I wish......

I wouldn't leave it so long between posts. The longer you leave it the more daunting it seems to go back and fill in the detail. So grap yourselves a cuppa this may take a bit of time, I will try to keep it as short as possible. That said lets go............................

First week back at school Madeleine was voted Class Captain, she was so excited and thrilled that the kids had voted for her, it's good for a girls ego. Aside from that she is so happy at that school, on the way home one day she said "Mum! I'm so happy at school, thank you for sending me there". You can't get much better than that. It's so good to know she is thriving academically and socially. So far so good.

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Saturday night we went to see the Aussie SYTYCD concert. It was fantastic, and so good to see some of my favourite routines in the flesh. They are all such beautiful dancers. I drove in and then we had dinner in China Town in the city and caught the tram down to Rod Laver Arena.

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Sunday afternoon Madeleine and I went to see the new Batman Movie (couldn't talk Neil into coming along). It's not something I would normally go to see but other friends of ours were going so we headed off to meet them down there. I have to say I pleasantly surprised what a fantastic movie, well the bits i saw anyway (hehe) I closed my eyes when I thought things might get gruesome. Heath Ledger is truly amazing in it and I'm sure even if his life hadn't been cut so tragically short he would have won awards for his portrayal of the Joker. Simply wonderful performance.

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I finished two of the Kim Archer workshops I have recently purchased. I know I always say this but really Do Yourselves a Favour if you've never done one of Kim's classes they are totally awesome. The following two are from her recent Behind the Scenes workshop. $20 gets you 3 layouts so obviously I have one more to do.

The first one I used mainly Love Elsie products, It's been pretty dreary in Melbourne recently so I've found it hard to get good photos of the layouts. The colours are not very good but you'll get the idea.

The second one I used October Afternoon papers and the photo is an old one from when we went to the Grampians about 4 years ago. I've always loved this photo of Madeleine crossing the river at Mackenzie falls. She was half way across and then got nervous, so Neil went back to guide her across. The backdrop of the falls is just beautiful.

In other great news I was also lucky enough to win a class over at the at home site. Gotta love that. Thanks for alerting me to the fact Deb.

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Tuesday night Madeleine's basketball team won its semi final so they are now straight through to the Grand Final next Sunday morning. This is Madeleine's last season for a while so it would be great if they win, no pressure of course.

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Wednesday Lynne and I headed down to Frankston for some retail therapy. We arrived and stopped for a coffee straight away. Then we stopped in to see Wendy at Kumfs and while we were there Kim C turned up so we all headed back for another coffee. It was great to catch up with the girls, so by the time we actually started shopping it was 12 O'Clock. Still it was good to spend the day with Lynne we don't do it often enough. We're always on the phone to one another but don't see each other that often.

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Thursday night I taught my second class at Debling in Design. We had a great time and the girls all really enjoyed learning the beading technique. Deb also had lots of new stuff so I basically just gave her back my wages and called it even (lol).

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Friday, Wendy came over to help me set up MYOB at work, she was only there a couple of hours , but it was fun to have her around even for a short time.

Friday night I finally got around to doing the layout to go into the draw to win a ticket to Heidi Swapps Create08 workshop in December. They are only offering 150 places, so I think it's going to be difficult to get into. I so hope I manage to get a spot,along with other like minded Heidi devotees. (lol). So here is my layout using only Heidi Swapp product (some old some new). The chipboard quote says "Never underestimate the power of cute"

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Saturday was netball (they won) and then Madeleine had a birthday party down at Strike Bowling, and then back at Jame's house for pizza and guitar hero. The adults all sat out in kitchen enjoying the nibblies.

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During the week Neil had suggested to Madeleine that she get a band together and that he would play guitar for them until they find someone their own age. She immediately got on the phone to her girlfriend Alex who has a really sweet singing voice to tee up a jam for this Sunday. They didn't actually have a jam as such, but Neil recorded them. Alex sang and Madeleine played Bass guitar. Eventually they'll have proper jams.. how cool.

Tonight my brother;who is down in Melbourne for the weekend came over for dinner with my sister and her two girls. We had a magnificent lamb roast and apple crumble for dessert. It's been a long long time since I've made roast dinner and I must say I really enjoyed it. Nothing beats a good old fashioned roast.

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Anyway thanks for hanging in there and getting to the end of this post.

Keep Safe, until next time

cheers.

Leeanne x

Qld beautiful one day perfect the next

What an absolutely fantastic time we had . We arrived last Wednesday afternoon, settled in then headed off to my nephews place for dinner and caught up with delightful baby Charlie. She is so so so so cute... Here's a few photos to show just how cute (no bias of course).

