Sigh and Breathe....deeply!!

I've noticed recently how out of touch I've been with the world around me so I went and read EVERY blog tonight on my Bloglines feed.

What did I notice? That just about everyone has their good and bad days, and thanks for sharing those moments, however difficult they may be to document. I certainly don't take pleasure in reading others' hardships, but it's comforting to know that Mums are coping with their child's challenging behaviours, absent husbands, strained friendships, overbearing relatives, illnesses, disappointments, etc....

You ARE human!! I was worried everyone had taken the train to "Perfectsville" and left me behind....yes, I AM joking. I know you don't all live perfect lives, although I wish I had the organisational skills some of you possess!

Hence the deep breathing. This follows my previous visit to the Chiro, where he reminded me to BREATHE DEEPLY so my diaphragm doesn't pop my stomach back underneath my ribs. Again, the most interesting pain...ever! Even more interesting than the OBGYN breaking my waters....yep, THAT kind of interesting!!!

We've had to make some tough decisions these last few weeks. Mostly to do with Rainer's schooling and health. The outcomes have been mixed. GOOD that he's staying at AEIOU till the end of the year, GOOD that the hookworm seems to have gone, BAD that he now has a different parasite (a nasty bloodsucker that I've never heard of), GOOD that we've made an appointment with Dr Neubrander for next April. He specialises in using HyperBaric Oxygen Therapy to stimulate stem cells to speed up repair to the brain. Sounds a little drastic???

Well, initially, YES! The risks are there (mostly to do with the optic nerve) but we'll talk to him and see if Rainer is a suitable candidate. You'd investigate any avenue to heal your child, wouldn't you?

Have been scrapping and having a ball. Nothing I can show yet because one is for a photo swap and I want the lovely gorgeous woman/mum/scrapper to have it in her hot little hands before I reveal it. I love it so much, I want to keep it!!!!

The other layout is for Buzz and Bloom's Scraplift the DT challenge. In the end I went with Lusi Austin's "Special Time with Aunty Meng". I had all the B&B bits and paint and ribbon, yes, RIBBON and am really happy with it. Can't wait to do a few more challenges.

Off you go and have a look!!! I want to do some of the 5 scrappy challenges if my dear children will let me....maybe at night!

Trish and I went to Valley Fiesta the other Friday night and naughty me didn't walk in the door until 3am!!

Was Michael worried? YEAH!!! Poor Trish felt out of synch with all the "youngies" in the Valley so we ended up....yep, back at The Caxton. One of the Bartenders was an ex-student and she's STILL petrified of speaking in front of groups. Poor thing vomited during her Year 12 English Oral. Well, it was a poetry deconstruction. Enough to make me puke after hearing 20+ of them over the week. Nah, they were all fabulous, from memory.

Have been dreaming of my new house and how I will decorate it. My 2 favourite periods in High School Art were Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Talk about worlds apart!! Just thinking of how I can use BOTH. Any ideas would be gratefully accepted!

Also, need a blog update. Hubby hates it now and thinks it's no longer "me"!! He thinks I've gone BOHO CHIC....well, okay, he didn't say those actual words, but that's what he was aiming for. So if someone wants to put their hand up for that one too....love to hear from you (or dob in a friend, heehee!) I'm a good student too. So if you just tell me how, I'll find a way.

brighter and buoyant...

the layout ~ the card ~ a new disability

The layout.



I love Ngaire's classes. Not only because she's wonderfully easy to talk to about just about anything, she's a Capricorn too, or that she has some great Tatts, but also because she teaches me how to EMBELLISH!! I can chuck stuff on a layout now and not think it looks crap! And we always ALWAYS have yummy rocky road at the classes. Would taste better with Dark Chocolate Tina....LOL.

This is the card I made for Michael for Father's Day.



And to another beautiful scrapper (that I haven't met yet- but soooon)...Charmane. I learn from her to layer with gay abandon. No-one does it better. xxx And that's the inspiration I used for this card.

See - little things all come together for me.

The writing project is coming along nicely. I think I'm up to page 10 and have had a break-through this morning (or was it last night?). Slowly working towards contentment and fullfilment - which is probably a good thing considering the approaching major milestone!

