It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring....

....well he's not really he's in his room studying...lol, but it is raining, well pouring down and the sound on the roof is pure bliss. Don't you just love listening to the sound of rain on the roof?! One of my all time favourite pastimes is to just lie in bed listening to the rain falling and what a priviledge it is too. Well now that that is out of the way with it really is time for another blog post and so here you have it. It is 12:46 am on Saturday and I thought I would while away a little more time blogging.


First of all I just wanted to say thankyou to all those that have stopped by my blog and left a comment about my umming and arrrring about a CT. It really is nice to know that my work is certainly worth a CT and that a number of you have actually popped your hands up to be on it. I feel somewhat overwhelmed and honoured about the whole thing and I am taking it as a positive. You just never know what might be lurking on my blog soon about that.....so stay tuned!

Update on Maddi and his broken arm is not good. I had already blogged about the fact that not only did he break it but he also bent the bone, well we have been back and forth to the fracture clinic every week seeing the orthopedic surgeon and we were there on Monday again with not really the news we were hoping for. Unfortunately his bone is bascially back to where it was when he broke it....yep that means it is still bent and even though the bone had been straightened when he first broke it, it isn't anymore. So what does that mean....well simply put that it will take about 6 years for it to heal properly. Yep I see your jaw drop with eyes wide open but truly that's it. The top orthopedic surgeon told us that if it had happened (bone out of alignment) within the 1st 10-14 days then they would have had to put wires, plates and screws in to straighten it back up but because it happened 2-3 weeks after and is now fused they can't. Now if Maddi was an adult it would be a different story and they would not hesitate to rebreak his arm and realign it in surgery but as he is 11 years old and our bones don't stop growing till we hit the good old age of 15, they say that by the time he gets there, that his bone will, little by little each year, straighten itself out and be back to normal probably with a knot in it. It will take a good 18 months for the bone to heal well enough and when he gets his plaster off in another 2 weeks they will let us know more about what should be expected, mobility wise etc. We already know that once the plaster is off his arm, it will be bent, because the bone is bent and that hopefully over time it won't be so obvious. The poor kid!

Sooooo I have been busy creating a couple of CT Layouts for Faer Oak and here they are..........

Credits here

Credits here

........and there they go...lol!

News on the designing front...... I finished another kit and I actually want to create a LO with it before I post a sneak peek of it on here so you will have to wait a little while longer. I have started it, just haven't finished it and I am a slow scrapper.....teehee!

Oh yeh and one last thing before I go to bed....IT'S RAINING....IT'S POURING.... THE OLD MAN....IS IN BED!

Night all and until next blogging stay safe and stay happy. To Debbie, Emma and Billy Jo have the time of your lives and enjoy every minute up there in Queensland :) :) :)

Ciao... Chris :)

It's Not All Pink

Is my newest kit over at Pickleberrypop. A little fun and funky....well I kinda think so anyways and I really did have fun playing with it. So what do you think?!

By clicking on the Pickleberrypop highlighted link above it will take you to the kit so you can check it out in more detail.

I am feeling somewhat better after feeling pretty much like blah for the past few days. No matter how hard you try to not allow things to get on top of you in life they certainly do from time to time and after all we are only human.

To creative team or not to creative team.....that is the question I have been asking myself all year.....lol and it's only April ;)

What to do....what to do. I don't actually have a problem with going ahead for the reasons that I know that having a CT would be great, I think it is more of a question that I am not sure if anyone would want to work/play with any of my designs and that is the only thing that holds me back. So I am still toying with the idea and not really getting very far.......lol. I guess if and when it'll happen, it will.

No new LO's sorry but then I haven't been scrapping....lol, but I do have another kit in the works.....it was time to work with bolder colours and do something more boyish. All the papers were created today.....9 in all and I just need to create some boyish elements to go. Yep even have a name....but shhhhhh I'm not telling just yet and to top it all off, I will be creating a similar kit in girly colours just for the girls.

OH ok here's a sneak peek at some of the papers now that you've insisted........

That's all I'm showing ;) this time round anyways.
Well that's it for tonight so until next blogging stay safe, take care and happy scrapping.

Ciao Chris :)

Do you ever just feel like..............

blah?! I mean really do you cause the past few days I have felt that way. I am just not motivated to do anything and I feel horrible for it. There is so much stuff to do and I have to admit that I don't even want to be on the computer ......now that is bad. Today I decided it wasn't going on and it didn't until Grace came home from school and needed it for homework. It's been like that since Friday and although I try very hard not to go on the computer on the weekends as I like to do other things.....normally I am eager to pop on 1st thing Monday morning and catch up with all my emails and PBP. But I had no interest at all today in turning the thing on. My bad!

But guess what I got done?

1. 2 loads of washing.
2. Stripped beds and cleaned sheets, pillowcases and doona covers.
3. Dishes.
4. Folded washing.
5. Cleaned the table.
6. Went shopping both for fun and a few groceries.
7. Quickly tidied the lounge.
8. Baked muffins.
9. Got tonights dishes out of the way straight after tea.
10. Picked up Lances BMX from the bike shop as it had been in for a service and another little modification.....boys and their toys.
11. Played Uno with the kids tonight.
12. Watched Maddi play a new game on the XBOX.
13. Treated myself to a Hot Chocolate and Jaffa Muffin from Muffin Break.
14. Read the paper.
15. Had a lay down for about an hour and a half between 3:30pm and 5:00pm.

Things I did not get done!

1. No scrapping
2. No designing.

I loved every part of my day today!

Ok so kids went back to school today after 2 weeks of school holidays and I totally loved the complete silence here at home. It is just so nice to be able to simply sit back and relax for a small amount of ME time which is so necessary to stay sane.....lol

TAGGED.................

