My Nan was a Wise Woman.

I really should know better... and I do... but sometimes... sometimes I just can't resist.

I made something new for dinner tonight.

Since we are on a super tight budget most of the time the only meat I can afford to feed my three meat lovers is boring old mince, so in a quest to not die of boredom cooking the same thing night after night I bought a little recipe book today all about cooking with mince. It just so happened that we had all the ingredients to make the meat pie recipe so I figured 'why not?' After scrambling though the cupboards looking for something to cook it in (cooking is not my thing so surprisingly enough I didn't just happen to have a 24 cm pie dish!) all is going well.

I got the filling cooking and the pastry defrosting nicely, I chose to cheat and use ready made pastry sheets rather than attempting my own! Then I wacked the pastry sheets into the dish, poured in the filling, put more pastry on top... cut off the excess... even made little leaves to go on the top out of the pastry just like the photo in the book. I put it in the oven with plenty of time to spare and all is good and right in my kitchen.

I turn back to the bench and see the little pile of left over pastry scraps. I remember as a child waiting and waiting while my Nan made pasties, complete with hand minced meat and handmade pastry, when she was all done and would let me eat a small scrap of raw pastry dough. It was always sooooooo yum and I always wanted more, but she never let me, told me it wasn't good for me. My Nan was a wise woman, but I somehow forgot that today. Yes you guessed it, I ate a little bit of the pastry dough, them some more , then more, then the whole damn thing. Yum yum yum AND YUM!

I clean up and the pie cooks and I am feeling pretty damn proud of myself at this stage. I am suddenly really thirsty and have a big drink of water..... Then it happens. It feels like the pastry is swelling up inside of me and I feel bad, really bad.

Just the site of the crisp golden pastry on my beautiful pie is enough to make me want to hurl and serving it up for the meat lovers was torture. I had to sheepishly explain to Si why I wasn't going to eat with him and the girls and went to have a quiet lie down. I still feel icky now more than 2 hours later!

My Nan turned 95 yesterday. She doesn't make pasties anymore, not after the time a few years ago that she put apple instead of turnip in them. Her wisdom is much harder to come by now since she is now a young girl again worrying that her mother might scald her for ruining her best dress. But my Nan was a wise woman and next time I make a pie, I would do well to remember her wisdom!

This is my Nan, Jean, aged 2 and half.

Trying to squeeze out the last drops of summer...

The sun was hot today and the wind blowing a gale but the girls found their new bathers and decided they wanted to go to the beach! Sadly that was not on the cards for today, but we did the next best thing and set up the paddling pool right next to the sand pit to see if we couldn't squeeze out the last few drops of summer before Autumn really sets in.


The girls had a lovely time splashing about in their 'two for the price of one' bathers (you gotta love those kind of bargains when you are the mother of twins!) which are about three sizes too big in the hope of fitting next summer! Despite being big they are very cute... ruffles on the bum and all, and the girls love them. They dumped every outside toy we have into the water, along with half the new tan bark from under the swings and a good handful of leaves and grass (food for the animals you know!) with a dash or two of sand for good measure and had a ball!


In other news...

Zoe is starting to get it together with regards to the potty and the toilet... asked for both today and produced output each time, very impressive!

Izzy on the other hand... still thinks the phantom wee'er is making puddles at her feet. She also wants to sit on the toilet but that is much more about the toilet paper and the excitement that ensues between her and her sister while they jockey for position, than actually doing anything! She still refuses to wear a nappy most of the time when we are at home, and wee'ed on the couch four times today! ARRGGGHHHH!!!

We are going to buy some undies tomorrow.. not because I think either of them are actually really ready for undies, but because I thought I might be able to tempt Izzy to keep her nappy on for a while by putting the undies over the top! Please let it work.. before I have to through out my couch as well as the rug.. thank goodness we don't have carpet!

Not much to say...

Went to collingwood children's farm today with some friends.. had a lovely day chatting and enjoying the animals. The girls and I fell in love with the chocolate brown goats with the long floppy ears... Definitely want one or two of them for our place now!

Sadly my camera ran out of batteries after the first photo, so nothing to show from today. I do however have some great photos of playgroup at our place the other day which I must email out to the owners of the gorgeous children in them sometime soon.

