Happy Autumn

Just popping in to wish anyone reading a happy first day of autumn. It's my favourite season, love the clear days, the crisp cool nights, the rain (hopefully),the colours. Not that it looks like it yet but when the grape vines change to their brilliant reds and oranges that's when I know it's really here. Photo above courtesy of google images, all my photos from last Autumn are on the external hard drive and I can't be bothered pulling it out.

Cheers.

Why it's still no to facebook.

I found this little facebook skit on Tara whitney's blog, quite a giggle, but kinda has a ring of truth to it. The info, your info is out there for all to see. So it's still no to facbook, i'll stick to the old fashioned way to keep in touch like email and text,lol.

Super shooper dooper turnaround bombs and the things that make me giggle

OK, normally I am quite a serious person, except around my immediate family , that's just me, but when I do get the giggles there is nothing that will stop me, not sad thoughts or biting the inside of my cheek, nothing. And it's always nearly always at inappropriate times like at church one morning. They had the hymn words projected onto a screen, Seamus leaned over to me and quietly and seriously asked "Mum, does that say from the lips of chickens". I lost it, sitting there in my seat shaking with uncontrollable laughter, at least it was quiet, but to anyone sitting behind me there would be no doubt as to what was happened to the woman shaking and rattling in front, luckily there where only a few rows behind me. What it actually said was from the lips of children, of course now the song is always referred to as lips of chickens and always has me on the verge of giggles again. my kids know which buttons to push, when they see me start to regain control they give me a gentle (or not so gentle ) reminder of why I lost it in the first place and off I go again. Tonight it was Brendan's turn, we decided to have a nice little dip in the swimming lake to cool off before bed, picture a large swimming lake with ducks paddling on it(I am surprised that they like it with the chlorine)in the dark surrounded by gorgeous huge old gumtrees and the air still warm,it should have been peaceful but instead Paddy challenged us to water bomb contests. We were the only ones still there and it was dark so I thought I may as well. Bren, well our whole family have a slightly off beat sense of humour that sometimes only we get. I'm sure most families are the same with their own conduct of what is funny and what is not. Anyway Bren was making silly names for each of the bombs he was doing. All he did was call out the name of his last bomb when it was my time to jump and I would dissolve into hopeless giggles and just sort of do an ungainly flop into the water. He did it each time I tried to jump and each time I laughed. We never did get to pick a winner but we did have lots of fun even if it was at my expense,lol

This blog is the closest thing I have ever had to a diary and it's a great spot for me to write down all these funny little things that make us us, so sorry if any boredom was caused to anyone reading this.
Cheers.

simple layout and a shoe warning

Seamus' birthday photos on a layout (already I know, what a shock) I went simple and fast and included most of my faves from the day on one layout. Seems to be the way I'm heading a bit lately. For a one photo per page girl it's a big leap but I kind of like that it's doing it's job and getting more photos on pages and into albums.
Just some cardstock and letters I diecut using my cuttlebug and quickutz dies and my klic-n-kut element and of course the cuttlebug embossing folders and nesties die for the circles and scallop. Oh and I altered the brads from silver to red with embossing powder. Note to self buy more colours of embossing powder in Adelaide this weekend. A little close up of the title, cut with quickutz dies and mounted on some nestie diecut and embossed circles and scallop and a bit of paper string wrapped around and then mounted using magic mount, simple.

And the shoe warning, don't wear cute shoes to extremely dusty places unless you don't want them looking cute anymore. At least now after a wash they resemble the colour they used to be

but I don't think I will ever get the white to a really white again.
Ohhh and I'm excited to be heading to Adelaide this weekend for the stamping and scrapbooking fair. Not only do I get to do some retail therapy but I also get to catch up with my buds

Donna and Sharon.

It's all about spongeBob and being ten.

Last night we celebrated Seamus' 10th birthday at Willalooka. Today is actually his day but the Willalooka community did their annual outdoor movie night fundraiser and we thought it would be the ideal opportunity to to have a party with a couple of his friends. what a great night it ended up being, lots of space for active boys to burn off excess energy before they settled to watch the almost three hour viewing of Australia, yummy food and good company. The boys were so good during the movie, it kept their attention the whole time. this is the first time we have watched the movie and could not have picked a better spot to do it, much nicer that sitting indoors, the cool summer breeze(ok it did turn into a cold breeze as the night progressed but we were prepared), a comfy chair (I took my banana lounge,lol) and few blankies and lots of nibbles.
Seamus is all about sponge bob square pants at the moment, his cake, his first DS game (we bought him a DS for his birthday) and the four sponge Bob DVDs the boys hired to watch this morning.