A NEW DISABILITY....
Watching the paralympics last night. Had the neighbours 2 kids over as well. Mackinley and H having a chat about the cycling.

M: He doesn't LOOK disabled.
H: No. Maybe he has another, like in the mind.
Me: Oh, you mean an intellectual disability.
H: Yeah, like X (another neighbourhood kid), he gets angry really quickly.
M: Hey, maybe the cyclist is a VEGETARIAN!!

Ah, Mackinley. The light of my life at just 7 years of age. Where do you get this stuff from???? Wet my pants for about half an hour thinking about that. Still cacking now. Nearly as good as the "F" word story.

brighter and buoyant.....

Happy Fathers Day

Canvas for my beloved....

hopefully this will make its way to his NEW office. He spent all of Saturday moving boxes from one end of town to the other. Now tonight, poor love is sick as a dog. Working 12 hour days does eventually catch up with you.

Some detail shots










We had a great BBQ with Peter and his new love Karen (and she's REALLY nice), Mum, and the Sauvages. Great afternoon, great company, great food. What more could you want???

Over at Bon's, Dannii is keeping us all on track using FlyLady. I'm actually enjoying someone telling me what to do.....Yes, shocking!!!! The house is slowly de-cluttering itself (hehe) and I have more time for more interesting things {wink}. So I don't miss an update, I joined her Yahoo Group, I don't visit anywhere regularly anymore :-(

Did, however, make an appearance at Scrap Therapy's CC. Allie was running a blind challenge so managed to finish another layout for Lilly's album.


And who, may you ask, is that divine bridesmaid behind Lilly??? Well, that would be me. 12 years younger, looking and feeling fabulous. Michael and I had just started dating and I knew then that he was the man I would marry. Ahhhh. Still married!! After all, I wasn't getting any younger. Had to bunker down and find a "keeper" instead of all those play things I kept.

Now the only place to visit is Forever Always and my guilt-ridden angst will be alleviated.

Today I did something I hadn't done for a very long time. I took myself off to a cafe in a quiet part of town, took out a notebook, and WROTE!!! OMG...yes, the written word spewed forth and if I didn't have to get Rainer, I think more would have happened.

So exactly WHAT did I write? Can you believe a letter to MYSELF and a mystery "other". A mystery even to my husband, because it's one of those letters/pieces that you write for about 15 pages and then promptly BURN!! This little chikkie has a CARGO LOAD of baggage holding her back and hopefully this piece is one of a couple I desperately need to compose before I move on. Unfortunately, they all take some time and energy to write...like most things in life.

I have finished the layout from Ngaire's class but haven't scanned yet. I have a couple of outstanding/unfinished projects lying around that will be finished by month's end.

Finally, the first Fathers Day without Dad...

our new "Nonno Candle" that burned all day Sunday. Sandalwood, he would have liked that.....he probably would have complained of the smoke/smell/melting wax, but secretly, he would have liked it.

Some Days....

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I take a photo like this one....


and this one...


totally spur-of-the-moment but they "SAY" so much to me. I might send one of them off for the photo swap at Bon's. And yes, my hair is thankfully growing back to it's former glorious length after having 10CM chopped off in May. Never going back there again!!!!

Tonight I'm going to try to get to Scrap Therapy for their CyberCrop Blind Challenge. I feel another wedding page that needs urgent attention.

Went to Rainer's Pfeiffer GP this week and by the end of the hour, my brain was MUSHY. Soooo much information to absorb, so many variables but in the end, I feel like we're getting somewhere. Tried again with the meds in goat's milk but he didn't go for it. Only drank half the milkshake. Will try again and again and again. Have ordered the Methyl B12 injections from a pharmacy in Sydney and Bethanachol from the local pharmacy. Fingers crossed we see some neurodevelopment, especially in joint attention and his dyspraxia becomes less pronounced. Already Rainer is speaking more clearly and we've begun the sentence strip on his PECS book. Very exciting!! He's taking to it really well.

I emailed Belinda Venables today to show her this layout....


and share a beautiful story with her. I was reading the last Scrapbook Creations with Belinda's article on clean and simple scrapping and Mackenzie's Thomas layout. WITHOUT PROMPTING Rainer looked, POINTED, and said "Tobbee" (that's his Thomas word)!!!!

yes, a little tear
yes, a lot of praise
yes, a lot of smiling by me and Rainer
yes, I thanked Belinda for helping us out!!

