Does anyone else go nuts buying 'bargains' this time of year?... My elbows become sharper and my height, well... heightens... Today after work, I was very nearly knocked over by a smelly woman who obviously wanted the rashie shirt more than me.... speaking of me.... LOL! This is a photo I snapped of the ego itself yesterday... I was trying 'Elsie Flanagan' shots. I have a fringe now... ummm

Congrats to Chris Millar and her front page of For Keeps... a little birdie also told me she cracked the next For Keeps cover too... wow I wonder how that feels?... one day perhaps...

I cant seem to make a bloody decision atm about what Im going to do for work... this week I think I want to go back to night watch (Its awesome money and great fun bringing baby horses into the world - its almost like touching God I reckon... 3 o'clock in the morning... poor Mumma pushing her little heart out... then slip slop slap out they come... great job - and it only runs for 4 months a year) We'll see what I decide to do next week...

The night out last night was hilarious... about 15 of the local gals including Mrs Sarah Moore (bloody legend that one!! and she's looking so much better now after her little illness) and we ate laughed shopped etc... laughed then ate some cake... Denise's daughter made a 'thankyou' power point presentation.. that was cool! Pressies were handed out... What do you give a woman who owns a Scrapbook shop??? Another Scrapbook shop??? LOL!

Hopefully a peaceful weekend this weekend... no visitors... that will be a nice change... and getting really stuck into the Masters entry... it has been so much fun... Im not sure I will want to send it away... if Im lucky enough to get through to that stage...

Claire is all about words this week... she's copying every word she hears... so cool... we'll be chatting together in no time... I never did shut up from 2 till 32 LOL and poor baby Chuck is finding back molars are a nasty thing to happen to a girl... nothing is sacred... everything has teeth marks in it... she's taken a doll to bed with her tonight... loves being tucked in... the doll freaks Claire out and she wont even hold it... Claire looks at Chuck like she's got two heads when she picks up the doll...

finally Rachie...

I am jealous of... every living thing, every inanimate object... every single thing has unique talents and gifts of which I am jealous... The pure snow, the clever fox, the blue sky, the true love... I hold my jealousy dearly... I freely admit when I am jealous... Im an enigma wrapped in a riddle arent I? Jealousy often is the catalyst to my success... that doesnt make me bad.. it makes me human... OK I have faults, flaws.. I am not perfect... never have been, never will be... but I am the best Libby I can be... I am jealous a lot. Every day. However...

I also know that the grass is not as green as it seems from here... Scratch the perfect veneer... and lo... it is just veneer... there is no infinate wealth/beauty/talent/happiness/love/etc (life is hard work) jealousy has a negative connotation, as opposed to envy. Envy doesnt seem to have the nastiness associated with it that jealousy has. That's all I have to say about that...

So its yawning that I leave you...

nighty nite

Lib x

{Im not a bad blogger as such}

I just haven't been here...

Last week my Aunt came to visit us and we packed heaps of fun and park and shopping into 3 days... The day she left and that afternoon Jason (one of my best friends - apparently when Jase gets married, Im going to be his best man LOL! makes me sound like a lezzie LOL!) turned up for a few days on his way down to Melbourne to his new job...Sunday was the CF FUNdraising for Scrap Needs and Friday night I caught up with Regina and Jen... thanks Jen for the bed and your gorgeous hospitality... your home is so warm and your studio awesome... and this month, Jens "Heidi" fabric packs are unbelievable... so anyone who can, should either attend an upcoming class with Jen at Scrapabout at Parramatta (the class samples are amazing!!!!!) or an online class with Scrap Needs or grab one of her fabric packs through Jen's blog... anyway enough about Mrs Hall! anyone would think she sponsors me... Actually its Regina who sponsors me LOL! (wink wink) thanks for that unofficial tour through your amazing garden Reggie!!! Regina grows the best flowers... she has a HUGE garden and gave me some of her flowers to take home... so generous and so appreciated Mrs Murdoch!!! thanks!!! and so last week was full on....