Photos are not that great a quality, we left it until it was getting dark to light the candles and sing happy birthday and I have quite and aversion to using the onboard flash but I'm sure he is still going to love looking back at them in years to come. Reminder to me for the next time I have to make a sponge bob cake, make sure it is cooler, the frosting was very soft to work with in the warmth of the house.
Making his wish. He told me his wish beforehand and then worried that it would not come true because he had. His wish, to help the bushfire victims. I told him because it was such a good wish and was not for himself that I was sure it would. They can be so sweet at times.

His DS, he has waited so long to get one, so many of his friends have them but I don't think it hurts them to have to wait sometimes(and that cursed flash).

The movie screen. They hoisted a large screen up onto a semi and everyone sat around on chairs, blankets and some even went to the extent of bringing lounge chairs and couches. My verdict on the movie, I actually enjoyed it. I had heard so many mixed reviews but I went with an open mind. Not every thing was 100% factual and there were moments were the acting wasn't exactly Oscar material but it was an entertaining flick and that is after all what it is all about. I think things have come so far in the movie industry with special effects and such that we have forgotten the pure entertainment factor. And it was, there was a little comedy, some romance, a bit of history, great scenery and then there was Hugh (sigh) what more can I say,lol.

Not related at all but Paddy played his first game of cricket this season. He filled in a little last season and despite his mothers protests, decided he enjoyed it enough to play. In case you didn't pick it up i very much dislike cricket, especially when they have to field, it's like watching paint dry, no sorry, paint dries so much quicker that a game of cricket goes for. Bring on footy season.

Happy Valentines day.

My Valentine

Calling all scrapbookers.

I was just browsing a few blogs when I came across this post. Sarah Gladman is organising for scrapbookers to make pages for the fire victims who have lost every thing so they can start their memories again. I think it a wonderful thing, ask anyone what the first thing they would save if a fire hit and aside from family and pets, photos and memorabilia almost always come next. so if you can pop on over and read her post and leave a comment. It really makes you realise how lucky those of us are who have never had to directly face these things first hand really are.

A double, woo hoo

I'm not generally a double page layout person but when I saw this layout on 2peas for the celebrate the season class by the extraordinarily talented Nichol Magourik I knew it would be perfect for these Australia day photos. I didn't stray far from the original as far as title placement etc goes just simplified things down, changed the hearts to stars and added an extra photo. I loved her layout so much that I didn't feel like anything needed to be changed drastically. this little flag embellishment came off a key tag bought for a couple of dollars from our local cheapie store. I wrapped it in white paper string (love that stuff) to make it stand out a little.

And just a quick one of Daisy looking a little bit cute, although it looks darker here than when I first opened it,sorry.

A very sad time

map of fires taken from the DSE website

I'm sure there are not many out there who have not heard of the terrible bushfires that have burnt and are still burning uncontrollably across my home state of Victoria. My heart and prayers go out to the affected families to those who have lost their homes and those who have lost so much more. with the death toll currently standing at 108 and still so many more still missing it is hard to believe that some of the many fires may have been deliberately lit. You wonder what kind of sickness is in a person who could do this. I have sat in front of the television in tears most of the morning. I remember Ash Wednesday and the devastation it bought not only to housing but to the farming lands and wildlife. We drove through one of the affected areas a couple of days after the fires were out and all you could see for miles and miles were blackened lands and the smell of burnt livestock was sickening. The red cross have set up a line for donations, the number is 1800811700.

A quick little Mummy brag

It's been a big week for the Fitz boys this week with Jacko appointed as sports captain, Seamus elected as his class' representative for KIC (kids in charge, equivalent to what we used to have as junior school council) and Joseph was today elected as the KIC vice president for the school. Yay boys.

I say, there is a thief in the house.

Lesson learnt, don't turn your back on a bag of groceries when you have a dog that loves her veggies. She grabbbed the carrot that was sticking out the top and ran like crazy outside to devour it. I was too busy laughing(and taking her photo) to growl at her, maybe not good dog whispering techniques but dang funny all the same. Does any one have a pet with strange appetites? Daisy loves most fresh fruit and veggies and goes so far as to steal the bottom layer of cherry tomatoes and snow peas from off the vines. She sniffs along until she smells a ripe one and then pulls it off the bush and chows down on it. Last time I was at the vets she commented on how healthy her teeth and gums were, I guess it's all that freshness,lol. Black and white and slightly cropped.
My baby, not looking babyish enough for his mothers liking, he is growing too fast for the youngest in the family.

And colour

Me and my guy...

