Family matters

Family. That’s where it’s at right now.

On Saturday night, I went on a date with my Dad. We went to see U23D.
It. Was. Awesome. Almost like being at a real live U2 concert. Almost.

Before the movie, we had dinner together. Then we browsed around Borders for an hour or so. Dad quickly found a book he liked the look of, and that was the end of his “browsing”. When it was time to leave, I found him sitting in a chair, reading the same book. He never made it upstairs to the CD/DVD section (his favourite section). If you know my Dad, you’ll be laughing right now because this is SO typical of him!

Anyway, while Dad was engrossed in Mark Ellis’ autobiography, I was having a good time flicking through Scrapbooking mags (the ones from the US or the UK that are too expensive to buy) and stumbling upon these little beauties:

They were on sale. One was $11.99 and the other was $9.99. Each book has over 500 pages. Score!

I’m really keen to try out some of the things in these books. The Stencilling and Stamping one has hundreds of templates in the back, ranging from flowers to flourishes to cars & trucks. My brain is ticking over nicely with ideas of how to use them on my layouts.
The Papercrafts book has over 300 projects using paper, including templates and instructions for making all kinds of gift bags and boxes.

Um, where was I? Oh, right. Family.

It’s my sister’s birthday next Monday. She’s turning 27. The next day, Ethan turns 6. Yep, he was born the day after my sister’s 21st birthday. He was 11 days overdue. Up until 3 days before her party, I had been doing all I could to “flush him out”. But as the day drew closer, I realised he needed to stay put if I wanted to be at her party! There were some mixed emotions that week, I can tell ya!

The day after Ethan’s birthday, my niece Georgia turns 2. Then 2 days after that, my nephew Brock turns 2.

May? Is FULL-ON.

We’re having a small party for Ethan on Sunday. He has invited 5 of his friends from school. The theme is Sponge Bob Square Pants, and I have been requested to make a Sponge Bob cake. The request was submitted shortly after Ethan’s 5th birthday, so there is really no excuse for being unprepared. Next year’s cake request has already been submitted :: Mickey Mouse.

As I am attending an all-day (9-5) seminar on Saturday, my sister’s birthday dinner on Saturday night, and church on Sunday morning, the-turning-a-cake-into-Sponge-Bob will have to be done between the hours of 11.30pm Saturday and 6.30am Sunday. It should only take about 3 hours. Who needs sleep?

Ethan, bless him, has helped me out a LOT by writing a list of the party food he would like to have:

I know you’re all wondering why we eat hedgehogs in our house. Well, we don’t. This is something Ethan saw on TV, and he wants me to make them. They are oranges with faces drawn on them, and toothpicks sticking out of their “backs” with little bits of cheese, salami, tomato, etc on them. Sounds pretty easy, I hope I don’t screw it up.

Oh, and according to Ethan, “the Coke is for the Mummies”. Hmm, perhaps I need to cut down on my Coke Zero consumption …

I (heart) bullet points

With all the work I am doing at the moment, not to mention the “Live Poet’s Society” assignment that I have been working on, I just don’t have the energy to try and string words together in nicely formed sentences and paragraphs.
So this is going to be a bullet point post.
I (heart) bullet points. LOL.

* We have a brand new niece - born a couple of hours ago. Yay! Her name is Amy Jayne, and she weighed 8lb 4oz (same size as Ethan was). Can’t wait to meet her!

* I’ve just had another layout accepted to For Keeps. This one is for the “Heartfelt Journalling” category in Issue 65.

* I got my first kit from Scrapbook Essentials on Friday, and it’s gorgeous! Lucky me, I also got the Add-On kit this month. It feels like Christmas has come early! Lots of yummy stuff in there, and I’m having heaps of fun with it.
No sneak peeks yet, sorry, but I will post some soon.

* My Christmas shopping is DONE! I still have to take Ethan out to buy a present for Tyler, and Tyler to buy a present for Ethan. But MY shopping is done.