Jase saw the scrap room and my albums and said " So you're really into this craft thing then?" Yeah Jase I guess I am... Jase and I have been on some amazing adventures together... lots of drinking Coronas, lots of great times (think the Sydney olympics, 2 Robbie Williams concerts etc etc) and Im a bit like his big sister or his buddha... We have very deep discussions and I can speak as freely with him as I can with anyone. Probably the only person who knows all about me... and still loves me ROTFLMAO!

But right now Im off to Muswellbrook Races... the ladies are at day care, its is so sunny outside it hurts... so I want to take a few horse-y shots and there's some great opportunities at the track... just a spur of the moment decision... I might even have a small wager or two... fingers crossed.

So I hope everyone is as happy as I am at the moment.. the Masters is causing me a small amount of (good) stress... and tomorrow night all the LSS girls are taking Denise out to dinner as its her last Wednesday night before the new owner takes over... so lots and lots of crying and blubbering there... take care everyone

Im trying to ignore the fact that my cold wont go away... and I will update you all soon on the brilliant philosophy I stumbled upon while researching my Masters entry... beautiful stuff... I will leave you with a small tidbit... (great word that... say it... t i d b i t)

"When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad."

Gotta also say that I enjoy Helen Williams blog entries... do yourself a favour and go take a look when you get a chance... she makes me laugh...

and if you want a good "there are happy loving gorgeous marriages in this world" go see Nathan's blog... Im so happy to have read that... big heaps of love for them...

So bidee bye

Lib x

Sunrise asked this morning... Do you feel sorry for Britney.. Yes or No....

um wahhahahahahahahahah snort Waahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! OK so they ran the Japanese whaling story first.. but come on... do I feel sorry for a white trash stupid chick who, when interviewed up close, I mean real close, was chewing gum throughout the interview???... errrk! I love gum but I think I would take it out to be interviewed... and the running her hand up her nose while snorting back snot & tears made me want to puke... I still watched... and laughed at her... I dont buy the mags who's photographers hound her but... Hell no I dont feel sorry for her... she explains she drove from Starbucks with her baby on her lap because the paparazzi were hounding her... and that she used to do the same thing with her Dad cos "we're country" What the??? OK I'm country too but stuffed if I'd put either of my girls on my lap to drive anywhere.. I used to have nighmares about them sitting on the passenger seat when I drove... this girl is just a man made celebrity and the dumb stuff she does is because she is young and dumb... So instead of learning from the experience letting her bodyguard keep the press away... she gets right in there amongst it and ignores the bodyguard (as she did when she nearly dropped the kid on the street trying to get into her mammoth SUV) she loves the attention and only gets narky when it backfires and they get a shot of her stuffing up... then yells at the press "Thats why I need a gun" She's an idiot, they will never leave her alone cos she's easy money, always doing some white trash thing to get on to the front page of the tabloids... why didnt that interviewer tell her that??? She's going to try to raise her child as normally as possible ROTFLMAO! GOOD LUCK!

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

and Megan.... my God yes it gets just as cold in Singleton.... you may as well know now! LOL!

Big shout out of congrats to Nicole Rayner and her fantabulous news... What a thrill!

thats about it

I will jump on the bandwagon - and Go the Socceroos... I'll be watching...

its time to go...... Katie!

& Libby

Double Eviction! LOL!

xxx

that was just a random pic btw!

{At this point in my life I wish} ………………………

I could write what I wanted too... Ive just deleted my thoughts... for the billionth time...

This is the finalised page for my Wonder Woman poppet... I had a Maccas toy, took a photo of her, took my head photo to go with the idea for the journalling and whacko....

Happy weekend all!

Do something that really makes you feel warm inside... and think happy thoughts!

Thanks for dropping by and for all the comments ... love this blogging caper, love reading everyone elses...

just love

Lib x

{At this point in my life I am}.........

finally growing up... making decisions where the consequences are carefully considered, instead of pretending I'm 10 feet high and bulletproof. This doesn't mean Im having LESS fun, just different fun. Accountability. Im also realising that I can't have everything, I can't do everything, and I can't help everyone... that life is so short and the thing I want most from life is no regrets. I want to be able to sit knitting at 90 and laugh at how my life was a Busby Berkley spectacular, a glittering show of which Barnam & Bailey would be proud... to ahhh and ohhh at my amazing feats and thrill at the colour and movement that became the ride of a lifetime....

