dishes
2. Greek, my first husband was greek and i love the food
3. Chinese
4. And a good sunday roast.
WEBSITES I VISIT DAILY
1 Chookscraps
2 Embellished
3 My blog
4 Yahoo email
SCRAP COMPANIES I LIKE
1 Heidi Swapp
2 Junkitz
3 Lil Davis
4 Basic Grey
FAVOURITE COLOURS
1. Green
2. Purple
3. Brown
4. Black

ok i need to go and watch a DVD..
cheers

Couldnt up load any photos last night so here goes for today!
I did this one from a sketch on the weekend. Wasnt to sure about it when i started but i did use some of my fav papers (JUNKITZ) and found the colours realy complimented the photos.. So now i want to turn it into a double page, just waiting for the right challenge!..lol
Oh and as for my adventures today..Shopping yay!!!!
cheers for today

Well the day didnt get off to the best of starts...I set my alarm for 6.30am as we had a doctors appointment for Jack at the Mater chgildrens hospital at 8.45.

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Well the alarm went off and i turned it off and went back to sleep till 7.30 when one of the boys woke me to say goodbye they aere off to school!!! What!!! Nooooooo!!!!!

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Wake up Craig, Jack still sleeping,,of course because i need him to wake up early but no today he sleeps in..lol.

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Ok we are in the car by 8.10..Get onto the highway into the city and stop!!!!! Not forgetting peak hour traffic, the traffic is not moving,,,much!!!! an accident??oh well, off we get at Gaza road only to find congestion due to everyone getting off..grrrrr!

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8.30...and still about 20 minutes away...no make that 1 hour because even though the light is green we cant move...no one is moving!!!! Ok ring hospital tell them we cant make it....We were meant to meet the surgeon, so they fit us in for next month,,they are very busy..Ok lets turn around and go home...

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One good thing to come out of it..I got my tax back..Nothing like a shopping spree to brighten up the day....Mmmmmm now how much is too much to spend on scrapping stuff???

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Oh and BTW, thanks to everyone for all the lovely comments you take the time to write...

cheers

Another layout for the weekend CC.. a BLACK AND WHITE THIS TIME,,,very simple but i love the pic i took of Jack in the bath,,,a different angle. am experimenting with camera angles at the moment so am happy with this one!

Teenagers...grrrrrrrr..when they are a round life is never simple and you spend your time worrying what they are up too..

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Take my 17 year old daughter: she stays at her boyfriends every weekend, as her brothers dont get on with him he doesnt come around very often, Any ways...she always sends a text message Monday morning to pick her up after i drop her brothers off at school..Mums taxi is already at the cab rank! Not a problem as its on my way home. She then gets ready and heads off to school.

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But this Monday no text message.. Mmmm i think maybe she is walking or catching the bus, maybe she is going to school straight from boyfriends? Well 4pm that after noon, still no daughter.. Phone just rings out, no one at his place..Mmmm thoughts of accidents? car? traffic? can happen,,,,, she has run away? No she has it too good at home....She has been abducted?...mmmm nope no ransom money here.... She has been sexually abused and lying in hospital..yes my greatest fear!

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Keep ringing..still no answer..

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The on the tv big accident on M1 with a semi..great ex husband drives a semi and oldest son (19)he is on holidays at his place in Sydney, he does interstate trucking..was due to come home today...Oh great try ringing him, no answer...havnt heard from him in two weeks; panic about him now....later in night the accident involves a garbage truck,,, releif, he doesnt drive a garbage truck , even though he comes close to being regarded as garbage.....feel very sorry for those involved in the accident..

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10pm get message from son be home next week...whew..

well at least i finally got a message from him...

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Wake up with message from daughter pick me up from plaza. (send back where have you been?) receive message "at chris! can you pick me up? send back (nope you can catch a bus or walk.).get message back why?...send message , (have died from grey hairs and worry..do you care?.).message comes back..

what is wrong mum??....

arghhhhhh teenagers....

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cheers fran

Wow this weekend was a busy one: two cyber crops and some monthly comps to finish. And......the new FK mag coming out..

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The sponsor is SEI, so although i have never used iron-ons this is what is on the front cover: so i hope i dont mess it up..

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One of my pet peeves is ironing.. So much so that we dont even own an ironing board. It comes from the fact that when i was married to my first husband, %^&8%%%% THAT HE IS!!!! He was in the army and i spent every day ironing greens that needed to be startched stiff and creases that needed to be straight and sharpe and even overalls, he was a truck driver, that needed to sparkle and crackle with starch!!! I remember being pregnant with our first son and i was nine months gone it was hot in December and i had to stand up night after night to iron..I remember puffy swollen ankles..and a husband that liked to be waitied on hand and foot,,,,Urghhhhh so now ironing only occurs when we need something special like a wedding or funeral. The boys iron their own clothes if they need be: so does Stephanie. Most of our clothes our wash hang out fold and wear,,thank goodness for modern inventions!!!

