Yummo!!!

Today I turned this .......

into this....and let me tell you it is so yummy ....... the recipe said it will keep for up to 4 days, I can't see it lasting past tonight!! What is it you say..... Apple Crumble Slice.....I'm going to put all the recipe's for the things I've been attempting to make on another blog so check back for that one soon.

I love this picture of my scales..........old and new!
Here is a cute picture I found on another blog earlier.......isn't he so cute!
OK, that shall have to do for today talk soon.

Freakin Out!!!

Yes this morning I nearly freaked out........ over a keyboard would you believe. I didn't realise how attached to my computer I was until I was unable to use it this morning. What am I gonna do, what am I gonna do aarrrgghhh!!! It just wouldn't work .....I checked all the cords were attached to the tower, batteries, nothing was happening. So what does a girl do........go to town and have a coffee with a few friend's......I knew this wasn't going to fix it but at least I would forget about stressing for a while. When I got home my keyboard acted as if nothing was wrong..... I think it must have been pre-menstrual or something, I mean don't we all have moments when we just don't want to work, being poked and proded constantly would drive me to go on strike as well!!!

OK onto more fun things now......yesterday I went scrapbooking with Jacki and Michelle, we moved the table into the family room so we could watch a couple of movies while we scrapped, it was a very relaxing day and the company was fantastic.
Here is the layout I came up with........ trying to catch up on the school albums for the kids. I totally scraplifted the stitched border from here if you are interested.
These funky numbers are from Buzz and Bloom.

Here it is a little closer

Here is a beautiful sunset I captured out my dining room window a few days ago...

These pegs apart from being fun colours and a cute shape are super fantastic. They are called Rainbow Pegs and they are made by a place called Maid of Shade...... they are long lasting UV resistant and hold your sheets on the line.....you know how you go out to the line only to find your sheets all bunched up on one end of the line..... well that's not going to happen at my house any more!!!! I can't believe I got so excited about a bunch of pegs......but hey anything that makes life easier has got to be good.

These make me happy......

Til next time.....bye

Layout to share

Today I was supposed to tidy up around the house after having the kids home for a few days.... you wouldn't believe the mess my two can create in such a short time! Anyway I got a little side tracked.....firstly I made a few batches of biscuits because as you know I'm trying not to use any packet mixes......then I realised that it had been a while since I shared a layout......so I made myself busy and this is what I came up with.......

Here it is a little closer....

Ooooo look a little closer again.......

Everything I do seems to be related to food lately.......not so sure if that's a good thing considering I test everything......Mmmmmm very hard to resist...... just like this Chocolate Brownie Slice I made yesterday...... I got the recipe here if you are interested.
Now I have to go and kick a footy with Ryan......how funny is that me playing footy, meanwhile I saw Megan down the paddock a while ago searching for a giant Hare and I mean giant.... this thing is as big if not bigger than our dog!!!! Megan and I snuck up real close to it yesterday.....next time I see it I'll take a camera because I don't think anyone believes me!!

Thanks for visiting

Soooo Monica!!!

Oh Jacki you'd be so proud........ remember that recipe you gave me a few weeks ago, well take a look at these........
These are my Chocolate Chip Muffins and guess what........I made them all from scratch....that's right no packet mix or box in sight!!!!! I haven't always been the greatest of cooks but I am so sick of the rubbish that goes into the kids lunch boxes that I have decided to take things into my own hands and try and make as much as I can. Previously I had always made muffins and cakes for their lunch boxes but they came out of a box, so after doing this for about a month I'm now a convert..... it's truly amazing the difference it makes with the kids......they are actually nicer to each other on occasion.

The other night while I was checking out a few blogs ( as one does ) I came across Melissa Goodsell go and check her out for some inspiration, she is amazing, she is crafty,she scrapbooks, she cooks, I spent hours reading all about what she is up to......... very interesting if you care about the food you put in your mouth.