So since I am tired and I have nothing to say I am going to have an early night and leave you with this photo of Izzy from last weekend's adventures in park hopping.

End of an Era...

Well it feels like the end of an era today...

Digital Scrapbook Haven is officially closing it's doors at the end of April... and due to some server problems the forum and gallery has already closed. I owe a lot to DSH and it's owner, Kazz. DSH gave me a start in designing, and gave me the confidence to think that I might actually be halfway decent at this. We had some great times at DSH and I have learnt a lot and it will be greatly missed.

The store is still open though with a BIG sale until the end of April so check out some of the awesome specials and grab a bargain while you still can!

And since I have had so many emails and messages today from people asking me 'where will we hang out now?' I have taken the wonderful Heather up on her offer and she and Annette and I have spent the afternoon putting together a temporary forum, hosted by her web hosting business EOH Online so now we all have somewhere to hang out and 'Scrap 'n Chat' HERE!

So head on over and say hello... This is just a temporary set up and I am VERY new at this so you'll have to be patient with me, but we are planning a few fun bits and pieces to keep us all busy while I cook up some plans for bigger and better things.

In other news...

something new in the store at digiscrappin.biz, you can find it HERE

Finally?

Ok been trying to upload this for three days (hence the lack of updates).... so lets see if it works this time!

Yay! Finally... though it put it on the left and I can't be bothered changing it now... so here it is... LO I did with my new 'Country Kitchen' kit available at digiscrappin.biz

Ok too tired to say anything else tonight... but more new stuff coming soon to digiscrappin....

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Been sharing the love...

Ok I have taken up Peta's blog challenge from the other day and have signed up for the digiscrapping blogs list thingy... see that little flower button at the bottom of the page... eek hang on it is under all my links now.. how did that happen?

Anyway I liked Peta's idea not to use this as some kind of popularity competition (which I'd have no hope of winning anyway!) and instead to use it as a way to meet new people, check out new blogs and leave a comment... Share the love. I do love a good blog... and what better way to waste some time when I should be doing something else than to browse through a whole list of scrapping blogs!!! Unreal!

I have been stoked to get a few comments from 'new visitors' .... I know it's only a little thing but Peta is right... sharing the love is good! So welcome if you are a new reader, hope I don't bore you to tears and that you might pop in from time to time!

I have also loved surfing the list and finding a few new blogs to take a peek at.... and what is my criteria for picking a blog off the list?? I like a good name! Something a bit unusual, or quirky... so here are a few I found today... go take a look and share the love some more!

The Precious Stone - Gemma who is just an awesome Aussie scrapper, don't know how I haven't seen her blog before!
Olive Juice and Company - how cool is that name!!?
Jelly Bean Toes, Cheerios and a Scrapping Hullabaloo - now that is one awesome name.. and a blog full of amazing LOs!

So there you go... that should keep you busy for now as it looks like Blogger is still not letting me upload images so you'll have to wait till tomorrow to see my latest LO....

It'll all end in tears...

I think Si and his siblings heard that phrase a lot when growing up... "It'll all end in tears..." because I hear it a lot now... but some days you just know it really will all end in tears.

Inbetween rain showers the girls convinced me we should have a quick trip out to the park yesterday. I didn't take much convincing because I'd heard that the park up at Riddells creek had ducks and I thought it'd be fun to go feed them. It was a good plan... except I left the multitudes of stale bread we have at home. I should have known then, that it would all end in tears.

We found the park and the ducks... or shall I say they found us! No sooner were we in the gate then they were waddling (at a fair pace for a waddle too) up the hill, from the lake, to greet us. These are not like the wild ducks we get around here, I suspect these are domestic ducks gone feral. There is one big goose and a selection of other pretty ducks and drakes. And they were hungry.


It was about then that I realised I'd left the bread at home so fished out our box of biscuits (it is always important to travel with a small container of dry biscuits when you have a toddler or two in tow) and gave a handfull each to the girls to either eat or share with the ducks. Being my children of course they ate them. The ducks were not happy. I threw a few broken up biscuits over the ducks heads to momentarily distract them while I explained to the girls that it might be a good idea to share a few biscuits with the ducks. No sooner were the words out of my mouth than the ducks were back, in our faces, demanding that the girls comply, or failing that, that I just hand over the whole container!