Last night I took him out onto our little porch which is at the front of our house. Rainer looked at Michael's car on the road, POINTED, and said "CAR"!!

I'm going to put myself out there and declare my brilliance at a mother and want you all to nominate me for MOTHER OF THE YEAR!! LOL...of course NOT!! Despite these wonderful advancements, there are also a hell of a lot more tears, tantrums, frustrations and self-doubt. I just CHOOSE to only share much of the good stuff. As mothers, we enjoy sharing our childrens' proudest moments - we can't always be full of the hard reality. At the moment, I'm in one of those lovely BUOYANT phases. Not explosive, just really really happy....content but not complacent.

THE BANK JOB
Great movie. Very 1970s!! Lots of rudey bits but a hell of a lot of fun. Thanks to Kelly, Narelle, Jane, Chris and Jo for making me laugh last night. The place was deserted...last home game for the Broncos and Wayne Bennett's last as coach. Lang Park was literally up the road and there was NO-ONE on the street......GHOST TOWN!! We're a funny bunch.

Thanks for your kindness and friendship both here and with your emails. It means an awful lot to me to know you're lurking and supporting me.

brighter and buoyant....

The Importance of Being Regular

Means you avoid really LONG posts!

However, I have been very busy with family things (as we all are) and last minute "I've had a cancellation and can fit you in" type appointments. I love it when someone's misfortune benefits ME!! Indulgent, yes, but it means another piece of crapola is struck off that HUMUNGOUS list of THINGS TO DO.....

Wednesday.....indoor rock climbing at Urban Climb at West End organised by AEIOU. Convinced Michael to take the day off work and took Mackinley out of school for the day!!! Well, Michael had to go in early for a meeting but he made it to the venue in time.

Rainer patiently allowed us to harness him and he climbed half way up the beginner's wall. AWESOME!! Then realised if he let go.......he swung quite safely. He was pushing off the wall, seeing how far out he could go and doing just about anything the instructors were freaking out about.


His expression was priceless. Pure joy of discovery!!

Then it was Mackinley's turn. He'd been complaining all morning that he wasn't feeling well. I thought he was just nervous about the climb and being a general woos-bag, then he was shivering at the venue and eyes watered up and......yep, FEVER. Fantastic!!

He was great to make it a little up the wall, but was so unwell. Better luck next time buddy.

I don't think an excursion is complete without having a go yourself. Up I went - easy.

Michael and I went climbing up Kangaroo Point cliffs a couple of times B.C. (before children) and I really really enjoyed it. It was like jumping back on a bike!!!

And like any ambitious Capricorn, said, "where can I climb next?". Instructor pointed to the wall/coloured hand holds etc but of course I was sooooo excited went to the wrong rope!! Note for future: blue - intermediate; purple - DIFFICULT.

She went purple......




Postscript.....arms lost all feeling for a couple of days, neck hurts like the clappers, but had a BALL!!

Michael took Mackinley home. Rainer had his speechy appointment.

Friday.....Soccer sleep over.....we went but took Mackinley home for a sleep...still feverish.

Saturday......Ngaire Bartlam class at Inkredible....didn't think I was going to make it, but thankfully did. Love the layout but haven't finished so only a sneak peek.


Finished all layouts for Bon's CyberCrop. So in one week I finished 7 layouts and was only bitterly disappointed with one layout.






Not bad going really. Now I'm plumb tuckered out and looking forward to just concentrating on family for a while.

So why am I going to the movies with some Girlfriends tonight??? Because I Can!!
HAHAHA......very much looking forward to catching up with Kelly :-)

and then there's

Father's Day on Sunday....really need to finish Michael's gift from Me

but the MOJO has escaped me today. Had too many coffees this morning with Trish pmsl....TOO WIRED!!!!

Mackinley is now well after one week at home. The benefits of being a STAY AT HOME MUM: no antibiotics, just relax, keep them rested, love them much and take your time nurturing them back to health.

I'm a LUCKY LUCKY WOMAN!!!

brighter and buoyant......