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So back to the FK comp..ironing..Blahhhhh. but you got to do what you got to do even in scrapbooking.. Now where is that darn iron anyways...

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Oh this layout i did on the weekend for a CC. I really like it as it is very ecclectic.. Now i got the idea from somewhere but not sure where. I saw a layout online somewhere like this and i loved it. So this is my effort in putting something of everything on one page...lol

cheers and happy scrapping!

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Well talking about BUMPS in the night thought i would share the layout of Jacksons bump...lol

Actually quite pleased with it. It was for a challenge at

CHOOKSCRAPS. We had to make a folded paper rose for the layout. I thought this was a great challenge as it got a lot of us to do something we had never tried before! Great Job Lorraine!

Just thought i would share this layout. I did this last night and once i had found the stickers and the photos which took all of an hour or so:... the layout came together in less than twenty minutes. I like to time myself when im doing a basic layout to see how i go and i must say i was impressed to do this for a cyber crop in under 20 minutes.

More on our haunted house:

Unexplained bumps in the night...now you might laugh but we have had a few..

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We have two bedrooms, rumpus room, lounge room, kitchen, dining room, laundry and bathrrom downs tairs and three bedrooms and a toilet and bathroom upstairs. These are occupied by Stephanie, Nik and Mike and Alex in the big room, which is directly above our room and you hear every footstep due to very creaky floors. One day when my mum lived with us in the large room, i was in the downs stairs toilet , kids were at school and mum and Craig were in our room talking. When i came out of the downstairs toilet mum asked if i had gone upstairs. No not me i was busy in bathroom. Well mum and Craig looked a bit pale and swore they heard footsteps up in mums room? Craig is not the type to talk about this or look like he could beleive but he swore that he heard it too??

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One night Craig and i were sitting on our bed just finishing getting Jack his bottle. Stephanie was in with us having a little chat, as usual, when we heard this god almighty thump in the room above us. Steph thought it was one of the boys and i was a tad angry as it sounded as if they were going to come through the ceiling. Sounded like a bowling ball had dropped from a bed? Steph ran out to yell upstairs at the boys and found them all sitting in the lounge playing on the X BOX. So who or what was upstairs?? I went up to check it out as we have a large hen house in our midst, full of chickens. Mind you the boys heard nothing but it was a loud bang. Steph and Craig followed me up into the boys room. No windows open, nothing that could have dropped and made the sound?? Nothing out of place??

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Stephanie a few weeks ago had her boyfrind over, They were in her room watching DVDs. I had just put Jack to be in his room downstairs when Steph came running down the stairs asking who was in the boys room? I replied noone as Nik and Alex were in Sydney with their dad and Mike was at work. She asked if i had been in there slamming the sliding cupboard doors?. Not me as Craig and i were putting Jack to bed.. So up i go to be confronted by a very scared looking teenege boy who also heard the noises in the next room. I went in turned on the light, nothing moving. They swore that it was the cupboard doors baging shut???? None was there. what was the noise? I said it was probably our lttle ghost being bored as there were no kids in the house..lol

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So they are only a few of the things that go bump in the night and day that are still unexplained.

Oh and there is more but ill save that for another day!!!!

cheers

Ok here are the photos of the head injury...dont really do it justice, but then again, it always looks worse when your the mum..lol

Oh never a dull moment in this house ill let you know!
Last night master Jackson, who can barely walk has learnt the art of climbing. Yes he decided to climb up on our bed and he fell off head first onto the tiled floor..Arggggghhhhh!!! Of all the nights daddy was working i had no car and Jack was scraming and this big huge red and purple lump began to protrude from his forehead.. Panic stations!!!! Well nearly, i kept my cool head and got Alex to ring Craig... No answer...ok Jack still scraming, bump getting bigger, a head wound on a baby.. Call 000. Ambulance on its way, and still cant contact daddy.One son running around making a baby bottle other son trying to call craig, me looking for baby book, which in my panic couldnt find, holding scraming baby, daughter packing a bag for Jack and still no daddy..
Well the ambulance officers were wonderful, A lovely man and a woman who had treated my mum in the ambulance when she lived with us.
Off to hospital to be sure, never can tell with head injuries especially on babies. Jack calmed down though his heart rate was very high, but he seemed to enjoy the trip. Oh forgot to add got hold of dad he was on his way to hospital too.
Well we get there, me on the stretcher, Jack on my lap,into the emergency room and another ambulance pulled up and looked at me and the guy says, hi there, and dont i know this little fellow?..MMMM yes thats because you were the ambo who kindly responded to my son choking on a very small pice of plastic lodged in his airway..lol..mmm The ambo actually got the plastic out on the way to hospital. That was another story three months earlier..lol
Well you know your son is destined to be a regular when one of the nurses pipes up and says ive met Jack before.. Yes when he was three weeks old he had colic and constipation very bad that the doctors sent him to emergency, where he was treated. Well when the ambos and hospital staff know you well life is going to be a joy for the next 18 years till he can drive himself to hospital
Jack was sent home four hours later with no side effects exceot for the huge lump that still looks black and ugly..
But being the good scrapper i am!! I never miss a photo oppurtunity and took these photos when we got home last night..
Mmmmm time for a coffee me thinks and to ponder lifes journey:

This is a challenge i did on the week end : to create a layout containing green and black. I scrap lifted this concept: from this months for keeps mag, credit goes to Nicole Wright for her touch of magic layout on page 94..

Ok so we think our house is haunted!! Yeh right! I know what your thinking, but strange things happen in this house, not to mention how strange some of the people who live in it are.-.really!. But thats another story.
Back to our haunted house.
The sad thing is a little girl died here in this house Boxing day 2004. We moved in in March 2005 as the parents couldnt live there any more. Well we were never told about the girls death. My mum is a bit psychic..mmm hope i spelt that right?..She can be a bit psycho too..lol..
Any whoooo my mum always thought she could feel a presence in the house, she thought it was my dad? He died christmas 2003.
Strange sounds in our house, sounds of footsteps on the stairs. our cat always going up stairs and going straight for our sons rrom and sleeping in there. The babys room always so cold....????
Well Stephanie comes home one day and tells about the little girl dying in our lounge room! What!! I said the young ones in the street were pulling her leg, but no, i asked the next door neighbour and she was shocked i didnt know.
Well didnt that cause some converstion in the house.
The boys and Craig all macho males dont beleive in anything except football and ford cars... Is this you? Veiw this website its facinating reading!!!
Me?? Well i am open to anything.
So you ask, is there a ghost and do you have proof?
Well lets start here and yes maybe you can find a logical solution for some things but maybe not everything.
Such as:
When Jack was two months old we brought a mobile for his bed. You flick the switch and it turns on a light and spins around and makes music. Well oneday when i put Jack in the cradle i went to walk away and it turned on all by itself, this was before we new about the little girl. I told Craig who shrugged it off.
Jack always looking ove my shoulder and smilim=ng and baby giggles, but no one there....Always looking at something i couldnt see....
Next: When i went back to work Craig had changed Jack and was sitting in the lounge feeding him when the mobile came on all by itself.. He wasnt going to tell me..lol..it really freaked him out..Hahahahahahahaha.
Oh there is more so much more, but i have to pick up the kids from school.
to be continued...........

So i decided id like another cat in my life..Ha!!! I hear this from DP, We already have a much loved kitty cat called Fifty. A big hairy orange tom cat..
Yes we also have the problem of cat hair, so fifty hasnt beenallowed in the house since Billy went missing.
We did have a gorgeous rag doll cat called billy, he was only a kitten,but he loved to go outside and visit the kids in the street and guess what? Yeh he was stolen. MM AND WE LIVE IN A CULDESAC..TRYING TO THINK WHO THE PUSSY THEIF COULD BE?
Any whoooooo, now that Jack is a bit older i thought another kitten would be cool But well we have decided that we might like to try for another baby, remember that Jack was a surprise after 12 years and being told i could have no more children. But miracles happen and we have Jack, so im going to the doctors to see my chances of conceiving and carrying another baby..
Back to the kitten debate!
Craig hates cats, well thats what he has always said, but catch him unawares with fifty and he is giving him a good scratch and talking to..lol..so macho..lol..
Well i will sit on the fence for now about the kitten and wait till i see my doctor.. Until then here is a layout i did of Fifty for a CC at SAM, in black and white, Got second place for it too, very happy with it.

He took a step!!!!!
Yay Jackson took his first step, and its been a long time coming!! I took a photo too and will have to scrap it soon. As for scrapping when my best friends get together we have so much to talk about especially when we dont see each other for months. Took this photo at a morning coffee of my two best friends.
Love using Urban Lily papers. Found this lovely poem on the website Embellished
Girlfriends
Time passes
Distance separates
Children grow up
Love waxes and wanes
Hearts break
Careers end jobs come and go
Colleagues forget favours
BUT...........
Girlfriends are always there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you.
A girlfriend is never farther away than needing her can reach.
The world wouldn't be the same without them, and neither would we.
When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead.
Nor did we know how much we would need each other.
Every day, we need each other still.
cheers till next time!