Thursday the girls had a swim in the pool and then we headed off for a days shopping at harbour town, where they shopped till they dropped. Dinner was takeaway at Shaun and Amanda's then we took Amanda off to the movies to see Mama Mia.

The movie was just as much fun as the stage show. Pure unadulterated fluff and so enjoyable. I think we might go and see it again when we get home it was so good.

Friday girls had a swim again in the pool before we headed down to Currumbin Wildlife Park. In the numerous times I have been to the Gold Coast, I've never bothered to go there. Big mistake it was to much fun and a really lovely day. The girls had a camel ride, feed the kangaroos and then went on this really fabulous adventure ride. Well not so much of a ride as a high wire course. The were attached with harnesses and had to walk along a wire while holding the one above and pulling themselves along, then they had to walk along a very wonky suspension bridge, then onto these swingy things and then they had to go along on their backs while hanging from a wire, which lead them to the last part of the course which was a huge flying fox. Terrified and a few bruises later they actually did have a good time. Before we left the girls feed the Lorikeets all in all a great day.

Friday night we ate out at a Malaysian restaurant in Mermaid Waters and then it was back to the unit for a quiet night in. We had an early start the next morning as we were heading out to Dreamworld.

Dreamworld was packed, school holidays, a weekend and lots of extra people in town due to World Youth Day. Most of the time we had to queue for at least 30 - 40 minutes to get on rides. Having said that it was still a great day and jam packed with thrill rides. We all went on the Cyclone roller coaster (2 loops on that one), The Claw, Tower of Terror, and Wipeout. The girls went on a couple of others as well I just can't remember them all. The only one I would say I would probably not go back on is the wipeout. To much of being upside down for my liking.

Then for dinner that night we went to a great Thai restaurant at Nobby Beach and caught up with my brother Michael for dinner. We were all pretty much exhausted after such a big day and crashed once we got home.

Sunday we drove out to Tweed Head West (hinterland) and had lunch at Penny Ridge. The view from up there is just magnificent. You look out right over the Tweed Valley across to the Coast. It was just beautiful.

Monday we left the unit around 8am to go to Shaun and Amanda's to babysit. Sunday night their babysitter called to say her little girl was not well and had foot and mouth. We were going to go out for lunch again with my brother but we jumped at the chance to help out and look after Charlie. Out flight home wasn't until 2:50pm so we were able to look after her until 1:30pm. Then Shaun was coming home to take our place. It's so hard for them as they don't have family near them to help out. Amanda's mum and dad live and work in Brisbane and of course all of Shaun's family (except his dad) live in Melbourne.

So that my dear friends is Queensland in a nutshell. A good time had by all. It was great to get home to see Neil and also to sleep in my own bed. Holly was very excited to see us as was the cat. A warm welcome home.

It was back to work for me yesterday as well as back to school for Madeleine. so we are already back into the daily routine.

I'll leave you with a few more photos , mainly of the girls trip away.

cheers

Leeanne x

We're all going on a Winter Holiday

Well 2 out of 3 of us are going to QLD tomorrow whoo hoo!!!!!!

Holly had her stitches out this morning and the plastic collar/bucket removed off her head. She is still not using he leg properly but is getting around really well and is certainly a lot happier than she has been over the the last couple of months.

I actually completed one layout on the weekend using one of the new Heidi papers and a hambly transparency and a few other sundry items. I actually scraplifted it from one of Helen K's lovely layouts. Hers was called "Joy"

Speaking of Helen, she has a new class over at the Home website. The classes are called Fresh Vintage and this is the second in the series so far. I love her use of beautiful laces and trims, coupled with ordinary things like masking tape. Head on over for a sneek peek & while you're over there check out the other fantastic classes by Kim Archer they are amazing. I'm always blown away by Kim's layouts; there is always something new to learn and the layouts always have that fresh, funky feel to them. I've got one sitting on my desk that I'm not going to finish :(((( before I go away unfortunately.

The other thing I forgot to mention was a couple of weeks ago I taught my first class over at Debling in Design. I had seven girls in the class and all their layouts looked fantastic, we had such a fun evening. Thanks girls for making the night so enjoyable. I'm really looking forward to the next class in a couple of weeks, the girls will be learning the beading technique. A bit of patience needed but well worth the effort.

Ok that's it for me, I better head off to bed. I've got an early start tomorrow to get out to the airport.

Take Care Everyone

Cheers

Leeanne x