So far, while they had been loud and close and inquisitive, none of the ducks seemed nasty, but I just had this feeling that it wouldn't be long before small children with faces right at duck height might be seen as a local duck delicacy. Once again I should have known then it would all end in tears... yet I forged ahead, determined.

Izzy had the right approach, breaking off bits of biscuit and chucking them. The only problem was that she would throw them out and promptly run to where the biscuit had landed. The ducks, sensing that this ravenous child might get to the biscuit and eat it before them also descended upon the very same milimetre of grass. A melee ensued. Izzy freaked and flapped her arms which made the ducks freak and flap while I ran to extract her from the middle of a cloud of feathers.

Meanwhile behind me stood Zoe, doggedly eating all of the biscuits and refusing to share with the ducks. A small brown duck noticed this and took obvious offence. Up came the duck and with a lightening fast jab, grabbed the biscuit just as Zoe put it to her lips. Then, to reassert who the biscuits really belonged to, proceeded to peck the remained out of Zoe's other hand. She lost the plot!

'Duck bite me, duck bite me DUCK BITE ME!" was all i could hear through hysterical crying from both my children.

I did the only think a mother could do. I chucked what was left of the box of biscuits down the hill, grabbed a toddler under each arm and headed to the car.

Strapped into the car and calmed down somewhat I assessed the damage... not that bad... no permanent damage from the duck attack, not even any blood. Ok, time to go home.... but no, wait, what is that hysterical crying coming from the back seat??

"Wanna go park... wanna go park"

"But we've just been to the park."

'Wanna go park.... wanna go park"

"But that was a park."

"NO park with swings and slides"

Ah ofcourse... that wasn't a real park, it only had a pack of rabid ducks. A real park has swings and slides. So back down the road for a quick swing and slide while I sat and contemplated how I really should have known... It'd all end in tears.

Shhhhhhhh it's a secret!

Ok my not so secret secret is out of the bag well and truly now! The funny thing is, I am not very good at keeping secrets so told a select few... then those who are very good at cyber stalking found me out of their own accord! The even funnier thing is, it's not really all that exciting for most of you out there... unless you are into digi scrapping and you know how much I ummed and ahhed over this!

Anyway so here is my not so secret secret, and if you can't work it out from the link.... here is the low down.
This is my latest kit... it's called Country Kitchen and it is up in the store at www.digiscrappin.biz!!!

Yes I have finally taken the leap and applied for and been accepted to an awesome US based site! I am so excited and so pleased to part of this awesome team!

I saw the team call ad on P4D, just by chance as I only browse the web site every now and then when I am procrastinating. I had recently checked out their site after hearing about some changes there and was very impressed both with the upgrade to the site and some of the new ideas Michelle and Amanda had... so on a whim decided to apply and the rest as they say, is history!

I was formally accepted there a while ago but it has taken me a while (and a few minor child hood diseases) to get my act together and get something new to put up there...and this new kit is just the first of a few new and exclusive items for the store at digiscrappin.biz The whole team at digiscrappin has just been great, I have learnt so much just by taking part in the forums and getting first kit together and they are all so lovely and friendly! I am really just so excited to be part of such a cool site!

And before you start asking... no I am not leaving DSH. I have no intentions of leaving my 'Aussie home' at DSH or of even cutting back on all the fun stuff I do there. I love DSH and the girls there too much to ever even dream of leaving! So you'll still be able to get my designs at DSH. Some designs will be exclusive to digiscrappin.biz, like the one above and some will be exclusive to DSH, and still more will be available at both sites..... just to keep us all on our toes!

Ok well it has been a long day and I think my 'Bee' (that's Izzy) might be a bit under the weather so it may well be a long night so I am off to bed, better late than never!

The Aliens Have Landed...

You all have to go check out Jo's (zebette's) blog and look at the photo of her hubby's shaved knee and read her weird story of what happened.

If their story is not weird enough already it gets wierder as I have my own weird knee story as well...

