Packing.............

to go to the Gold Coast tomorrow that is. Sooo looking forward to getting there and catching up with everyone. But in the meantime Madeleine is packing her bag she's like her mother and doesn't travel light. I've cooked a couple of casseroles for Neil while we're away and put them in the freezer. (Not that he expects me to that but I wanted too). He's looking forward to having the house to himself, not sure how the cat and dog are going to be, you know actually having to got outside. Both of them are pretty spoiled and well it is cold. They'll only have to be out Friday while he's at work so I'm sure they'll cope.

Neil is having a work at home day tomorrow so is taking a couple of hours out to take us to the airport. By the way a big thank you to two Deb's Firstly to Deb Ross for organizing a car for me while we're up on the coast, I don't know what I'd do without you. The second thanks goes to my other friend Deb Kerr whose apartment we are staying in (mates rates thank goodness) while there. It's a great place to stay and more importantly it's less than 5mins to Shaun and Amanda's house.

Other than that I caught up with Sue B for a coffee on Monday morning which was great except both of us were suffering from a severe bout of Mondayitis. I'm putting it down to the first day the kids were back at school and we had to get up early, we picked up a little after the first coffee though. Gotta love caffeine sometimes. Then I went to Frankston and brought a new suitcase and a pair of jeans to take away and headed home for coffee as the morning one was wearing off and I was in serious need of another.

Tuesday I spent the entire day doing housework not exciting but you always feel a sense of achievement when its done. not that it lasts long but anyway I did it. Besides it was such a miserable day Tuesday I was happy to stay in and clean. I only went out to pick Madeleine up from school and then take her to Basketball.

Today I had coffee with a few mums from school, it's always nice to catch up and then I headed over to my girlfriend Jackie's place to see how she was doing. Jackie has been battling some serious health issues since February and things haven't been going to good, however she had a little bit of good news yesterday so was feeling a lot better in herself today. She's gotta a real amazing attitude and is a such a strong person, I don't know that I'd be as strong in her situation. She is really a true inspiration to me and those who know her.

Tonight Madeleine had her first netball training with the new coach Leah. Leah is a young girl with a lot of passion for the game and by all accounts tonight, was very good with the team. The team has three new players from another side so hopefully this will be it for the changes for a while and everything will settle down.

Ok that's it for until next Monday and I'll have lots of photos to share I brought a 2gb memory card for the camera so make no mistake there will a ton of photos.
Take care and I'll catch up next week

cheers

Leeanne x

Not much to report

Here it is Sunday already..Oops make that Monday morning as it's after 12. I really should go to bed as Madeleine starts school again tomorrow. They're not going to be happy with me tomorrow when I let them know not only will Madeleine not be participating in the swimming lessons for the Grade 6 kids this week but that she will be away Thursday thru to Tuesday as we are off to Queensland on Thursday to see the baby (new grand niece). They really don't like the kids going off out of School holidays and I totally get that but it is soooo expensive for accommodation and to fly during school holidays, the cost really was prohibitive. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with that one. (hehe)

The holidays went by so quickly and for once fairly cheaply. Madeleine has been content just to have friends over or for her to go to their places. The only real cost was last week when she participated in a Basketball skills program last Thursday and Friday. The sessions ran for 3hours each day and the kids got alot out of them and also had lots and lots of fun. The 3 hours were pretty full on, they really worked the kids out. Saturday morning we were up early as Neil's sister Annette took Madeleine and Tijana into the city (the old casino) for a big breakfast, she picked them up ant 7.45am and they didn't need to eat for the rest of the day. Breakfast included bacon and eggs, baked beans, hash browns, pancakes, croissants and fruit. They certainly got their $26 a head worth.

I caught up with a couple of the Mums from School for lunch on Saturday which was lovely. We went to the Blue Chair (twice in one week) and we all ended up with the potato and leek soup with beautiful warm crusty bread....mmmmm YUM. While I was out to lunch Neil started preparing dinner which was fantastic, I'd seen a recipe for a Beef Burgundy Pie in this months food magazine from Safeway and after you had cooked it for 2 hours it then had to sit for a couple hours so it was cold before you put it into a pie dish and covered it with the puff pastry. Might I say it was absolutely beautiful. While I was getting that ready I was flipping through the magazine and it had a recipe for Baked Rice Custard. That immediately brought back childhood memories, my mum always used to make the most fabulous desserts in winter. You know things like Lemon delicious pudding, bread and butter pudding, apple pie and of course Baked rice custard. Anyway I just had to make it and it was sensational; just like mum used to make. Dinner was a big hit in our house on Saturday night.