In the quest to get more real life photos of our family I have decided, (gasp) to hand the camera over to the kids more so at the end of my life time there will be some proof that I actualy existed. This was tonights capturing, Brendy and I having a little smooch session. Joseph snapped the shot and in typical tween fashion told us to get a room,lol.

The bird poo layout.

It's hard to believe I could be so unobservant when I was putting this together, I added my bits and pieces, dry embossed the back of the paper where the leaves, grasses and birds are, pulled it half to pieces again to mount the middle panel up a bit, reassembled it and still did not notice until it came time to photograph it that where I had placed the bird there was a white mark on the paper that looked like the bird has pooped on it. Next time I will try to be more observant about this sort of thing,lol. It has become known now as the bird poo layout.

PP-rose moka, Pens-uniball, every thing else die cut (including scallop edge)using craft foam and dies from bosscut and quickutz using my cuttle bug.

Paddy's gone straight

On the weekend I straightened Paddy's curls, it's amazing how different it makes him look and makes me realise how much he needs a hair cut,lol.

Belated Happy Australia Day

As seems to have become a tradition the last few years we spent Australia day down at Robe on the beach. It was very typical with swimming in the surf, beach cricket and sand castles and I'm sure many other Aussie families did the same. We followed up with ice creams or smoothies at our favourite ice cream store in Robe.
Sorry about the mix up in photos, still can't get used to the idea that blogger now loads the photos back to front.

I wanna go home

To Port and the ocean, ahhhh, cool ocean breezes, how I miss them. Brendan came home with the official temperature today at a very icky 47 degrees (116.6 fahrenheit for any one OS) and no relief from it until Sunday. Our summer is finally here and in a big way. Righto, that's my hot weather whinge out of the way, I'm off for a swim in the lake.
cheers.

Oh computer, how I missed you.

Being with out a computer was to put it mildly absolutely horrible. It makes me realise just how much I rely on this little instrument for contact with the world outside my own little one. It does not seem that long ago that a computer held no interest for me at all. Back in the days when there was one lonely computer in the back of the maths classroom at my high school, probably one of the few in the entire school. I remember the teacher using it as a reward for those who finished their work early but with an antiquated form of space invaders and the net a thing of the future it held little appeal to me. Oh how far we've all come. Any way enough of my computer musings I am here to share a few layouts, one recent, two before Christmas and one oldy from 2005 which was an 8x8 I found in an old album and have just now put onto a piece of background card to make it 12x12. I had an hour and a half last night where #1 son was working, #s 2 and 4 where at the pictures and #2 was at a friends place. I ignored the dishes and went into my little nook to create this layout of Baby Xave. PP is 3 bugs in a rug, cardstock is bazzill flower is hero arts(love the texture of these) and the back ground stamping is done with a rollergraph (dots and spots or something like that) and embossing ink. I didn't think it showed out enough so I pulled out my very neglected chalks and rubbed it over with a green just a tiny bit deeper than the card, was much happier with the result.

Blogger has loaded these photos back the front, this one was meant to be under the LO below. Just a close up of the shrink plastic heart, I love this stuff', it's another thing that sat in my stash for years unused that I have found a new love for. Paper is by Kaiser, card by bazzill and background stamp is by PTI stamped with versa mark.

This is the old 2005 layout I put on a piece of 12 inch card. I stamped the background with a hero arts stamp and distress ink(crookedly if your mean enough to look that closely,lol) The music notes are deluxe designs, not even sure if they exist anymore back ground stamps are hero arts.

One of my darling taken at the Adelaide zoo last year, scrapped just before Christmas.

Bull ride

Tonight we took the two younger boys and one of their mates up to Mount Gambier to a bull ride. It was a great night and so much fun, the boys really enjoyed it. I took a heap of photos and just thought I'd share a few, won't bore you with too many as I took around one hundred and fifty. Not that it was easy shooting though, we were in the second row back with some tall people in front and a very white fence around everything. You can notice it on the edges of some of the photos. Still I didn't go just to take photos and it was a good night, something different from the norm and something I'm sure we will do again

On another note I will have no computer for a few days. My laptop is to go in to get the sound fixed. It hasn't been good since I first got it but is getting worse so I'd better get it fixed before the extended warranty is up. I just hope they don't take to long to fix it, I just hate not having access to the net.

so until next week,

cheers.

Xx

And the second one down

Today Brendan celebrated his 46th birthday. He had to work most of the day but tonight we had a yummy take away dinner from our local Chinese restaurant and a cake that I made and the boys decorated. An interesting concoction covered in frosting, hundreds and thousands and lolly snakes. I think by the look of it there might have been a little tasting went on as it was done. No matter, it tasted good in the end and Bren was happy. We bought him a new Ipod/CD/radio/clock/alarm thingie to go with the ipod he received at Christmas and also a 12 month subscription to his favourite outback magazine. I really liked his pressies which is a good thing.