I was about 17 at the time and remember getting up one cold night to go to the toilet. The next thing I remember is waking up on the floor, I could barely move, felt very woozy, was very cold and was in a puddle of wee. I was very confused and my knee hurt bad.

I called out and my Mum came to help me clean up and put me back to bed. She was a tad worried but assumed that I must be sick and had passed out because I got up out of bed too quickly.Seemed plausible enough and since I felt horrid I just went back to sleep.

I woke up in the morning and felt fine except for my sore knee. My Mum dragged me off to the doctor anyway and when they found nothing out of the ordinary and all I complained off was this sore knee she took a closer look.

On the inside of my right knee (sorry Jo think I told you left but it is definitely the right one.) there was a small blister and it hurt like heck!

The doctor suggested it looked like a pressure sore and wondered if I had fallen on something that might have pinched that bit of skin? Or since it sure felt like it, perhaps it was a burn and had I possibly fallen on a heater? Or perhaps I had been electrocuted and that was the entry point with the small burn?

The really odd thing is that for a change that night my room was completely clean. Now anyone who knew me as a teenager (and even now to some extent!) knows that my rooms was rarely ever tidy. Usually you could see the floor for the junk, and in that case it could be feasible that I had pinched my leg on something I fell on or even fallen on my small blow heater (although it was not on). But not that particular night... that night the floor was completely clear and I had fallen only on soft carpet, miles from anything else.

Now to me, back then, it sure felt like a burn and it healed and then scarred just like a burn. I still have the scar today.

And even today my family still jokes about it. They decided that the freak occurrence of me cleaning my room sent a random signal to the aliens to come and get me, and the blister was where they implanted the chip!

I am not sure about the whole 'alien abduction' theory, but I nearly died when I read Jo's blog this morning! How many weird knee stories are there out there? What did I do to my knee that night and how did Jo's Hubby suddenly loose a neat square of knee hair????

Suggestions greatly appreciated.

A slow day?

Do you every feel like the day has sort of just dragged past and you feel like you didn't accomplish much? Then when you look back you realise that actually quite a bit happened, you were just too busy doing it to notice?

I had one of those days yesterday.

After the news of Survivor folding I went in search of something new to do. Like I haven't got a list a mile long of things I 'should' be doing?!? But still, I felt like I needed to let loose with the creativity and sorting out my new kit just wasn't going to cut it!

I had a squizz at the digichick and found their 'Emotions Anonymous - a 12 step program' workshop and the first 'step' is 'SURPRISE'. So since I'd been on a tiny spending spree the day before at Holly McCaig's unreal new site (picked up two awesome bargains! - I have to say I am so pleased she is offering her once freebies as now 'cheapies', since I usually can't download freebies when they are up due to this horrid download limit, but now I have a chance to grab them as a bargain when I am at my parents, so thanks Holly!) I was itching to play with my new papers and found this challenge right up my alley.... so here you go...

Credits - Flower paper by Holly McCaig from her Country Chic paper pack.
Fonts - bathing cap and straight up wide.

Yes I am only now getting around to scrapping my girl's very first photos!

I managed to sneak in that LO in the morning because I speed dressed the girls so Si would take them with him when he went to get Uncle Marco from the train... 20 whole minutes of peace! But it gets even better than that! Si got back and ran in the house asking for sunscreen?!? Apparently Izzy had cracked it when she realised they had come straight home and not gone to the park so the boys decided they'd pick up some sunscreen and go back! YAY!

So the girls played in the park before it got too hot, Si and Marco got to spend time with them, relaxing rather than working and I finally finished my new kit, sorted out the previews and zipped it all up ready to go... just as soon as I double check I have done it all right.

Feels very good to have that all out of the way. So when the girls woke we played for a while, instead of me trying to work on the computer while they try to get me to play with them which is the usual torture!! Between the block towers and the block people having babies both the girls stripped off their nappies (of course!) but shock of shocks.... Zoe actually wee'ed on the potty! Totally of her own accord too.. I saw her squatting on the floor with a 'look' and turned to look for the potty so I could suggest she use it, but when I looked back she was already on the potty and doing a wee!!!! So maybe they are closer to all that than I thought... well Zoe anyway!