Sunday night we headed to my sister Julie's place for dinner. My niece Nicole turned 25 (Happy Birthday Nicole) so we went over to help her celebrate. We had another beautiful roast dinner and a fantastic chocolate cake for dessert. My other niece Jenny works for the cheesecake shop so brought this home for Nicole. It was really really nice.

Lastly I have been scrapbooking yesterday and today. Nothing I can share though as it is a DT layout for Paperdoll. Theres lots of hand sewing and machine sewing involved. I haven't quite finished it yet. Needs a bit more tweaking.
OK now I must head off to bed as I will be up again in 6hours.

Cheers
Happy Scrapping

Leeanne x

P.s. Sorry that ended up longer than I thought as I didn't really have anything to say. You must realise by now that I'm not short on a word once I get going. See I'm still at it. Ok this time for sure bye.

Reminiscing

Were does all the time go....... Over the weekend Neil began the onerous task of copying all our home movie videos onto our hard disk recorder so we can covert them onto DVD's. So as you can imagine alot of time has been spent reminiscing. We brought our video camera when I was pregnant so have footage of me and how big I was and also an interview between Neil and I on how we were expecting our lives to change etc......Aside from that though is classic film of Madeleine from the moment she was born (no we didn't film the actual event) up until she is around 5years old. For some reason we haven't used the video camera for years, now after watching from 1995 to 2000 I wish we had kept using it. Photos are great but nothing beats watching the real thing walk, talk, cry and laugh. And laugh we have OMG she was sooooo cute you just forget she had this deep little croaky voice that just used to melt my heart. There is great embarrassing moments caught on film to show at her 21st. For example dancing naked at 2 with just a head band on. Lots of different bath time experiences singing, playing, music for tinies, her first steps the list could go on on. I just feel so lucky to have captured so much of when she was a baby on film.( aside from the many still photos) A lot of the footage really is just everyday moments that we have spent the last few days saying awwwww, how cute and laughing so much it's been a real blast. That old saying about making the most of your children, because they're not yours for long is so true, it seems like just yesterday she was born and I just blinked and have a 12 year old.

Well aside from watching home movies nothing much has been happening in the O'Connor household. Still enjoying the laziness of the holidays and sleep ins. In fact as I type this at 10.15am Madeleine is still in bed asleep. Neil had yesterday off and we went to the Blue Chair in Carrum for lunch. I love that place the food is yummy. He certainly made the most of his day, he went for a run in the morning and then after lunch rode to Mornington and back as you do.
Me I went grocery shopping not quite as exciting or energetic.

Still no layouts to share things have been very quite on that front for the last week.
Enjoy the rest of the holidays
Happy Scrapping

Leeanne x

Thursday, Friday and Saturday

Thursday Madeleine and I headed over to Chadstone for a little retail therapy. We went mainly because Madeleine had been given a Borders Book voucher for Christmas and we just hadn't had a chance to get over there. What a fantastic place Borders is, it's like going to the library choices choices choices. She ended up with 4 books the first two Lemony Snicket books, The first book in the Artemis Fowl series and the last book purchased was the just released book The Shadow Thief. The Shadow thief if written by Alexandrea Adornetto who they are apparently touting as the next J.K. Rowlings. Big shoes to fill for a 15 year old school girl from Melbourne. The book was actually written when she was 13 very impressive. Madeleine hasn't started that one yet so I think I might read it first to see what its all about.

After Borders it was off to spend her Myer vouchers, she ended up with the first series of Charmed. She already has seasons 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 so another 2 and she has the complete series. With the remaining money she also brought herself some body mist spray and besides buying a couple of things in Diva we were all done.

Friday it was off to the movies with Sue and Ainslie to see Bridge to Terabithia. I really enjoyed it although it was very very very sad, and I cried and cried. Tears were streaming down my face and I was lucky it didn't go into the ugly cry. Lucky I'd been warned it was sad and so went prepared with lots of tissues.Madeleine's teacher has been reading the book to them so she knew most of what was going to happen. I thought it was going to be like Narnia but it's nothing like it.



Today I hibernated most of the day until I took Madeleine and her friend Tijana to see the current production of the People's Playhouse theatre presentation of The Jungle Book. Their friend Alex was in it (as an elephant) and another family friend Ben was also part of the production he was one of the Monkeys. Now I must say in past years these shows can drag on a little, so I'm pleased to say tonight it started at 8pm and finished around 9.45pm so were home just after 10pm. The girls enjoyed watching Alex perform and were decked out with glow sticks so she could see them in the audience.