* We put the Christmas tree up on Saturday morning. The kids were quite into it this year. We listened to the Hi5 Christmas CD and Tyler was dancing away while he hung the decorations on the tree.

* The boys have been enjoying the goodies in our felt advent calendar. Day 1 had mini Santa chocolates and Day 2 had little ornaments to hang on the tree. Tyler threw a huge wobbly on Sunday morning when he discovered there was no chocolate that day! He seems to understand now though - there won’t be chocolate every day! Today (Day 3) had balloons and he was perfectly happy with that.

* We went to Parakai Hot Pools on Saturday. It was a friend’s 21st and we all went there for the afternoon before his actual party on Saturday night.
The boys had a great time. Tyler absolutely LOVED the waterslide and just wanted to go on it again and again! Ethan was very reluctant, but after watching everybody else for a while, he finally mustered up enough courage. He even enjoyed it enough to go a second time. I was proud of him.

* I’m still really busy with extra freelance work, but our “Fiji” savings account is looking good. I just keep telling myself, it’s all going to be worth it!

* I have my work Christmas dinner on Friday night. We’re going to Iguacu on Parnell Road. I’m looking forward to it. I don’t see my colleagues much, now that I work from home, so it’s nice to catch up with them at social events.

* It’s almost 1pm and I’m hungry. I think I’ll summon Rob to bring me some lunch! I like Mondays. Rob is home all day and he really does look after me, often making me breakfast and lunch. He’s a sweetheart.

Bye!

Retail therapy

This week I have worked 61 hours. Yes, SIXTY-ONE.
And guess what? I am still sane!

When the offer of extra freelance work became available, I talked to Rob about it. We decided that it was too good for me to pass up, and that we would just knuckle down and make it work. For the sake of earning some extra money.

Some of that money will go towards Christmas shopping, but not much. We pretty much have that area covered with the shopping “points” we earn with our credit card. We get points for every dollar we spend. We put everything we possibly can onto our credit card, and automatically pay the full amount off each month. We save the “points” up all year, and then cash them in to use for Christmas presents. It WORKS.

We’ll use some of the extra money during the Christmas/New Year holiday period, but we have come up with a cunning plan for the rest of it. We are going to hide it away in our savings account, and go to Fiji (or another island location) for our 10th wedding anniversary! That would be in May 2009. It’s exciting to have a goal like that! It makes working what feels like every waking hour worth it.

Yesterday was my self-imposed day off. It was Sunday, so we went to church in the morning. Always a great way to start the day. Then after church, my Mum, sister and I headed to the new Westfield in Albany. I had already seen stage 1 (and was far from impressed with it) but now the rest of it is open (except for Borders and the movies). I think it’s a pretty good mall. But it was crazy-busy! I was shocked. It’s only the middle of November, so how bad is it going to be this time next month?! Shiver.

Anyway, we had a great afternoon of shopping. I bought 3 and 1/2 Christmas presents, and some bits and pieces for the boys’ Christmas stockings. I got a present for my cousin’s wedding in Wellington next month. I also got myself this dress, which I am going to wear to said wedding:

It’s actually longer than that on me; it reaches the floor when I’m in bare feet. It’s cotton, so the fabric doesn’t “cling” like most dress fabrics do. I am SO not interested in clingy fabrics! I have too many lumps and bumps which are usually carefully disguised with my clothing choices. Dresses tend to reveal more imperfections, but the shape of this one is great. And I love the halterneck. I’ve never owned one before, can you believe it?

After the shopping trip, I went to choir practice. This is always a lot of fun! I’m the youngest member of the choir (by about 20 years - my Dad is the next youngest!!) but they are all such great people and we have a lot of laughs. A nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

It was really good to have some “me” time. I’ve been working so-freakin’-hard (with more of the same to follow!) and it was nice to reward myself!

Okay, off to do some more work now!