Well it's been a 4 day weekend for us here, firstly with Australia Day being a public holiday here last Thursday and then G getting a day off on the Friday for having worked a Saturday a couple of weeks back. We decided to get our butts in gear and De-Clutter the house. It worked pretty well! The house is looking tidier and there is a big skip on the front lawn loaded with assorted bags of household crap! Look at all that rubbish!! No wonder we don't have enough house to live in. Oh and the picture really doesn't do it justice seeing as there are several more rubbish bags to go down to the op shop with a few other items too!
I am pleased with how much we got done but wished we could have done a bit more, the weather was pretty severe though with temps in the low 30's and 100% humidity so it was hard going. We still have a way to go before we can move into the front room but it's starting to look like we may get there sometime this year!

My other really exciting news is that I have been accepted to be a Digital Designer at DigitalScrapbookHaven.com I am so stoked, and am hoping I do okay. I haven't got anything in the shop yet as I am in the midst of designing a kit (my other two I donated to the site for freebies) but hope to finish this new kit soon. I'm not sure it may not be a bit bold and bright for some but it's a start at least and maybe someone else out there will actually like it!?!?

We also managed to run some errands over the weekend. Ab need a sports uniform for school this year so we managed to sort that out, she had an appointment with her podiatrist which went reasonably well. She gets so much pain in her legs when she has had a busy day, she is already wearing orthotics in her shoes and has done since just before she turned 5 to correct a turned in foot. It's much better now but she still suffers a lot with pains in her legs when she has had particularly energetic days.


We also took the kids to the Snakes and Ladder Play Cafe in Gawler yesterday morning which was nice. We've been trying to get a chance to take them there for a while. Scarlett was braver than Joe at first which I didn't expect. Joe wouldn't even go near any of the play equipment for a while but once he got over his initial concerns he had a ball..literally! He even took on the kiddy slide. Scarlett tried the slide a couple of times but decided face first into a pile of balls wasn't much fun! Joe had the smarts to slide down using his bottom rather than his face.
Abbey just enjoyed running about the big kids section with bunch of kids she didn't know yelling their heads off, she had so much fun!

All in all, a good weekend!

Today I scrapped, that's it nothing else. I wanted to do the sketch challenge at DSH and I actually got it done and finished!
Here it is ...

Gareth has Friday off so it's a loooooong weekend this week. We have a skip coming on Friday so I am hoping we will find some more carpet in the front room by then. It's such a huge job! We just seem to have way too much stuff..might be time to say hello to Ebay!

Weather is still a bit warm over the next few days but am really hoping we can get out somewhere with the kids before the weekend ends..we need to do more stuff together!

Woohoo..the good news is the cool change has finally arrived, the bad news is it will be 40C again by Thursday. The good news is Gareth only has to work a 3 day week this week, the bad news is it will be too hot to go anywhere while he is home! Ah well, we have loads to do around the house this week as we continue Operation Un-Clutter. Sooner or later our house will be the way we want it, or at least a big step closer to it.
Oh and the good news is I have started designing my third digital kit, but the bad news is there are just not enough hours in the day for me to look after the kids, do the housework and design to my hearts content!
Oh well, I guess you take the good with the bad eh?

No I haven't been so busy that I forgot to update my blog for 5 days, my life has just been incredibly boring. It's really really hot here, my energy has been zapped and we are pretty much housebound in this weather. The aircon is going full blast and it is still not doing enough, in my opinion!
On the plus side I finished designing my second kit, it's a mini kit and I love it and am very proud of it. As soon as I know where/when it is available I will be sure to let everyone know. It has 7 papers and 3 ribbons which I loved making!!
Another positive note is that one of my best girlie friends came back from holidays yesterday which was a great surprise and she kept me up until all hours chatting on MSN as we caught up on all our happenings. She's been gone for about 2-3 weeks and I am so glad she is home again now.
Not much else to say, we had another run in with a hairy 8-legged monster last night but luckily husband is mildly less afraid of spiders than me and managed to nab it with only minor help from me.
The big clean up is continuing as we try to sort through our front storage room and get rid of all the stuff we don't need, eventually it would be nice to move into the front room and have furniture etc in there!

I have got to say I HATE spiders, and particularly, I HATE hairy spiders. You can already see where this entry is going right?
Anyhow I walked a visitor to the door this afternoon and noticed there was a nice hairy spider on the edge of the verandah. I decided I had best do my duty and get rid of it before it found it's way inside and REALLY scared the crappers out of me. Armed with my trusty can of Mortein I stayed a good distance back and began spraying. I was really calm when it started to react but then it jumped, and so did I..straight back in the front door while still spraying at it. Common sense told me now it was on the ground it would head for the garden and die, why would any creature run straight into the Mortein spray...but yup, you guessed again. The stupid freakin' arachnid came straight at me at high speed and not even the doormat was going to stand in it's way. Luckily it stopped and sat just over the step from my toes. I continued to spray and then it decided it was now or never and it was coming inside so I did what any irrational woman would do..and slammed the door on it and screamed like banshee at it.
Well it worked, it didn't get inside but I now have to go find it's body outside just to make sure it is really dead and not just out there planning revenge!