So after cleaning out my pantry a few weeks ago and tossing all those things that get shoved to the back and never seen again, then attacking everything with my label maker ( that's soooooMonica ) and restocking with all new ingredients I'm ready for a change........No more boxes!!!
The fact that I have twice as many chooks now which means twice as many eggs to use up is great because I can experiment as much as I like and not feel guilty about wasting free-range eggs if I stuff up!!!!

I didn't stuff up on these........ they are yummo!!! Jam Pinwheels

This week has been a huge week for our family.....My sister Linda turned 40 on Wednesday, we were unable to spend the day with her because she lives in Tasmania though I'm sure her close friends made sure she celebrated.

This week was also Ag-Quip week and this year we had a site for our business "Pivot Irrigation" which meant lots of entertaining and late nights. My Mum and Dad came up from Orange to have a look around also which was great because we miss them very much!!! Mum and I enjoyed the shopping but not all the walking around, I did buy a few things one of which I'm very excited about and I'll share it as soon as I have pictures.
OK just to finish off this post I'm going to share my new scarf which I made the other night.....yummy green!!

Time for change.

About a month ago I changed the background colour on my blog from white back to black..... this didn't quite freshen it up as I had hoped, so yesterday I was feeling a little creative and I made this new banner......the colour scheme is totally me I just love it!!!!
So it's goodbye to this old banner...... And hello to this new banner.......
I wonder how long it will be before I get sick of this one and change it again!

Sooooo Over This.....

Blackouts that is.......yes that's right another day with no power ( well only 6 hours this time ) that means ...... no heating..... no water...... no electric blanket......NO MORNING COFFEE Arrrgghhh!!!!!......If you are really desperate you can go to one of the water tanks around the shed and fill up a cooking pot and boil it on the stove top ( It works because it's gas )...... so that's what I did. Mark did a runner and just went to town for breakfast...... said he needed to be out at Ag-Quip early to set up......yeah yeah. It was colder in my house than it was outside so the kids rugged up to keep warm..... and yes that is one of Megan's beanies that Ryan is wearing.
Because the only thing we could do in our house this morning was use the gas stove we made pancakes for breakfast........it was much warmer near the stove so I doubled the pancake mixture so I could stand there longer and keep warm......how sad is that!!!!We love pancakes at our house and I make them just about every Sunday for breakfast if I can and we all eat them differently........ I eat mine smothered in Maple Syrup with a bit of fruit, Ryan butters his and then sprinkles sugar (naughty I know) all over them and finally cuts them into precise little Pizza shapes.......Megan is totally unpredictable she does the above as well as this........

Do you remember when you were a kid making snowflake decorations out of paper by folding the paper a few times then making small cuts.......when the paper was opened up a beautiful snowflake pattern was revealed..........that was what Megan did with her pancakes today....I wasn't quite quick enough with the camera to get it all before she turned them into faces.
So that was all a bit of fun while we tried to keep warm........afterwards the kids just stayed outside and played, I was still in my pj's when the power came back on at 11.30.....just in time because we were all busting to watch Grant Hackett in the 1500m swim.

So, now that we have had our 3rd huge blackout in 2 weeks ( the other two blackouts went for the entire day ) I have alot of catching up to do like washing uniforms ready for school......Oh what fun!!!

OMG!!!!!!

This new toy I got today is un-freaking believable!!!! It's my new Clip-it-up stand and it's the best thing ever.......now all my lettering (well most of it) rub-ons and anything else that can be hung up on a little hook is right there in front of me...... no more searching through boxes or putting something in a box and forgetting about it........It even comes with a cover to keep it dust free when not in use........wooooohoooo this is exciting!!!!!!
I'm glad I ordered extra clips because I think I'm going to need them........I still have more embellishments and stuff to go on yet. These Clip-it-up stands are fantastic for those scrappers who are a bit short on space ........I now have room to store more scrapbooking goodies.......well worth it I say!!!!!

Ok I've got to get back and finish filling my stand.