Oh and Im also potty training... the ladies...

This however didn't stop me from forgetting to lock the car last night... my phone and camera were in the car... and I park the car around the back of the house... It's all still there.. phew! Silly girl! but Id come home from shopping after work and I guess i got side tracked feeding/bathing/getting the ladies ready for bed... Thanks to my guardian... I say that every day.. its a full time job for 3, being my guardian LOL! but they do a great job.

I am also happier than I have ever been. Most definitely one of the reasons is....

for the first time tonight Claire gave me a huge loving, both arms around my neck .... CUDDLE.. we were watching telly on the lounge... her sitting on my lap and she turned to me and we were discussing the coffee cup on the table (well I was talking and she was GKJADSUFGIWBEF'ing) and she turned and cuddled me... she'll be 2 at the end of July... Chuck has given me cuddles before and doesn't it make your little heart burst? Honestly I felt a surge of tears and happiness and pride in my little possum... and then she went on to hug me a further 3 times... Im guessing that she thought there's gotta be good stuff to come when Mum goes on & on like that... so we shared some M & M's LOL! and so far so good with potty training... I loved giggling at Mishell Lancett and her potty training wins with Miss Daisy Lou and her poo in the loo... yeah yeah I know it... so here's to getting that right LOL!

Heaps happening

Got a spare $10? ...please spend it supporting this amazing woman and support her in raising money for Breast Cancer awareness... if you have never heard of Ngaire... get out from under your rock....


This is her and Emily & Heidi after Miss N had dyed her hair pink for the cause.... some one else dyed their hair...hmmmm who was that???


Ngaire has a few books out too and if you could think of something you could contribute to her auction then Im sure she and the charity would be eternally grateful... and thats gotta make you feel good! Not to mention good for womankind... Hooray For Boobies! (did anyone else buy that Bloodhound Gang CD of the same name... so funny??)

Ngaire has as her blog banner a couple of flowers which distinctly resemble boobies too... very cute



Hmmm well my blogger problems are very odd... so this entry was started days ago and is finally letting me post... so thanks Big Blogger! LOL!

like I said

shhhhh everyone

shhhhhhhh

It's time to go......









Libby x

Bare with me if you are a regular visitor... Blogger trouble... I need to deleate that photo to see if Ive reached my limit ... Trust me I know what Im doing ROTFLMAO! Off to work soon.. well after a quick sleep... and it's going to be -2 this morning... so bye bye feet... wont be feeling you for ages... Imagine what Charlotte-the-sleepy (the one in the middle) is going to think of the cold early morning...?? She sits eating her porridge in her chair with her eyes shut as it is LOL! Cheerio

Lib x

Its begining to look a lot like FROST-MAS!!

This was the view for us this morning...






















Yes Im in a silly mood... but thats a good thing... now this is my second post today... you will notice however there isnt another post here to read... this seems to happen to everyone... you finish an entry and when you publish it says No! cannot find server or some such rot... so you go back and the whole post has disappeared... ho hum... there's an hour Im not getting back.... bugger!


This is my lovely ornamental plum... if anyone out there is thinking of planting a large lovely tree in their garden you cant go past a Manchurian Pear love those large blossom trees... Coolmore ripped out all the poplars and planted these pear trees and they're awesome... just thought Id add some tree info LOL!

Claire's been wearing my winter heels around and has found that the acual heels make a fabulous squat seat... tres comfortable - she's all class that girl. Charlotte has been up to her old tomboy tricks, at daycare yesterday she rode an old rusty dinky she found at Chris's up to the top of the concrete ramp, turned around and took her feet off the pedals and flew down the hill into the pool fence... talk about Crusty Demon... I was right You Can Follow Her But Its Gonna Hurt!












