Coasting along

January is whizzing by and that means that the school holidays will soon be over, we've had a busy time but now we have one last week to kick back and relax before the tyranny of the school routine consumes our lives once more. I'm going to savour every moment!

My decision not to plan seems to be going well, my family is organising me left, right and centre - turns out they are good planners too :)

So amongst the jet-setting and gadding about I've found a few moments to scrap. I've had a lot of fun with the basic grey kissing booth range - lovely pinks and browns with some green thrown in.

This LO is the result of Barb's blind scrap over at WP. I love Barb's style, so I was very keen to give this challenge a go. Another page for my Hong Kong album :)

This one, of my Dr Who obsessed daughter, is for Kel's sketch over SFS. I added some prima packaging and a Charm's heart as well as the cute little buttons that the ever-fabulous Jules sent me. Oh and see that little strip of star ribbon? That was sent to me by the lovely Helen of Red Earth Scrapping. She and I share a mutual fb friend who put together a sweet little swap (thanks Kate!!). It made my heart happy to get a parcel of goodies from a total stranger just because she could! Truly a random act of kindness!

Seems like I've been in the pink of late. Here's a little bit of New Zealand cousin fun - Angus and Meg enjoying the pool on a rare sunny day. This one is for Sue's sketch over at Scrapbooking Top 50.

After losing all my photos last year I decided to print a big batch of photos from Christmas and New Zealand - I only printed 200 to start with as I thought I'd pace myself lol. Truth is, it turns out that many photos can be a bit daunting, it took me a few days of admiring them to get my scrap on. But don't worry  I've tripled backed up all my photos and those back ups are hidden where no burglar will ever find them!

Time to go - thanks for stopping by and I hope your January is treating you well.

The last LO

Tomorrow we hop on a plane and zip over to New Zealand for two weeks. It's going to be great, shame the weather is both arctic and wet but what can you do? It's the land of the long white cloud after all.

I thought I'd pop in and share my final LO for 2011. I used the Get Picky sketch but missed the deadline to submit it - loved the sketch though :)

For some reason, of which none of us are very clear about, my Mum decided to give Angus a can of cream. Guess she thought he'd like it and he did! He had a fabulous time squirting it straight into his mouth :) 

It's at this time of year that everyone starts talking about goals and resolutions. I'm not big on resolutions at any time but I am a planner and I do like to have an idea in my head where my days, weeks and months are headed. But I've decided that given the truly random nature of 2011, 2012 will be the Year Without a Plan. 

That's right I'm going to see where the tide of life takes me and hope that it washes me up on the shores of happiness and contentment and that I weather the storms it brings with patience and common sense. And that in 12 months time I can look back and say I made it through another year, older, perhaps wiser but most importantly happy and healthy. 

We all live such busy lives, our everyday is spent thinking about and planning for the future, so much so that sometimes we forget to live in here and now. Enjoy the moment - squirt cream from a can straight into your mouth, it will make you smile. Then pause and acknowledge all the good things you have, hug your kids and pets, kiss your partner and then do it all again.

Happy New Year - I hope that 2012 is kind to you. xxx

Christmas past

Well Christmas was loud, fast and fun! Here's little pictorial summary :)

This year was the first year my side of the family had all been together since my Dad died seven years ago so, it was all about the cousins. All the boys bunked down in the lounge room and thought the fish was the place to hang their stockings - it's over the fireplace after all.

The girls (slightly outnumbered) and sleeping in the study found their own artwork for their stockings.

Then it was time for a bit of cousin chaos, with Granma thrown into the mix.

Christmas day saw the new slip and slide put to use - Rory insisted on using it as a bubbler much to everyone's disgust!

Here is the table(s) laid with care :)

Boxing Day saw three cousins meet one of their life saving heroes. That's Deano folks. The small Sydney cousin refused to be part of this photo, he couldn't understand the star attraction, Bondi is his local beach. And the biggest cousin had gone to work (as a lifesaver).

And that's it - bright colours, happy smiles and home again to the peace and quiet.

Hope you all had a fabulous festive day too.

LOs galore!

I had to check which LOs I'd shared and what I had in the wings. Seems I had a whole cast in the wings - oops.

Since I have no idea where to begin, I'll share the LOs I did for the Scrapbooking Top 50 cc back in November.

Thanks for stopping by - I'm sure I'll get my head back in the game at some stage...

And then it hit me...

