Rain, rain go away

Go somewhere you are needed - like a desert!! I have weeds in my garden that are threatening to mutate into new species if I don't get the chance to pull them out. Unfortunately when its not raining I really can't be bothered getting into the gardens!
We had the neatest power failure last night - we had no lights - but I was able to use the computer and Leo was watching TV! Some poor man was called out and had to climb the pole out on the street and fix the phase that had blown. I kind of liked the candles everywhere...Jess has been busy today - being my wee glamour girl, she was cleaning out her wardrobe and found a stash of Ashleigh's old Sabrina's Secrets makeup. I don't like makeup on little girls but I thought she looked so sweet - and I thought she did a nice job!
I went over to Meg's yesterday and got my monthly kit - I have been in a bit of scrapping rut - every time I sit down to do something I get interrupted - and I want to get into my scrap room and get some pages done! I was so pleased with the kit this month - I love the Blush range and all the bits that come with it are awesome! It really got the creative juices stirring.

I hope you all had the best day yesterday...

I know I did! Jessica woke us up at 6.30am, I told her to see if Josef was awake - we heard a loud thump - she pulled him off the top bunk - Yep he's awake! Ashleigh was texting me "Mum are you awake?" then "Mum, I'm at the back door - let me in!" My children are so well trained the jug was switched on as they passed the kitchen for the lounge. Coffee in hand, the first present was unwrapped and the day was on! The children were so thrilled with their presents and when Leo opened the drapes, I had the bad luck to be sitting next to Jessica when she spotted the trampoline on the back lawn! She broke the sound barrier anyway! At 11am Leo's family and my parents and brother arrived for lunch - 19 for Christmas lunch this year. More presents and lots of food, later Leo and I are sitting on the deck, drinks in hand, relishing the peace!
Josef thought it would be cool to climb the back fence and jump onto the trampoline, I stopped him on the fence, he is so fearless and I am so wimpy (I lost lives seeing him up on the fence!). Now he keeps chasing the cat around with his Star Wars light saber! Jessica got a fairy petal laptop and has been busy all day playing the games. Both kids got lots of books and things to do, so this should keep them entertained for a while at least - I hope :-)Ashleigh got so spoilt this year - her last year really as a kid! Lots of pink jewelery, a Supre voucher for when she is back in shape - not that she should worry much - she is still running around in her normal jeans - she just leaves them undone!

Today we slept in and then went to town. Leo totally surprised me by buying a sewing machine for me! I'm so rapt, my old machine is okay, but I couldn't use it for my scrapbooking because it would eat the paper and it had 2 stitches - straight and zigzag. I have 25 stitches now and it loves paper!!! I also got a pile of Christmas stuff for next Christmas - all 75% off at Spotlight. It doesn't hurt to be organized - LOL.

Time to

back and recharge I think! The last couple of days I kind of lost my oompf, I just wanted Christmas to be over. And that is just not like me at all. To many little things and a couple of nasty big things thrown in and then add in a little feminine issues and whoa - its a case of "Stop the world I want to get off!" Thankfully I woke up this morning feeling absolutely fabulous.

Ashleigh is looking for a new flat - her flatmates told her that they didn't want a "mother hen" and that she needed to move so they can party, etc! How sad, but I'm so glad my daughter has the guts to stand up for herself and is not a party girl! Especially with a baby on the way. So this last week its been a constant torrent of text messages - "Mum they are doing this" and "Mum, help" because once they decided she was moving, they have been so petty and cruel to her. Some teenagers really live up to that saying "Mother's of teenagers understand why somesit animals eat their young!!"

My oldest sister in Perth emailed to say her husband had been badly injured in a motorcycle accident - some not so very bright idiot strung a chain across the trail on a bend and Stu hit it and went flying - judging by his injuries he will have his helmet on an alter forever after. How awful - and things like this really make you aware of the distance between you - I cant just hop in the car and be by her side.

Jessica wanted to decorate some christmas balls today so we popped out to Spotlight and got a decorating kit - all the christmas stuff is 50% off so I couldn't resist a few things myself!

These guys will be part of my center piece for the Christmas table
Seen this on H& G network and had to have a crack (pun intended)
Add to this the gorgeous cards I have been getting from my new friends at Scrapbook Essentials and it really feels like Christmas again! I feel so blessed! The weather man is predicting snow (a bit of useless trivia - it snowed in Invercargill on Christmas Day in 1975!) at least I would be able to justify all the little snowmen I have collected over the years!!

Ashleigh

went into premature labour last night! Thankfully it slowed and then stopped altogether at about midnight. I am very eager to see my grandchild but not 5 weeks early! Ashleigh is so annoyed - she feels really conned that she could go through that much pain and it just fades away!
Jessica is so cross that she is not yet an auntie! Josef asked Leo - "When is Ashleigh going to hatch her child" Leo's reply "I guess when she is ready to lay the egg!" OMG! LOL.