The wild woman herself!


The Memory Bugs Design Team has been announced... I applied but got my thanks but no thanks email yesterday... Huge congrats to the girls who got on Way to go Bethro!

The HS newsletter is out and fabulous... wonder what the new Summer CHA thing she mentioned is? (See the top of the wine cannister)

Dying to find out who the new guest designer for Tarisota is... imagine trying to keep that a secret... a new designer is joining them too... wonder who? ... I read Tamar's blog and wonder secretly if she gets more than 24 hours a day to achieve what she does. I didnt apply for the Tarisota Designer but I wanna know who got it...

Mrs Hall's fabric packs have sold out! She's thrilled and Im so happy for her... Even got an overseas order... Jen has a brilliant sense of colour and design so who better to take the overwhelming choices for fabric and cut out the hassle... so very proud...

Ive been having dreams about being pregnant and seeing as though I havn't been within coo-ee of a bloke in years Im going to have to consult the resident dream guru Nicole about it...

Speaking of Nicole... its Wednesday and its time to go to confession... my Wednesday confession... I have two washing machines... one is new and a front loader.. the other is an old second hand top loader which I cant seem to bring myself to sell... admitting this is hard... this old machine reminds me of the incredibly tough time when Damian left me after 3 years together... I was 7 months pregnant with his girls and had to quit my job, move out and find a place to live and pay $135 a week rent for a two bedroom flat in the worst part of town... a dealer lived above me... So I managed to save up and bought the old girl... she has never let me down and still works... the lady who sold her to me was lovely and mentioned she'd never washed in warm water only cold and had really looked after the machine, so it was with a sense of utter desperation that I saved the $90 to buy the machine... That machine means so much more to me than a lump of old whitegoods and I seriously cant bear to sell her... I know this sounds nutty and those who know me will find it hard to believe... but attached to that machine is all the emotion of a 32 year old woman who was very close to the edge... I had my car (which was unregistered at the time 'cause I couldnt afford it - Im still paying the car off) and a washine machine and I was living week to week. I had no idea what I was going to do, where I was going to live and how in God's name I was going to raise twins by myself.... I look back now and it seems a long way off .. but that machine .... she was with me then... at my lowest.... so I think I will hang on to her until Ive perhaps done a BOM (Book Of Machine) on her and then maybe I will find her a good home....

Im crying now


see ya

Lib x

Finally the photos work... well I think they do...

Once I load this I'll see ...

This one's for Nicole!

I collect, but not necessarily display picture frames .. I own .. hang on... 143 picture frames (*insert red faced smiley!*) most are stored neatly in the scrap room... unopened... but I have them! Target on special is my favourite, some were only $3.. bargain!

*cheesey grin*

Every wednesday... I can do this! We may be here for a while!

Lib x

IN THE MAIL TODAY!

My Crafting Connection (Kiwi Scraps) class passes! and timetable! Oh God I need to sit down and rub the letter on my face-cheek and moan a bit! Hmmmm!


and those of you who havn't caught the croc sensation

let my Ladies be the judge - (theyre not REAL crocs but so close and comfy!)

Big W have $8 mini kiddy croc knock offs (pink, navy & sky blue)! Your kids will love em! My girls get up in the morning and run to the shoe box to put on their new (fake) crocs! They had em on all day yesterday at DayCare (with sockies) ... so comfy, lots of grip (for mini clutzes) and pretty cute too.. (still cant upload photos - coming soon - I know its not the same without pics LOL!)

Does all this sound like an ad? Wasnt I just saying that more blogs are sounding like Danoz Direct?...

Come on Down! Top dollar - Big Spin!

We surveyed 100 people and came up with these answers... pth!

Lib's selling out! x (LOL!)

Wow I'm slack/busy/tired... and this post will say the date with which this entry was started... now finally ...


helloooo everyone!