Then after a little nagging the girls convinced me it would be a good idea to sit outside and have an iceypole.... so we sat on the front verandah while they chomped on frozen pear juice and chatted to each other and the chickens who periodically stuck their heads out from under the house to say hello!

Then it was time to cook dinner... so we raided the vegie garden to see if we could toss together a salad... which we could and that is cool enough in itself. Then I decided it was time we picked the biggest watermelon and cantelope to see what they were like.....

They'd taken a LONG time to grow and for ages it looked like the vines would never fruit. We have loads of cantelopes but they were very green for a long time. We grew only two watermelon, they are mini ones and I had no idea how I was supposed to know when they were ready to pick. But I figured the best part of summer was over so it was time to pick them and see what happened!


So we ate half of each after dinner and heck they weren't half bad! The watermelon has lots of pips and probably would have improved with more water in the early days but is pretty god anyway... and the cantelope was YUM! I am not afraid to admit I am VERY proud of my first serious go at growing things, not least of which the cantelope and watermelon. I thought they would probably never grow with our cold nights!

So after the girls were in bed I came back to the computer and started a new kit... or maybe a paper pack this time as that might not stress me quite so much... and I started to think that even though it felt like we hadn't accomplished much at all, in fact we have did quite a lot.

Pity today was different.

I have lost my motivation...

Well not really MY motivation... my external push do to do LOs is gone as the survivor comp has been cancelled. Due to a lot of issues really, and I can totally understand why the site owner felt she had to call it off, but it is disappointing for those of us playing along.... but never mind!

Now I might have some free time to actually do half of the stuff I NEED to do.... I have the biggest list of things that I need to get done in the next week, so perhaps this is actually a good thing, being without Survivor to distract me! Though I am sure I will find other things to distract me!

I take it back!

You know how a few posts back I was being all 'high and mighty' about the whole survivor thingy? Saying don't just vote for me because I asked you, only vote for me if you think I did the best LO.... well...

I take it back!

Vote for me! Vote for me!

The votes have gone OFF this round with some people up in the high 20's and 30's already! I guess they have more scrapping buddies than I do.... or aren't so stupid and have just told everyone they know to vote for them.... so bugger it... VOTE FOR ME!!!

Please! I will be your best friend? I will love you forever!

See the two blog entries below for the links and instructions on how to vote if you can be bothered to act of my pathetic plea to at least seem a little bit popular.

In other news....

I have almost, almost finished my new kit and will hopefully by early next week be able to officially announce my not so secret secret... if there is anyone left who doesn't already know! ;)

The girls and I are at my parents - I broke quarantine today and all of us girls went to the stitches and craft show this arvo. Soooooooooo much stuff there, beading seems to be very big in the craft stakes at the moment, along with fancy wool to knit with. I have to say though, I was a bit disappointed with the array of scrapping stuff, there really weren't many scrapping stalls and the ones that were there didn't have anything terrible new or inspiring.

In the end we bought a few of those tiny silver boxes so I can decorate them and make tiny folded albums to go in them as gifts. I also bought two even smaller silver boxes on keychains as I thought they'd make really fun gifts. I bought some super cheap and gorgeous lace to scan for an idea I have and also this new type of inkjet paper system.... very hard to explain but you basically print on it then rub this stuff on it that gives it an almost rigid shiny surface.. a lot like that of a postcard... so one side mat and one side shiny.... hard to explain but I have a few ideas for using it!

Anyway almost dinner time here.... the girls are giving my Dad a hard time while he tries to watch the rugby (ha ha ha!) so I had better go rescue him since I don't have to cook for a change!

and remember... VOTE FOR ME!!! please

All done for this round...

Ok here is my immunity challenge LO, now I am all done for this round of survivor, just waiting for the votes and points now...

Credits - Papers from Holly McCaig's Sunroom kit (can you tell I really like this kit) some of them have been recoloured to match! Fonts - arial black and tall paul

This was a sketch challenge which is really not my thing. I just can't seem to get into them and it took me all week to finally get around to MAKING myself do this. Which is actually a really good bit about this whole survivor thing, it is actually making me scrap AND step outside my comfort zone. And in the end I am really happy with this!

