Delayed Gratification

Yes, I'm practicing this a little. Curbing the urge to pull all my scrap stuff out way before I should...way before school goes back on Monday/Tuesday and I can have the days to myself again.....ahhhh, pure bliss.

So until I can scrap again (and while the boys are out shopping) I'll share this...

I MET MARCUS GRAHAM LAST NIGHT!!!!

I've been very fortunate to meet a heap of celebs through AEIOU fundraisers and getting freebies with Kelly and through DH's work, but I have to say that this man was one sweetie.

DH and I went to ROARS AGAINST RACISM soccer match at Suncorp last night. The curtain raiser was a bunch of celebs, politicians, sports stars, etc and was pretty funny to watch. We were in the Qld Govt corporate box (food was DELICIOUS and the company was good too).

The conversation with Mr Graham began like this.....

DH: Hey hon, your man's arrived (in the corp box).

(I look - wide-eyed - just as he passes me and our eyes LOCK!)

Me: Oh Michael!!!!! (a little peeved)

DH: Excuse me Marcus, this is my wife Giovanna, and she's totally in love with you!!

Marcus: Ha! That's nice to know!!

and for the next 30 mins we chatted about soccer, Shakespeare and how he came up to Brisbane especially for the game....but mostly about Shakespeare and Frank Woodley's hilarious one-man-show on ALL Shakespeare. Bloody funny.

Ditch Davey (Blue Heelers) was also there but didn't get time to talk with that one.....

so was the Minister for Health - was going to bail him up about extra funding for Child Health but had too many wines by then and figured he needed a night off from being harangued!!!! (Nice, aren't I???)

I've been tagged (boomerang-style) by Charmane and I've finished my CARDS THAT ROCK cards from Funkstreet Designs, but for another post. Boys are home.

Leaving with a song that I absolutely love at the moment....
Clare Bowditch "your other hand"
WHY WHY WHY is she leaving Oz????? I want to be re-incarnated as Clare...such a spunky chikkie and she DOES have it all


brighter and buoyant....

one down >> one to go + omg a TAG!!!

yes, I am pleased to announce that we have all survived the first week of school holidays!!

Mackinley has spent 2 days in Vacation Care and today we drove to his god-mother's house on the Sunshine Coast only to find they'd gone shopping. I tell ya....she really tested my ability to contain 2 freakin' "I've been sitting in a car for 1.5 hours!!" boys while we waited for another half hour for them to return. Silly me always forgets to put her mobile number in my phone....that'll learn ya Gi!!

And it ALWAYS rains when we plan to visit...so we are consistent. (p.s. the rain was GOOD.)

Lovely park morning yesterday with Rainer. We have ONE fully fenced park in our area and we turned up to find the biggest gate was dodgy and the one I've told council to fix, still hasn't been fixed. No matter. Rainer was a delight!!


I wore him out because I had a MOUNTAIN of shopping to do (and therefore cooking) and he was AWESOME!!
Won't try that again soon. Not into tempting fate just yet.

I'm a big fat chicken!! Here's what happened last Friday night when Michael and I tried to give Rainer his new meds....


and I haven't tried since (man I loved that jumper...and yep, it stinks!!). Have joined some new yahoo groups to get some help. There are lots of different ASD-types so I had to trowl through hours of posts to find SOMETHING that might work for Rainer. I think I found the answer!! It has to do with a visit to my local Vet and Mackinley's god-mother (who's a clinical psych) has some good tips too.......STAY TUNED!!

HOLY CRAP...I'VE BEEN TAGGED......
I really can't remember last time someone thought so much of me to tag me. Thank you to the beautiful Melanie (a cyber-BFF!!) for this one....

I never really know who's reading my drivel some days, but I stick to the belief that this is MY PERSONAL BLOG and others are invited to read....so I persist (not in a negative way...)

THANK YOU MELANIE

and now to PAY IT FORWARD I have to nominate 7 blogs/people that inspire me and have just scrummy-loveliness to share....

hmmmmmmm.....only 7?????

Charm, Kerry, Sonia, Bon, Kate, Belinda, Karlene

and if I were to pick more....
Claudine Hellmuth, Kelly Rae Roberts, the girls at IOD, NgaireB, Loretta, Michelle Coleman, Donna Downey, my friends Kylie and Angela (who are REAL artists and Art Teachers, and authors - they don't have blogs, but they should)

and you know what...looking through my list (the one in the side-bar needs a serious overhaul!!) there isn't one I wouldn't give it to. For every different reason, know only to me, all of these women (and a couple of blokes too) deserve praise for giving someone out there motivation and inspiration.