School Pictures

I've had these for a few weeks and it's taken me this long to scan them so I could share them with you. Thankfully today I got a few more scrapbooking albums off Jodi so I can concentrate on Megan's School album now......... I like to keep anything related to school including certificates and reports all together so I know exactly where everything is. I must say that I now have two years of school pictures to catch up on and I've been procrastinating because I always find them difficult to scrap...... don't know why. Ryan has a little bit of skin off his face ( usually it's Megan ) because he hit the dirt when playing Rugby with his mates a few days before....... I still think it's a cute picture.

I have a bit of a funny story....... every week Megan has her Tuesday news or show and tell..... today she had to take a picture of her favourite place and give a bit of a talk about it........it's my favourite because..... where it is and why it's special...... of all the places she could have picked guess what she picked........ the local furniture shop Riley's. I just couldn't believe it and when I asked why she said because she likes all the furniture......I like it too but it's not my favourite place to be in the world!!! I managed to convince her that the rest of her class wouldn't be too interested in hearing all about what furniture she likes.........but more interested about her last trip to the beach!!!! Do you think that she has accompanied me on one too many visits to the furniture shop........I think so!!!

hugs

What a surprise!!!!!

Go and get this months issue of Scrapbook Creations because..........I've just had another layout published........woooohoooo!!!!!! What a huge surprise when I received my layout back today along with this months issue.............it's been a long time coming as I sent the layout in around 7 months ago and I had almost forgotten until today.

I got a whole page in the "Let's play" gallery.

This photo of Megan was taken Nov 2006 while we were having family portraits taken by Wayne at Callendoon Studios.............Megan said "Picture me picture me look I have horns", it was a very funny moment and totally shows Megan's personality.
Here it is a little closer.

Wow that was exciting it makes me want to go and get creative right now!!!

Til next time bye

Catch Up

Wednesday morning was a little bit sad at my house....... because it was the last time that we would get to see our good friend's Nathan Kelly and their gorgeous baby Lilly for a little while..... here is Kelly and myself just before the tears started and they got on their way for another two days of driving.
Last Friday the kids had their athletics carnival.... I'm a bit late in posting I know but better late than never. It was a freezing cold day but the kids didn't seem to notice unlike me who had many layers of clothing on and it still didn't make a difference.

I still haven't mastered my new camera....... obviously!!!! a little fuzzy but you still get the idea.Here is Megan showing off her 1st place stickers.

Here is a sunset I caught a few days ago......... I get really amazing sunsets where I live and every day they are a different colour.
Yesterday I spent all day cleaning out all my scrapbooking stash.........I found so many things I had totally forgotten about it was great.......... now I can actually see my scrapbooking table and there aren't piles and piles of everything stacked up or shoved to one side......... it looks lovely and I might even try to get a layout done very soon!!!

I spent a little bit of time baking this morning......... these yummy cookies are so quick and for dummies like me who are not that good at baking unless it comes out of a box they are so easy......... the last batch I made only lasted two days so they've got to be good!!!!

I think I might go and have a cookie with my morning coffee bye bye.

Don't Laugh!!!

Last night after we finished celebrating Ryan's birthday I was trying to remember what I used to get up to when I was his age..............I was looking through some old pictures that mum had given me and this is what I found.........
This is Genavive my pet donkey....... I remember riding, brushing and playing with her every day......... she used to come up to the back door and rattle an old cow bell and the only way to make her stop was to give her a peppermint lolly........ pretty smart I thought!

I clearly remember this particular afternoon way back then............ I was riding her up the driveway and she decided that it was too far to the end and just stopped, I gave her a little dig in the ribs as I usually did but this time I wasn't expecting her to pig-root and I fell off......I didn't think much about it until I walked back down the driveway to mum and she said "I'm going to have to take you to hospital look at your arm", I looked down and could see that my arm had been broken............. well that was it for me I cried and cried "I don't want to go to hospital can't you fix it".

Anyway looking back at life when I was an 8 year old kid is totally different to Ryan's at 8, the things we got up to I would never let my kids do!!! A little too protective maybe or maybe things were just less complicated back then.

Something to think about....