If you want to vote for me (and I have to be honest and admit I am slightly regretting my high and mighty previous post about just voting for the best LO as I see everyone else's vote count rising!) you need to register in the forums (which is different to the gallery registration you did last vote) and go to this forum post here. And if you want to vote for my round 2 LO go to this forum post here.

In other news....

I picked up poo off the floor three times this afternoon. Yes you read right... poo, human poo, on my floor, three times in one afternoon. This is what my life has become. I always knew it would come to this one day... being somebody's pooper scooper, but I have to say now that the day is here I am not overly happy about it.

Izzy is a crack up at the moment and so fun in so many ways, but why oh why can't she keep her nappy on??? I know this is a normal part of learning to control those special muscles that keep wee and poo where they should be until they can be let go somewhere reasonably appropriate. I have written essays on this stuff. The thing is though, she has absolutely no idea that these little brown piles come from her! None at all.

Days and days of nappy free time in the afternoon and she still looks down in horror as she makes a big puddle on the floor and exclaims "wees!!!" As if some nasty person is weeing down her legs and onto her feet. And the little brown piles all but freak her out! The cry goes out from one or both of them "poo! poo! POO!" and I hear the little feet come running, just praying they ran around the pile!

And the potty? The potty is good for many things; a boat for the animals, a high chair for doll doll, a bus to drive around the floor (making horrible scratching screeching noises as you go) or a safe place to stash a biscuit or pile of sultanas for a later munching. Ask her to sit on the potty and do a wee? "I can't wee" Izzy tells me and flatly refuses to sit. Ok no biggy... but as she takes a step to walk away it happens again... some maniac wees at her feet!

So feel safe in saying that neither of my girls are ready to learn to use the toilet right now, and that's ok. But please. couldn't Izzy keep her nappy on for a little while longer, or maybe poo a little less often? Though I guess I will get used to it and there will come a day when someone comes to visit and points to the small steaming pile on the lovely polished wood floors and asks "what's that?" to which I'll casually reply "oh just another pile of shit!"

Still here....

Yep we are still here... almost totally spot free but housebound till the infectious period is over, and still none the wiser as to what the girls have had!

But at least I got to go out of the house today. I was supposed to go to a dentist appointment this morning for a filling... Yeeuuchh! But they called bright and early this morning to say they had to cancel as my dentist was sick! woohoo!!! I mean, bugger... poor dentist and it really only put off the filling for a few weeks, but still... it made the day look a lot brighter!

Then I decided that since Si was supposed to look after the girls while I went to the dentist he could look after them while I went out! So I did a quick trip up to highpoint.. go $60 of the $100 back that it cost me to take the girls to the doctors last Friday and returned two things to target and bought two more! But that was it really. I wandered around a lot, feeling totally uninspired and very out of place.

Funny really as I used to go to Highpoint at least once a week when we lived near by and the girls were little, just for something to do. I guess I felt a bit odd being there without them... and I dunno... Window shopping and people spotting has kinda lost it's appeal at the moment....

Anyway I got to recharge a bit this morning regardless and that was good.

Today also saw the results come out for the first round of SURVIVOR! at DID.. well actually it was very late last night or early this morning, or sometime as I still can't get my head around the time differences! But anyway... I had immunity so couldn't be voted out but was hanging to find out who had been voted off my team and the others and was SUPER relieved to see that my fellow awesome Aussies, Lis and Sharon are still in the game!

So I whipped off a quick SMS to Lis to give her something to read when she came out of surgery (hope you are doing ok Lis.. thinking of you and missing my #1 stalker today!) then had a think about Challenge number 2! The challenge was to use only the following in a lay out - 1 photo, 2 papers, 1 element and 1 font. Took me a while to get my head around it but here is what I came up with!

Credits - background paper by me, green paper by Holly McCaig
from her Sunroom Kit, Bag hand drawn by me and filled with
more paper from Holly's sunroom kit, font century gothic.

This round they have changed the way you vote... you now need to register for the forums at Doitdigee and then go to this post here and vote in the poll... just to keep you on your toes. But don't just got and vote for me because you love me (ha ha ha).