That's a green snake he did not sneeze on his cake, looks ewwie hey?

Just stuff

firstly is my version of the 365 days album the who's who of the scrappin' world all seem to be doing at the moment. I couldn't get hold of a kit because they all sold out within the first few minutes of going on sale and with our dollar in the dismal state it's in at the moment it was for the best as it was probably going to cost me a million dollars ,lol. Anyway it all turned out ok because I decided that I possibly was not going to commit to a picture a day so I decided to do it my way with a premade album. I can do a minimum of one or two photos a week on one page if I want and just add journaling in one of the 4 x 6 sections and embellish one, or I can go all out and do one page per day with up to three photos or even spread that out over two pages and include six photos. I can use the little 4x2 sections at the bottom to either journal, place the 'week of' tags or even add a cropped photo if need be. Very flexible and no pressure. Even though it's only been going for the last couple of weeks the kids are already loving browsing through it. I was fortunate that Becky Higgins had downloads of some of the cards used in the kit on her blog so it has made it even easier, all I have had to do is a little bit of stitching here and there and add a bit of card, easy and it leaves me free to do the creative stuff I may or may not,lol, want to do. All I need to do now with the photos so far is add my journaling and it's done.

With yesterday being such a scorcher I decided I needed to do something close to the air conditioning so I pulled out my sewing machine and did a little mending, boring but necessary, and then decided to stitch up my little owl Hooty that has been laying in my unfinished projects basket. OK I admit that even now he is not quite finished as I have to stitch around his eyes and finish stitching the top of his wings to his body but it feels so good to be so close to something completed. the pattern was bought from here , they have the most gorgeous lot of things to make, it could get very addictive. I also bought the most adorable apron pattern too that I must get some fabric for next time I'm near a store.

I'm off now to go and watch Miss Potter, the story of Beatrix Potter for those of you who may not have heard of it. It's been out for ages but living with 5 males anything remotely girly seldom ever passes the door. I guess most Mum's out there who only have boys can relate. any way Bren has taken the two youngest boys down to Port with him as he had to work down there and has dropped them off with my Mum for the night and the other two are working until nine so I have the house all to myself until then, woo hoo. I grabbed my favourite prawns and avocado in a light chili sauce from one of the local restaurants and am about to kick back in 'the' chair, the one that there is usually arguments over who sits there because it is exactly the right position, face on to the new big tv, and no one is going to want to kick me off or share it with me.

Good night blog land.

Xx

One down

We celebrated the first birthday of the year with Paddy's 15th on Saturday. He had to work earlier in the day so it was just a fairly quiet little dinner with one enormous pav covered in yummy strawberries, blue berries and mango as his cake. Next is Brendan's on Friday.

Whoa Neddy

Just hold your horses there kid and slow down the growin'. It shakes me a little that my babies are growing so fast. It's a big year for us for birthdays with Jackson turning 18, Paddy 15, Joseph (in photo) turning 13 and Seamus hitting double figures, all that and Bren and I celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.
Joey doing a little modelling in the back yard for me so I could try out my Chrissie present(my updated camera, the old 350D is off to ebay land).

A few more

shots from Port Fairy before I go and make the boys their lunch. Of course another of our gorgeous little Xavier looking quite daper in his cardie. Paddy and his cousin Eloise modeling(in rather a dorky fashion) their matching Coolingatta surf patrol tops.

And Paddy and cousins Eloise and Caitlyn, with Joey looking on, wrestling. It's a pass time they seem to frequently enjoy,lol, we often wonder if they will still be wrestling with each other when they are in their 40s, hope so. they have a great bond and enjoy each others company, it's just a shame that they only get to see each other a few times a year.

Bye for now,

Xx

X-man and Paddy

Aren't they cute together? The best thing about Christmas is catching up with family and friends and none better than little Xavey babe, just one of the many names our family seem to have adapted for gorgoues little Xavier. The youngest of the FitzGerald crew, he is very much adored by all his older cousins. This is just the first photo of many that were taken over the festive break but it's too late in the evening to put the rest up now. I should have made my new years resolution to try and get to bed at a more resonable hour. We had fun making our resolutions walking home new years eve, one thirty in the morning, each of the six of us made one. I'll list them all later when I have had some sleep.

Good night and sweet dreams.

Just popping in

to wish every one a very happy new year. I'm on limited Internet access at the moment so it's just a quick little message. Have lots of photos to share from a fantastically relaxing week back home but will have wait until I arrive home either later today or tomorrow.
HAPPY NEW YEAR...