I haven't done any scrapbooking in the last few days, It's harder during the holidays. Neil is off the football tomorrow evening so I may get a chance then. Talking of things Scrapbooked related Nic Howard's book has just been released and it looks fantastic. I was lucky enough to attend a couple of Nic's classes at Kiwiscraps in April. Her work is fantastic and her classes were great. So if you're looking for a new book to enjoy check it out.

That's it for now
Happy Scrapping
Cheers
Leeanne x

A little bit of Sharing

Firstly here is a LO I completed last night. I've used the new Luxe Design papers, they are lovely to work with and double sided. I've used a sketch by Megan Stephenson who is this fortnights guest designer on the Oz Sketch site. Madeleine looks so much older than a girl just about to turn 12. She was heading off to the school disco so had a little bit of makeup on, her hair straightened, and because she's tall (which I realize you can't see in the photo) looked alot older.

The next share is a Kim Archer class from earlier this year or maybe late last year I can't remember. Anyway the theme was who would have imagined, I wanted to complete the LO with a photo of myself and my girlfriend of over 40 years Lynne, but I didn't have a recent photo. For my birthday in May we went to the Blue Chair restaurant in Carrum for lunch with a couple of my other great friends Julie and Sue. Anyhoo I took the camera and captured some great shots of myself with the girls. This one of Lynne and I was perfect for the LO of Kim's. We meet in Prep at St. Brigids primary school in Mordialloc in 1965 and have been great friends since. So anyway here is the layout.

Talking of Lynne who by the way is not well at the moment poor thing can hardly talk and if you knew Lynne you'd know how devastating that was (lol) only joking Lynne don't get mad. Today is Lynne's grandchild Riley's first birthday. Happy Birthday Riley!!!

I've just got home from teaching the new texture class at Paperdoll. It was a fantastic class and the girls worked really well. In fact they were all finished ahead of schedule. There was a couple of moments when screwing up the paper distressed more than the paper, but they were all really pleased with the end result.

Well that's it for today

Happy Scrapping

Cheers

Leeanne x

Do Yourself a Favour.............

and head down to Paperdoll and pick yourself up some of this. Its the new Infusion range from Basic Grey it's absolutely stunning. When I arrived this afternoon Wendy had already started using the papers on all the layouts for the next 4 in 4, and might I say they looked pretty good. I spent a good couple of hours wasting Wendy's time this afternoon and watching her work (scrapbook). I love watching other people's creative process.

Anyway believe it or not, this is a really short catch up, nothing much to report Madeleine had her girlfriend Alex over most of today and then as Alex left Tijana turned up, who is now staying for dinner (roast). Then Madeleine is heading overto Tj's for a sleepover. Tough life it's good they are just happy hanging out together, it certainly makes the Holidays cheap so far.

Well better head off and put the vegies on.

Cheers for now

Happy Scrapping

Leeannex

Lazy Sunday's and Mondays

Well I've had a couple of lazy days, not doing much bit of this and a bit of that. Basically not much at all. I love it when you can have a bit of a sleep in and then just potter around with no pressing matters to attend to. It ended up that I didn't have to cook either Saturday night or Sunday as well, you've gotta love that. I went over to a friends house Saturday afternoon to show her how to thread her new sewing machine and a bit of a catch up and she kindly offered us dinner as well. Now this friend is an excellent cook so I wasn't about to say no. Then Sunday afternoon I got a call from my sister inviting us over for dinner for my nieces 22nd birthday, of course we said yes and to our delight she cooked a roast. Haven't had a roast for a while and it was fabulous. So Happy Birthday Jenny for today.

Another good family friend Stacey Brown is also celebrating a birthday today. Happy 16th Birthday Stacey, we hope you've had a fantastic day.

First day of school holidays and Madeleine went over to a friends house most of the afternoon and has informed me that Alex will be coming to us tomorrow. So I guess that's Tuesday out of the way. I also HAVE to visit Wendy ney MUST visit Wendy tomorrow to check out the new basic grey infusion line. It looks pretty yummy.

Well that's about it for me today, I'll leave you with another Christmas layout I've just completed. It hasn't photographed that well, it's of Madeleine when she was 31/2 and cute as a button and I think you can pretty much tell by the look on her face that having her photo taken was not on the top of her to do list that day. I just wanted to get a cute photo of her to send out with the Christmas cards that year, but it all went pear shaped. Looking at these photos now I just think how adorable and I should have sent these shots out with the cards, but of course at the time I was looking for a smile. which I obviously did not get.

Happy Scrapping

Leeanne x