It seems the law of averages is not my family's friend. With the number of friends that have died prematurely in recent times we should be secure in the knowledge that all those we hold dear will continue to walk safely amongst us. Sadly, cancer plays no heed to maths or rules of any kind and another friend, with everything to live for, has been given a death sentence. He has a rare form of inoperable lung cancer and, no, he has never been a smoker. He is a father of four, a loving husband and a cheery, entertaining and steadfast friend. He is 48 and he is dying. A week ago we were bemoaning that fact that he and his family were packing up and moving to Darwin, and planning trips to visit them, now that move may never happen and the only trips are those to the hospital.

And so we look into the face of a woman about to become a widow, into the eyes of children about to lose a father and try to avoid looking into the faces of friends who are as lost as we are. Grief is a strange beast, today as I stepped out the shower, I burst into tears, and even though I was thinking of mundane things clearly thoughts of our friend were swirling just below the surface.

Last night I found myself having a conversation with his wife who told me she was worried about Rob. How was he coping with the news? How strong she is to put her grief aside and worry about how her  friends are dealing with the news. She is a doctor so she knows only too well what horrors await her husband in the coming days and weeks. She asked how my children were coping and sympathised with how it hard it must have been for them to hear the news that more of their young friends are struggling with the new reality of a sick and dying parent. Yet her kindness and her warmth didn't hide the raw quality of her voice, nor did her black humour convince me that she was ok. We joked about averages, macabre really as in the back of our minds we were both thinking about a mutual friend no longer with us. And then we spoke about stuff that really doesn't matter because sometimes that is what you need - normality in a world that has ceased to be normal.

Rob has been away at camp this week and so when the news broke I was alone. I decided not to tell him until he returned today, it seemed cruel to send an email or sms to break such terrible news. I was relying on the fact that his contact with the outside world was limited and that references on facebook were oblique. I felt that his knowing would make getting through camp so much harder. But life is not simple or controllable and one of the other teachers broke the news to him as she had received an email. And so Rob was left to process his thoughts and manage his grief while caring for a group of kids who were oblivious to his pain.

I guess we all process things differently. I've noticed that when someone speaks of having a friend or relative diagnosed with cancer the natural reaction of the group is to tell their cancer story. Sometimes I wish people would just stop and listen and offer sympathy without advice, or wise counsel without personifying the event. But they rarely do and I'm as guilty as the next person. So that's why I've created this post... to process my thoughts free of the impediments that go with social interaction, to be free to express sadness and sorrow and then slip back to reality still with a heavy heart but a clearer head.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hard lessons

Yesterday I spent quite a long time explaining to Zoe that her friends were not irresponsible, unreliable and lazy. My black and white girl was inconsolable because the other kids in the charity band were mucking around between songs and not following the set list. The band comprises eight 15 year olds who have got together in the hopes of raising $12000 to give a small boy from a poor village in Chile the gift of music. He was born deaf and his family can't afford to buy him a cochlear implant. A huge goal!

Zoe and her friend Nicole are the driving force behind the project but the other kids are committed too. I tried to explain that their behaviour was ok and understandable but that only made her think I was siding with them. Sometimes I wonder how my beautiful, sensitive, intense and (more than a tad) bossy daughter will cope with the disappointments of life but she seems happy enough today. The band raised a total of $2300 on the weekend - that might have helped!

Anyway I wanted to scrap a LO to show her I'm her number one fan and that I'd really love to squish those other kids like a bug every time they disappoint her ;-) This is what I came up with, I used the sketch I created for this week's wp sketch challenge. Zoe took this photo of herself on the bus on the way to Yr 9 band tour - it seemed fitting :)

I hope your week is smooth sailing and if not you're weathering the highs and lows with a wry smile and the knowledge that this too will pass!

Remember me?

Sorry folks, it's been awhile. Life has been a bit crazy (isn't everyone's?) but I have been scrapping so let's skip to that :)

This is the LO that I showed a sneak of in my last post (way back in November lol). It was for the last wp sketch of the month. I've been dying to use that bit of Jenni Bowlin packaging!

I've also completed classes 5 and 6 at Wicked Scrap School.

Class 5 - make your own paper flowers. Scrapping the story of my Mum's Birthday candles :)

Class 6 - border punches (I used three). Zoe was sitting on the floor using her laptop and try as she might Xena just couldn't squeeze onto Zoe's lap too so, she took up residence on Zoe's calves and even when she sank through to the floor she refused to move - too funny!

And since it's December (how did that happen, I must be getting old and losing my marbles...) here's my LO using the first wp sketch for the month. It was designed by the fabulous Sara Belgrove.

I used the wp Honey Pie kit to make all three LOs, love how versatile it is!

I have more scrappy shares but I think five is enough for this time on a Sunday so I shall be back at some   stage - who can tell when - to share some more. Hope you're having a fabulous start to the festive season!