I feel a bit conceited just saying 'hey vote for me' and really it doesn't mean anything then. So PLEASE please look in the gallery here and vote for the LO you like the best... wait until Friday or so when most everyone's LOs will be up and then choose the one you like best, then vote!

Same goes for the immunity challenge though I haven't done my entry for that yet... it is a sketch challenge and I suck at those....

Anyway that's all for now... bed is calling!

Candle Light

In a several homes right now there is a woman lighting a candle.

It is not just any candle and we are not just any women. We are all connected to Laura and all joining together to celebrate the end of her journey and the beginning of a new one. We are lighting the candles given to us at Laura's blessingway all those weeks ago. We are once again reading the words of that special blessing. We are aware of the red string that ties us all together. We all send our strength, our peace and our love to our friend as labour begins.

Laura may your labour be strong and peaceful, powerful and calm. We are all so proud to be part of your life and so excited to welcome baby K to your family and our circle of friendship.

I am so proud to be part of this circle of women, celebrating life together.


Welcome Baby Kaeden!!!

Laura you are an amazing person, bringing your new son into this world with such grace and strength!

Leah I am proud to know you.

Seeing Spots and Visiting Vampires

We are still seeing spots around here, though things are definitely on the improve.

Zoe hit her peak spottiness yesterday afternoon and Izzy the day before so hopefully it is all downhill from here. And for those wondering what it looks like... here are some photos from yesterday, I don't think they are too gruesome so shouldn't offend many!

This is my two sickies lounging in front of a CBD as Izzzy would say (or DVD as they are more commonly known) - interestingly enough you can count the number of times my girls have had a 'lay about and be miserable on the couch' kind of sickness by the number of children's DVDs we own! You can see Izzy's bright red arms and legs where the spots have gotten so numerous that they have joined up into one giant red blotch! But the spots were on the way out when this photo was taken - they sort of start behind the ears and back of the neck and work their way down the body arms and legs until they are gone... very weird!

This is zoobeedoobum a few hours before the peak of her spots, she has them everywhere.... even the soles of her feet and in her ears! And disregard the brown blotch on her belly button she got that bruise falling off a chair at the funeral we went to on Thursday, where we spread our good germs before we even knew we had them.

Although the spots look bad, they aren't that big a deal really. They don't seem to be itchy just a little prickly and uncomfortable when they are hot. By far the biggest misery is the spots in their mouths... they aren't even sucking on their dummies let alone wanting to eat, which for them is a VERY big deal!

But the vampire nurse came this morning - ie the nurse from the health department came to do the girls blood tests. She was nice enough, and thankfully VERY good at what she does.

Izzy barely even noticed her blood being taken and was soooo good while all the samples were done (nose, eyes and throat swabs). She was in awe of the elmo bandaid, never having had a bandaid on before let alone one with elmo on it... so she promptly ripped it off and bled all over her father! ha ha!

Zoe on the other hand.... wasn't having a bar of this strange woman in our house and being violated with a giant cotton bud stuck up her nose was just the beginning of the end. She HOWLED through the whole thing! And to make matters worse she has deep veins like me, and the nurse took a while to find a vein good enough - she was VERY quick once she found one and got it first go (which I imagine is hard enough in a squirmy two year old let alone one with crap veins) but I literally had to wrap my arms around Zoe and hold her down while she screamed blue murder, god it was awful. I am not ashamed to admit that while I held it together while the nurse was here... once she was gone I shed a few tears over it all.

This nurse also doesn't think it is measles as there is no cough or runny nose or massive temps... and I am inclined to agree with her after everything I have read these past few days except the issues over the spots in their mouth... that seems to indicate BIG TIME measles.... but we'll find out when we get the test results back tomorrow arvo. Part of me hopes it is measles as we have gotten off fairly mildly and if it is the girls will get great immunity to it. If it's not, it atleast gets the health department off my back, but it also means it's something else that we could have passed on to everyone we've seen, something most of the world is not immunised against.

Oh and no, before you all ask... my girls have not had the MMR vax and yes they are two and yes they should have had it already. We made a decision to delay some of their vaxs for a variety of reasons, not only because we are hippy la la parents... he he he he.