Well can I start at the beginning?.... Two Saturday's ago (LOL! Yes its been that long... I appologise to those of you who have turned up here to find me out - I've been considering whether I wanted to continue blogging - everyone goes through it Am I right?- its normal and Im back!) I drove to Jen's for her almighty mighty pj birthday party! After doing a bit of shopping first LOL! I arrived to find no one in their jimmy jams... hoh! There was Ange (congrats Ange!) & Kell & Janelle & Kelley & Sara & Regina & Carol! So we were all a bunch of excited -ready for a party- nellies... twittering around stuffing goodies into the very orifices with which we would later ohhhh and ahhh with! ...I mean scrapping royalty were coming to honour Mrs Hall for her birthday... Julie Love, (who's blog I read every day, (and who is also in the footy tipping comp) Vicki (in the footy tipping too I think) & Maryia, Kim Archer (who I have been in the same room as before though never met LOL) and Fiona Carter (GURU!) Now I know Jen really well and consider her a great mate... She is warm and kind and creative.. & so now I know her the awe factor has worn off in the sense of when Im around her she is 'Just Jen' (Of course when she's scrapping is a TOTALLY different story- I go back to being a wide eyed admirer) Im not sure what I expected from Julie, Kim & Fiona but I think I expected musical notes or bubbles or glitter to come spewing forth from their mouths when they spoke... these women are hard core scrappers.. they must have forgotten more than I may ever know about design/colour/placement etc etc So my expectations were higher than high... I almost wanted one of them to walk in and ask "Where's the damn bowl full of only red M & M's ?"...LOL! I guess I watch too much Entertainment Tonight! (Or maybe I had confused these ladies with Paris & Nicole LOL!)

anyway

Either way I was excited to meet these women (who Ive admired and read so much about) at Jen's birthday party... you know just to see for myself that ...they're just chicks... you know... they came in... got introduced to every one... sat down and chatted... coming into a room (Jen's studio) with all these other women, a whole studio stuffed to the rafters with goodies and albums and toys... well it must have been a little overwhelming... I didn't get any holy visions... no epiphanies... nothing... Mind you I didn't get to chat much... Im just saying that it was a party for Jen and so it was... No one tried to outdo anyone else (though I made a huge booboo and woke poor cutie-patootie Maryia up with my hooting and clapping while singing Happy Birthday to Jen (felt about 2 inches tall then) little chicken had just had a bottle and got off to sleep and clutzy me... woke her up... sorry kiddo... but she didn't cry... just carried on like the little champion she is...)

So then after we ate Fionas delicious cupcakes, had photos taken and cleaned up a bit and Jen cleaned the whole house so Will had nothing to whinge about when he got home (bloody Men!) and we went to bed... Admittedly it was early in the morning... so then up and at'em for a little more shopping then the Scrap Needs monthly crop day... a great weekend...

I have finished my projects for Singleton Crafts & Scrapbooking... the new owner Joanne takes over on July 1 and I've gone a bit mad with the next two classes... ladies better have your weetbix... we've gotta get through a fair bit!

The best little bit of news is this....

I came runner up in the Scrapbooking Memories Canon Advanced Simplicity challenge... So on Thursday afternoon, after work, I picked up my new Canon printer with a paper pack & an A620 7.1MP powershot camera... now this little baby makes the old 6.1MP Kodak look like a box brownie... the Canon has so many settings too... manual, my colours and the super fast start up and processor! Sound like an ad? You betcha! For those of you who like me cant really go spending the sort of moolah a Rebel ... I personally think this camera is the bomb... been mucking around with it and got some awesome shots... it really makes a difference, makes you a beter photographer when you have more control... and that makes sense! & I didnt even win! I was runner up ... so whoever won the big prize has themselves the top of the range powershot!... happy days!

The winners layouts will be in the August issue of SM...

Of course NOW I cant load any pics from the Canon on to here.. not sure why but I will get to the bottom of it!