Do I suck up??? Not on your life...so you know this is genuine. I have no reason to get all mooshy and sappy - I want nothing...only genuine friendship and trust. Some take it, some don't and that's fine. It just simplifies my life LOL.

now, where was I????? these damn "tangents"

TOMORROW......
I'm looking forward to all of tomorrow......
2 classes with the wickedly divine Ngaire B. I promise (hand on heart) that I will behave and not get cranky and snappish at Cherie when she asks me to pass something to her. I will gaze lovingly into her sweet face and offer to her the item she requests.
Mandy is turning 40. She's a divine 40. She reminds me of Zena except she has reddish hair, 3 children, a husband, a house and lovely manners. Going solo (YAY, JUMPING IN DELIGHT..) so Michael can stay home and be himself (read into that whatever you will) while I cut loose!!!!

be brighter and buoyant.....

While the boys are out.....

i have a lot to say here.....

firstly
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!!!!

I think he wants the whole of cyber space to know he turned 40 yesterday!! We spent all of yesterday like two ships in the night

I took Mackinley to soccer then shopped
then Michael took Rainer to the organic shop (because I forgot something...again)
then Michael and Mackinley left at 4pm to catch the train to Robina to watch the MIGHTY DRAGONS play the Titans

They got home at 10pm and were in a good mood....

1. The Dragons beat the Titans, breaking their unbeaten record at home in 2 years, and

2. Mackinley lost his FIRST TOOTH!!!


How relieved was I????? EXTREMELY - it's never good when the Dragons lose, and we've been watching all of Mackinley's class mates lose teeth and he was beginning to think he'd never lose one.

Here's the reality of my life at the moment......

medical bills (about 20) ready to be claimed (or not, you'd be surprised how much ASD costs)


balanced with cute yumminess from Riot - something compelled me to buy sequins and felt (???)


and Pfeiffer....we finally have Rainer's biomeds from the U.S. One bottle for morning and one for evening





















still haven't Kefired the goat's milk or collected the gut cleansing milk from the GP

but if I was WonderWoman.....these things would ALL be done by now, and I would have saved the world from nuclear peril, not canceled my hair appointment (again), taken better care of my skin, hair and nails (which reminds me I need to see my Naturopath and Dentist again...must make more appointments), and I'd be thinner and taller!!!!!!!

okay, point made

The boys are much healthier these days, since we've been on SCD, and I've lost more cms (I have scales, but don't use them) but Mackinley's put on 5 kilos!!! How strange!

Rainer's tantrums are shorter and I'm positive a lot more is sinking in. He now gets jokes and was invited to his FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!!! Unfortunately, it's at Hungry Jack's (grrrr) and there's no way he'll be able to resist the fries. We'll have to have Max over for a play instead.

It's tricky, but we're getting the hang of it.

brighter and buoyant....

9 years and counting...

a mostly low-key anniversary this year. There's been a lot of changes to his work and our home life that it has crept up on us. I was surprised by this gorgeous impressive bunch of roses last night. They smell divine!!!!

Mum is here today helping me around the house. We've cleaned rooms, re-potted plants, baked 2 batches of biscuits and I managed to complete some scrapbooking. She kindly made some pizza and pepperoncini to share for lunch today. Isn't she the sweetest person???

I joined in (belatedly) the Recipe Scrap last night at Forever Always. Kye did a fabulous job keeping the instructions running along at a swift pace and I was happily snoozing by 10pm.


I really hope Lilly likes these layouts because she gave me permission to cut the original 5x7 prints!! Thank goodness there are a few pics that are the same-ish and lots of scenery so makes for very easy cropping!!

"Mongol" (Palace Cinemas)
AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING story. If you like your History, you will LOVE this movie. It's the story of Genghis Khan (Temudgin) - his childhood, his banishment, his battles and eventual success in uniting all the Mongol tribes. I cried, I covered my eyes (those fight scenes are a little graphic) and I laughed. I knew the man from studying Chinese History at Uni, but it was still clouded with my neo-Euro prejudices. I find so many similarities between Temudgin and Saladin - it's making me want to grab my study materials and start all over again...................

maybe not!! PMSL...like I have time......

brighter and buoyant>>>>>>

tragic domestic + LUXE yumminess

Went into Robins Kitchens for a candy thermometer today.......

and walked out with this...