Brrrrr chilly inside today, but oh my the weather outside is fantastic!
Nice day for coffee and cake.
Which brings me to this layout of Jack and his first MacDonalds experience, with a baby cino and a cookie.
Did you know????
Baby cino comes from the word Cappuccino - an Italian beverage, prepared with espresso and milk. A cappuccino is generally defined as 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk and 1/3 frothed milk
The baby cino has warm milk and froth with chocolate sprinkled on top.
This is a double layout using Basic grey papers, which im a big fan of!

Thought it was about time i displayed some layouts from my Design Team packs at ChookScraps.
Both feature Urban Lily papers. The girlfriends (on my wedding day 2000) layout also featured my own hand doodling on the Urban gypsy range. Upside down was created using the urban boy papers. i just love the photo of Jack doing his cute little trick!
Speaking of tricks i also made an altered formula tin this weekend for Jack for trick or treating at Halloween in October. My girlfriends and i alsways celebrate the day/night and give our kids a small party. They then trick or treat in the street at houses we have already advised that our children may come door knocking.
Yes we know this is an American celebration but only Americanised in that it has a holiday and dress ups and parties. I myself celebrate it for the reason that this day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. (the celtic reason). But it is sooo much fun for the kids!!
try this website: a favourite of mine: "the history channel" and find some interesting articles and things to do for Halloween.

Well its been a while since my last post...the days seem to go sooo fast,,guess thats what happens when you get old..lol.
I was just wondering where my life had gone? One minute im getting married and having my first child, the next he is turning 19 and all those years seem a blur.
I saw a layout today that was of someones house they had lived in, they were scrapping pics of all the houses they had lived in. What a great idea! Onbly i dont have many pics of houses i have lived in and ive lived in a few..Lets see

• As a small child lived in the naval base at Creswell, in NSW: Nowra way.
• Spent my teenage years in Campbell town: NSW, till i was 19.
• Lived Woronora River with my sister for two years:That is Sutherland shire.
• Lived in Brighton Le Sands for a year.
• Holsworthy army housing: NSW
• Singleton army housing
• Bexley North: NSW
• Narwee: sydney
• Melbourne Coburg:Victoria
• Orange: country NSW
• Milthorpe: country NSW
• Cootamundra: Country NSW
• Sanctuary point: Nowra NSW
• Huskisson: Nowra NSW
• Hurstville:Sydney NSW
• Merrylands west: Parramatta area NSW
• Regents Park: Queensland
• Marsden Queensland
• Boronia Heights: Queensland

Wow ive been every where man...lol

wish i had pictures of every house i lived in.. Mmmmm wonder if its too late to visit all those homes and take picture???

Any ways did this layout today of Jack.

Enjoy your days!!!

Well i have been a bit slack with writing in here,too busy scrapping i think..
I was thinking the other day that i might start submitting my layouts to magazines but there is sooo much to do and so many great creative people out there. I guess you just have to have what they are looking for at the time..Ill think about it a bit more.
well I won a wonderful prize from Embellished scrapbook shoppe for this layout. I had dne the picture in a nother layout a week ago but wasnt happy at all with it so pulled it off and re did it for a challenge and am very happy with this out come.

well ive had some exciting news this week. I won a double cyber crop at the CRAFT ATTIC. I really loved the layouts i did and was surprised that i won two of them. So that was exciting.
Here they are:
The first one was an all paper challenge, about Jacksons first day out with the family: and i actually journalled on it as well and was pleased as i dont do enough hand journalling.

Well it was Stephanies 17th Birthday yesterday, July 1st. We made it..for a while there i didnt think we would. What with the self harming and running away and rebelliousness. But she made it!!! we all made it..
She is growing into a beautiful young lady..im so proud of her. She comepleted year 11 and has a trade and some work lined up.. She doesnt want to go to uni, she just wants to work.. And so be it..we all cant be uni professors and doctors and lawyers.. Someone has to work in a shop,, its good honest work..I hope she gets what she wants..

Any ways on to some scrapping news. I was very shocked to have won a prize on LCs web site for this layout of Jack. It was a monogram challenge and there were a lot of great layouts.. So this was special..and i just love the pic of Jack eating his first birthday cake.

I also did manage a few more layouts this weekend and one of my favourites was this one of Jack in greens, another monogram challenge..
I want this one for his front page of his new album..