Zebette 1 Spider 0

A busy last couple of days but productive also, aside from sorting through all the kids toys I managed to get some time outside with the kids which I always enjoy, but never get the chance to do often enough. For Christmas the twins got a water table, which they just adore and keeps them amused for ages. I love it as they are not all that comfortable with water and this helps to show Scarlett that it can be quite fun stuff! She's very much like Abbey and gets terribly upset when her face gets wet but I am trying quite hard to eliminate that fear with her as even with Abbey being 7 years old we still struggle with her attitude to water as well.


I'm hoping that we will be able to start the twins with swimming lessons in the next 6 months or so. They've been down to the pool a few times and watched Abbey with great interest. I think Joe will be fine, he's pretty adaptable to most things but Scarlett has quite a fiesty streak in her and if she doesn't want to do something just throws a massive tantrum. the first time she came to the pool to watch one of Ab's lessons she walked in the door, caught sight of the pools and burst into tears! Luckily that didn't last long and she has been fine ever since!


Joe is mad about water, though not in a shower. he gets great delight in water fights and being soaked to the skin with his clothes dripping wet. He's such a boy!

Hmmm...I don't really know where to start with this blog entry and I toyed with the idea of just not writing anything at all but somehow I feel I need to, even if it rambles on, even if it hurts, even if it is depressing and even if it makes no sense to anyone else. I need to write this.
Today it has been 3 years since my Dad passed away, he died of a massive heart attack. My biggest comforts are just remembering that it was very quick and he would not have known what hit him, that he was at home and that I had been lucky enough to see him just 4 hours before I got the call from my mother to say that he had collapsed and was not breathing.
G had been due to go to Melbourne the following day for work so we had been out shopping with Abbey. We decided that we should stop in at the video shop on the way home and get some videos for us to watch while he was gone. We got to the carpark of the shopping centre and I thought maybe it would be better to take Ab to the toilet before we left, just in case it we took a while at the video shop, so Abbey and I went back into the shopping centre and moments later saw my Dad at a distance, we decided to run up and say hello. We called out and he stopped just inside the doorway of the supermarket, he knelt down and Ab ran to him for a big hug. Looking back now even that was strange as she had just been through a strange patch of not hugging him as he would tickle her and she would pretend to hate it! We talked a few minutes then we all went on our way..that was the last time I saw him alive.
Since he died there have been 5 more grandchildren born and it hurts that he is missing out on seeing them grow. I take a lot of comfort in knowing he at least got to be a grandfather to Abbey for just over 4 years, he was wonderful with her and she adored him.
There's nothing more I can really say, I have tried to not dwell on this too much today and keep busy but now the kids are in bed, and the house is quiet I guess it's that time of night when things are peaceful and feelings and thoughts tend to sneak up on you.

I miss you so much Dad, and I love you to bits.

I am now the mother of TWO two year olds. How did that happen? Yesterday the twins turned two, quite a milestone not just for them but for me and G as well. It's been a tricky challenge raising twins and at times not all that enjoyable but overall I think we are doing a reasonable job. They are happy (most of the time), healthy (despite concerns with Scarlett in her first year with her reflux and heart murmur) and developing well both physically and mentally. I am very proud of them, they are beautiful kids.

We had a small get together in the evening for them, just 4 close friends and some icecream cakes. I was really proud that the cakes turned out so well, it was no easy feat decorating icecream cakes in 37C weather even with the aircon turned up. If I can figure out how to add photos to this blog I will share some pics of the day.

I'm nervous about the year ahead with them. Toilet training will be a big part of the focus this year, and also the transition to "big" beds. First though I am going to tackle bottles, they need to go so I need to be really firm about this and not give in when the twins cry for them. It won't be easy and I suspect Scarlett will be the hardest nut to crack on this issue but I am more determined, no really I am..I will not be outdone by a two year old..or TWO two year olds!

Oh and one more small announcement..we have a brand new baby niece, welcome to the family Zoe, we can't wait to meet you!

Okay so here I am up to my third entry and my blog is still looking a bit, well, ho-hum! I will get around to brightening the place up soon but just can't get my head to think about something other than designing more digital scrapbook kits and embellishments.
I feel desperate to create more things, but also frustrated at my lack of knowledge with my programs as to how to actually get what I want in my head onto the screen in front. It will happen, I know it will. It's just frustrating seeing so many gorgeous designs out there that I can't create!!
On the plus side I have had a great response to my first kit preview so that is really encouraging!

Wow, two posts in one day. This will probably be an all-time record for me, assuming I actually keep up to date with this blog!
In all honesty I am pretty excited, not only did I start my blog today but I also finished designing my very first digital scrapbook kit today. Okay so it's NOT the most amazing kit out there but it's mine, and I made it. I started something and I finished it and now I feel a sense of achievement. I will probably now start getting ideas for a new kit,and start trying more tutorials to see what else I can create. Trust me I am in no way artistic, even with a ruler I can't rule a straight line but digital scrapbooking works for me, and it keeps me sane!
You can check out the preview of my kit called "Joey" at http://www.digitalscrapbookhaven.com in my gallery.

Well here it is. My very first blog entry. It's quite exciting isn't it?