- GORGEOUS, RED, tragically domestic but really sturdy material, so I can easily jump from cooking to scrapping during the day!!!! At the moment I wipe my hands on my jeans, which although convenient, isn't quite hygenic!!!!-- and a new frypan (non-teflon, of course) and 2 preserving jars all ready for Kefiring some goat's milk next week. Hopefully Michelle will drop off the warming tray soon. Rainer really needs the good culture in his gut.

So I wandered around Indooroopilly for a while, bought a mag and decided to forego the TRAGIC lines at Medicare and MBF, picked up some claim forms instead, and headed off to my most favourite place for solitude - French Twist. He runs a good show there and I just love the fact that I can switch off despite the fact that it's in the middle of the shopping centre.

Dropped this layout off at Inkredible






using the LUXE "Colour Me" paper, Fancy Pants pp and stamps. Full how-to's on their blog soon.

Also dropped into Scrap Therapy to do the Blind Scrapping with PT last night. Needed to clear out some cob-webs and do another page for Lilly and Phil. Here's my spin on the hilarious instructions from Tamara. I swear she's got "end of semester" brain.



Tonight Forever Always have a Recipe Scrap happening, so I hope to finish off another layout for their album and just catch up on all those "promised projects" in July.

Seems change is all around me at the moment. Some good -- some not so good. Trying to visualise myself as a lotus flower


WHY? I hear you ask. This visual splendour exists only when the water is murky, dirty and down-right filthy - the murkier, the better. As the bud grows it makes it's way to the surface of the water and literally holds it's head above all the crap below.

Are you with me now???? So, I imagine it's with all of us, on the outside things might look in control, but deep within the murky depths of our true self, there is always more than meets the eye.

Thank you to my online and tactile friends who have been trustworthy enough to know the true ME and hold that to their heart. It's not really in my nature to open up, so I've taken a great risk and enormous amounts of courage to do so. And I love you for it......and to think half of them don't even read my BLOG!!!!!!

And finally, when Mummy says the word NO to Rainer......the boy bites back.....


there is a remarkably crafty brain at work in that perfectly shaped skull!!

brighter and buoyant.....

a QUICK 123 layout and inspiration

Here she is.....
the layout that's been sitting on my pile of crapola for 3 weeks....

she's - a - done now!!

criteria included using the lyrics or title of a song as your title -- OKAY, maybe I used a little artistic licence in the ACTUAL chorus and then again to make it the title....well, it's all about self-expression, isn't it?

and how much do I love this chikkie ~Santogold~?!!!!!
great voice, great back-story, great CLIP!!! omg....once again only for those who have an open mind and let the whole "free to express yourself creatively and submerge your clips with layers of meaning"

which I LURVE soooo much

enjoy....



more to come about organising every last detail of school holidays, a pissy girls night of chat with Trish, and the movie "Mongol".
brighter and buoyant.......

Transparent Mini Album

Latest offering for Inkredible.

I am addicted to the Making Memories Tiny Alphas!!! (who isn't...maybe I was just a little slow off the mark with these!!???)





Okay, acetate sheets are a bargain (45cents for A4 sheet) and this very FUNKY paper from Stamp It - "Pink Thongs"....oh yes, so very BRIGHT, but great for this project.

For some step-by-step instructions, go to the Inkredible Blog. There are a few other projects from Noelene too using the Teresa Collins range and some more Kaiser-lovin'. I love that Tamara and Kathleen are working the blog for us to showcase the products in the store. There are some real gems on the shelves!!

If you're still stuck, leave a comment or email me. The book is at the shop for a closer gander. This was so much fun, I think I'm going to have to do some more!!!!

My next favourite place to be -- 123 Challenge -- is looking for Creative Team members. A very attractive proposition but each time I think YES, I think of 3 things that would prevent me from fulfilling any obligation to any forum/site. "Stealing" moments to scrap or blog or scrap-chat are so rare these days. I'm sure things will get better, but right now is not the time. Thankfully, Charm and Kars have brought back the 123 Cyber Crop!!! YAY, my favourite way to kill - nay, DEMOLISH - a night doing just about anything else!! It's always much better with a wine or two and the talk is fast and furious. Everyone and anyone is welcome and I always feel ready to create after a great and supportive chat.

Here's a layout I started at the Scrap Therapy retreat and then finished at home. I can't believe I haven't uploaded it yet.


I feel a change in the air... maybe it's just end of financial year jitters!!

brighter and buoyant....