What else to tell? If nothing else blogging has found me a great mate... I love that! You know who you are! ;-)

The Ladies went to separate Family Day Care houses yesterday... its just the way it has worked out. If I want day care... I have to work with what they can give me. SO it was amazing, dropped Charlotte off with the new (Mum) and as soon as she hit the ground, she was off... she ran for the half an hour I stood there making sure she would be ok... This new Mum Chris is unreal.. her backyard is 1 acre and specifically made for day care.. Huge shed, massive cubby, TV, big blackboard, my goodness its a kids paradise... Chris took Charlotte to playgroup with her during the day and they had a sausage sizzle (Charlotte doesn't mind a feed! & she smelt of sausages when I picked her up... Chris said she ate 3 LOL! That's my girl!).. the kid's got it made... so then back in the car to take Claire (Claire screamed and yelled at me as we drove away... she knew we'd forgotten Chuck LOL!) who has to have a blankie and is a little more reserved went to the usual Day Care Mum Shannon.. What a difference! When I went to pick up Claire, Shannon couldn't believe how different Claire was without Charlotte... Apparently she was so independent, clever, not whingy, put her own shoes on after nap time and really had a brilliant day without her sister... WIN WIN! Im so happy!

The homework for Crafting Connection is up on Kiwi Scraps... Im so excited about that event that I'll probably need oxygen while Im there... Cathy Zielske has a great post at her blog about rock- sand, well worth the quick read... That's my idea of scrapping, It aint about the product .. its about the trigger, the emotion left after reading that jounalling.. you know when youve hit the spot if after you read it back and you cannot stop the grin... or the tear...

Still cant get damn photos up! argghh! I think I have a cookie issue! Well I know I have a chockie chip cookie issue LOL! Ive uploaded about a million photos and they're going somewhere, just not to blogger LOL! Anyway Im back now after a long think about why Im blogging... hang on to you hats!

Everyone needs to read this post from Rachie! http://underlockandkey.id.au/

Now some revelations from me LOL! It seems to me that there are women in 'our' scrapping community who use blogs more like advertising space (And there's a plug for Robbie in December!) Im of the opinion (and Im not having a go - I do it too)... it just something Ive realised and want to say - a bit slow on the uptake aren't I?) that some blogs I read are more for advertising upcoming events and products (hey you've gotta be able to make a living too) than for an insight into creativity or the process of scrapping... through reading blogs I have made many observations and my 1st thought of 'a blog' was the deep an anonymous blurbing of people with interesting lives (like New york hookers or wry and amusing middle aged G.P.'s LOL!)... (Ive been reading blogs like that for yonks), but our scrapping blogs are more of a network to keep up with industry happenings... no real opinions are being expressed (which may hurt others - N.B. !!! this, I think after some consideration is the way it should be - there should be no lists of what wrong with women LOL! (Not having a go at Alison either! - just that the idea of making a list of what's wrong... is dwelling on the negative - and yeah you have to acknowledge before you can fix etc etc.. I could go on but I wont!) - there should however be a healthy supportive (without turning into a whingefest!!!) community of creative women with a common interest - where the wild and the pretty things can come together and be themselves and most of all be CREATIVE!) I haven't come across any open, frank and obvious bloggers (unless of course you read this from the U.S. http://2peasinmyazz.blogspot.com/ funny!) Im not asking for a blog to start up to critisise and upset people... Im just observing that occasionally when you meet someone you have such a lot of background info on them (from their blog) ... I guess thats the stuff of life.. and the best bit is that here in Australia we are such a good community to belong to...
but with a craft as broad as scrapping as a common interest.. there's always going to be a bit of mystery and something to chat with your buds about... cos we all do it.. we put on our blog faces and blog away.. then we 'chat' about things we heard, read etc (insert gossip there, hell you know what Im trying to say) we are made that way.. hard wired to disect and discuss... Most of what Ive just said is obvious and ultimately what Im saying is that my blog isnt for my deepest thoughts and feelings.. after all where would that STOP! you never reveal all of what youre thinking to anyone.. why should you here? Id like to think my blog is a little insight, a little humour and a little of the core of me... hey just like the way I scrap! What was I worried about?

Libby xxx

(back from outer (head) space)

ps Elsie's F's coming to Australia in November.. Im guessing its for ISC at Penrith... Hmmm save them pennies gals another bunch a classes!