Last day of school

YAY... I'm just as pleased as the kids - a month of no more rushing around in the morning, no more having to have uniforms washed and dried and pressed ready for Mondays. Both Jess and Josef will need new uniforms next year, Josef's short were almost see through on the bum!! Jessica's kilt has been mended so many times this year, it has a lopsided hem where I had to darn a big hole. Its so sad really though - that kilt was down to her ankles when she started school 2 years ago!
She has grown so much! But she has grown in lots of ways - not just size - its been so much fun watching her grow academically and spiritually. Josef has had so many hurdles the last 2 years trying to find a FM system that works for him and will allow him to participate fully in the classroom, finally this term we think we have found the solution, but now we have to wait until next year to be sure. I am so very thankful for all the assistance Josef gets at school, he had a fab teacher this year, Julie Mac worked well with Josef and never gave up, even when she probably had every right, Josef with no FM gets bored quickly! Thank you also Di, our new advisor, getting thrown in the deep end as Southland's advisor for Deaf Kids must have been a mammoth mission - but your doing great! And Gretchen, Josef's ITOD - thank you, you have been our voice at school and Josef loves you to bits! It was sad news to hear you were not able to work with Josef next year - but we know Karen will fill the gap just brilliantly!
For those who dont know, Di, Gretchen and Karen are the ladies who make it possible for Deaf or Hearing Impaired children to be mainstreamed, they are hands on and in the schools faces! In a good way - LOL. The also run the KIT - Keeping in Touch days - where all the kids with hearing loss spend time together. They will probably hate me for this - but this was taken at Gore

and 2 days later

I'm back. We ended up formatting my hard drive, well Ashleigh's lovely friend David - a newly graduated IT student - did it for me. All I had to do was cook tea for him and his girlfriend Rowena. With Ashleigh and her boyfriend Steven here as well it was a lot of fun around the table, lots of laughter anyway.
I've spent the better part of today putting things back on the computer, like my photos, my scrapbook folders, my games, my fonts - you know - all those really important things you cant live without!
I lost all my emails and email addresses - I had written addresses down - but talk about time consuming putting them all back on! I tried a wee programme called Outlook Backup - but it didnt work :(
But I didnt lose my bookmarks - whew - I have over 200! Because I run Firefox - I simply uploaded them to del.icio.us - then just downloaded them again when I reinstalled Firefox. So easy!
Don't you just wish sometimes you could do this with life? You know when things seem to be falling apart - you can just save the best bits and format the rubbish!! LOL - I'd format the kids temper tantrums, Ashleigh's teenage years (oh the head aches and tears of those years!) the frustrating arguments with Leo when he stubbornly refuses to see the point! Sometimes I wish I could format my brain and reinstall the hearing gene - but them the kids start screaming at each other - and I appreciate the blessing of taking a hearing aid out! I would love to use a telephone though, I miss hearing voices - like my friend Miriam, she lives so far away and to pick up the phone and say hello - would be so cool. But I might be able to get funding for a relay phone - which is like a normal phone but has a wee screen on it - when I ring someone via the relay system an operator will "listen" for me - I talk and the relay operator types out the answer. How awesome is that huh? I pity the relay operator and my friends if I get one - I will be ringing all the time!!! I also like the idea of getting this phone while my 2 younger kids are still adaptable - with both not being able to use phones either - this would open up their lives a bit - LOL - oh dear imagine being the relay operator with Jess when she is teenager!!!
Wow - I seem to be in a bit of an introspective mood this afternoon....

So much for the surge protector!

I had 2 power failures today, the first while I was on the internet. It was for a split second - didnt even upset the clocks around the house - but shut the computer down! All afternoon I have been having issue after issue with the computer, things have moved, won't open, the fonts on my browser have changed. I have a friend coming tomorrow to check out the computer but this is beyond a joke....wish me luck!

Been scrapping

and finished making my christmas cards. It worked out quite pricey to make them this year - first time I've done that - but I love the result and I like that everyone gets a little card I made just for them..
The layouts were to easy! But I seem to have found my scrapping mojo agian - keeping it "clean and simple" I am able to work faster with more inspiration. I admire so many other layouts and try to attempt different techniques, but more often than not I'm never quite satisfied with the end result and either bury the layout or pull it apart - which as a paper artist - is a tremendous waste of paper!!
I'm going to work on my Sydney album this afternoon - I really want to get that finished. I think Christmas makes you miss family so much more than other times of the year - I was flipping through pictures I took when I went to visit my oldest sister in Sydney and got all sentimental, I really miss my sisters sometimes, ones in Perth, the other in Christchurch - I really hate how life gets in the way sometimes!!
But if they read this I bet they are both sitting there wondering why I havent emailled them lately - like I said - gotta hate how life gets in the way sometimes - LOL

Secret Santa

has been and I feel so spoilt!
I have never seen the Queen & Co letters before, I just love the wee compact they come in. I am going to be able to do so much with all of this. Thank you so much Secret Santa!
Secret Santa was the brainchild of Debbie - scrappy girl from the Scrapbook Essentials forums. We put our names in the hat and she paired us off.

I had an absolute blast yesterday watching Josef's class rockclimbing. the kids were so gungho - no fear at all. Josef made it all the way to the top, he thought he was just so cool!

Whew - I made it!

I can't get over how "ME" - self taught techno junkie was absolutely stumped by setting up a blog!!
I have been attempting this for several weeks now and came within a hairsbreath of throwing this computer, hard drive and all connected bits and pieces out the window!! Everytime I thought I had it right I would get invalid this and invalid that - I really have some lovely names for invalid!!
I am going to go set up a slide show, simply because everyone else has one and they are so cool!
I've been linking and looking and generally having a lot of fun - ladies from the scrapbook essentials forum your blogs are so amazing I have alot to learn - but they are so distracting - I meant to simply link up but have spent the last hour reading!!!
I'm off to have lunch and then I'm parent help for my sons class - they are going rock climbing. I have a people mover for a car and a digital camera - therefore I am very useful to my son's teacher...
Hopefully back later to add more neat nifty things to my blog!