Anyway In other news...

Guess who won immunity for her survivor team!?!?!

Yes, yours truly! It was a bit of a shock really as I thought it was one person getting immunity for the whole thing not one for each team so didn't expect to out vote anyone else... but I think that is thanks to all my blog readers as well, so THANKS!

I did quite well in the challenge round too, my team came in second when the votes and scores were tallied so now I have to choose two people to vote out. Now that SUCKS! I have no idea who or even how to start choosing... sooooo not happy, especially first round when we hardly know each other! Anyway it is all part of the game!

In other, other news... looks like we bought an old tractor yesterday. I know nothing about it except that the money came from my tax return - so effectively the girl's paid for it since that was money the government gave me to help look after them! He he he so my girls will be the proud owners of an old red Massy Fergeson (no idea on spelling of that) tractor my Tuesday! Will definitely take some photos!

There's a spot over here... and a spot over there...

Well since 'the other Kate' (ie BubbaJKate) has been blogging about the 'song of our lives' I haven't been able to get this playschool song out of my head...

There's a spot over here
And a spot over there
And a spot on your ear
And a spot on your hair
And a lot of little spots
In the air
Everywhere!
It's a spotty kind of day...

Yes I watch too much playschool, but this song really sums up my life at the moment.

The world has been put temporarily on hold and we are in quarantine until the powers that be find out once and for all if my girls have measles... mind you if it is or it isn't doesn't mean that much to me. My girls are sick... covered in rash, with a mouth full of spots and we are all miserable. What variety of spots don't matter much we are still stuck at home for the next 7-10 days and still have few options for keeping the girls happy. :(

So I may be a bit more absent than usual.. which is scary considering how little I have blogged of late. But in general net life if anyone is wondering where I am assume I am dealing with spotty children... and all fingers crossed NOT a spotty husband!

Now I... I will survive.....

Ah now how could I resist???

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE the TV show Survivor... I get sucked in every series and just can't stay away! I don't even know why! Normally I watch a few episodes of the first series of any reality TV thing and that's enough for me. I am not anti this whole reality TV caper, I just don't watch that much TV and would rather be playing on the computer than watching most things... except for Survivor (and Grey's Anatomy of course!)

So anyway here's the thing...

I saw a P4D ad (scrapping yahoo group that is all ads for anyone who doesn't know.... loads of fun for those who are totally addicted) for Doitdigi's Survivor contest, and well how could I resist! I know, I know.. I don't even have time to update my blog at the moment so I certainly don't have time for this, but I couldn't help myself!

So here I am in the thick of it now! I am in team PIXELATOR! (go team!) and have just completed my first challenge - to make a magazine cover about my team - and the first immunity challenge - to make a sig tag/blinkie for my team. And here's the catch... all of you reading this you HAVE to go vote for me now! Well ok you don't have to... but it would be nice if you have a spare sec and you check out all the entries and vote for your favs.

So here is my first Challenge LO!


You can also find my entry HERE but you need to go to the gallery view HERE to vote!. Find the LO you like best and hit the little VOTE link under the image.

And same goes for the immunity challenge entry.... though no point really looking at my layout in the gallery as it is just of static frames from the blinkie... so here is my blinkie/sig tag



And you can vote by going HERE finding the sig tag you like and doing the vote thing as above.

There are lots of other great entries so while I am definitely canvassing for votes here... do feel free to just tell me you voted for me, and happily vote for whoever you think has done the best LO... I promise I won't hold it against you! And just to prove it, you can find the LOs of two other Aussie entrants HERE and HERE

So there you go... now you know why I have been such a slack blogger of late (this plus my other not so secret secret!) but at least this Survivor thing will make me keep updating at least once a week to try and get more votes... that is if I make it through the first round ;)

Ughh... this entry feels kind of tacky.... like I am only blogging to make you all vote for me... but really just got look at all the hard work everyone has done and pick your favorite LO and vote!

ETA - you actually have to register in the gallery at doitdigi.com to be able to vote. It is free to do but might be a bit of a pain, but worth it if an Aussie wins ;)