Yes thanks to the lovely Jo I've been tagged.

The rules:

1. Get tagged
2. List five things that have not been revealed on your blog.
3. Tag five others.

So it's my time to 'fess up.....

1. It took me 3 goes to finally get my license and I was 19 at the time. I failed twice because I could not parrallel park.
2. I still can't.....parrallel park that is.
3. Even though I may appear to be quite the outgoing person at times.....I am in fact very shy, insecure and find it very difficult to cope socially. One on one I don't have a problem once I get past the awkward phase.
4. I would love to get my motorbike license and own a Harley Davidson.
5. I left home at 14.5 years of age.
   

Ok I'm done now and so I tag......Kaye, Alissa, Jodie, Sharuth and Anita :)

Friday Night was the latest PBP chat and famous speed scrap and thanks to the wonderful DebF who gave out all those that attended an awesome template... I managed this.

Credits

Go check out the gallery at PBP to view what all the other gals did you may have to scroll through a few pages before you find them. You can also view them over at PBP's blog.

Till next blogging take care, stay safe and happy scrapping.

Ciao.... Chris :)

Latest layout and whatever else comes to mind!

Well it's time again for another blogging and a little more mumbling on my blog.....lol I didn't know how else to start this post and I tend to fly by the seat of my pants sometimes and kinda just say whatever comes to mind but it does make for very interesting conversation not only for those that read my blog but me as well.....hehehehehe.

Hummmmmm.....what's new.... let me see.... ah yes we are nearing the end of the school holidays as the kids go back on Monday *silently yelling hooray I get some designing done*, Maddi's arm is not healing as well as could be as we had more xrays done yesterday and his bone has come out of alignment just a little but they want to avoid surgery....meaning a full on operation to re-align the bone with wires, a plate and screws and hope that it will not go any further out.....fingers crossed that the next lot of xrays on the 23rd reveal that is hasn't moved anymore and that all is healing well. So he is NOT allowed to do anything rough or boisterous at all just in case there is any slight chance of the bone bending even more and I have to admit that since he broke it he has been really good and just played quietly. I know things will be fine and I am not worried at all the fact that Maddi is in no pain and is dealing with it fabulously also helps, oh and I did do a fairly quickish LO of the dude the other day and here it is....enjoy!!!!

Credits here

Sick sick sick sick.....yes I have been a little under the weather the past few days with a terrible and nasty cold. I rarely get sick and this cold got so far inside my head that it laid me flat out on the couch for 3 days physically exhausted with the typical runny nose, headaches, sore throat, and you know that buzzing that gets in your head and just doesn't leave until your well day and night and the wierd dreams that make no sense whatsoever....well yep that too and even though my body was not in alot of pain I was so weak and totally felt like blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Then the cough hit a couple of days ago but thank goodness it hasn't gone to my chest. Today I have been the best since last Sunday so I am slowing.....very slowly trying to catch up with everything.

Well I think that's it for now so stay safe, take care, happy scrapping and until next blog...ciao

Chris :)

Happy Easter!

Easter is upon us again.....my how the year is traveling fast so just a quick blog today and wishing everyone a very Happy and safe Easter. Please take care on the roads to those that are traveling to and fro and don't forget to have heaps of fun. We were going away ourselves but with Maddi and his broken arm, Tim with no actual real time off at uni because he still has to put in 2 essays and sort out a presentation all before the end of the week and then little old me with a full on head cold we decided it was best to spend our Easter here at home.

As a designer I find it very difficult to fit in any kind of scrapping these days it takes me all my time and effort to come up with new designs and I am a bit on the slow side of things too but I have managed a challenge over at Pickleberrypop which I am quite proud of.


My take on this challenge...........

My girl....always

Credits here

I adore the LO I did for this challenge and the photo's are of my DD Stephanie taken on her 13th birthday just recently on the 31/03/07.

Scraplift challenge details here

Original LO by Kaye here

What's new in the Pickleberrypop Shop.............. lot's of yummy goodies this Easter. Check it out!

Link to new goodies in shop here

So that's it from me and until next blogging......stay safe, pop a smile on your dial and happy scrapping.

Ciao Chris :)

Ahhhhhh what is it with my boys!

Can you believe that I have another child with another broken bone. This time it is Maddison. Got your imagination in tip top condition....picture this........Friday night, my daughter Stephanie's 13th birthday party at The Zone, a family entertainment complex with rollerblading, go karts, laser tag, mini golf and an assortment of other games such as pool etc etc. Stephanie has invited a few friends and in total we have 13 all happily rollerblading at Friday nights session. Birthday party starts at 7:30 and ends at 11pm. Now I must admit that all my kids are really really good skaters as they have been doing it since they were little so of course apart from the odd fall down as usually happens which I might add is not neccessarily their fault but could be simply that as they skate someone coming past who may not be as stable falls and brings them down with them. Happens all the time as they grab onto the nearest thing....in this case, peoples, to help try to break the fall so it's not so bad. Anyway at 10pm I noticed Maddi flat out on the ground trying desperately to get up and me being squashed into the booth seat I was sitting in it seemed to take ages to get to him as the guys sitting next to me would not let me out so by the time I had got to him he managed to get a little closer to the exit of the rink and as I was running out to him another adult had also noticed that Maddi was in some kind of difficulty so was there to bring him right off the rink. He was in agony and the first thing Maddi said was I've broken my arm ( he knew as he has had a few breaks) and I could see that his right arm was bent. So went over to the reception/kiosk area and asked for some ice packs for his arm....we managed that easy enough but on closer inspection I knew Maddi had broken something and went back over to ask if they could call for an ambulance. Maddi was not in a good way. The management were so good and so helpful with everything. We had to of course fill out an incident report...fair enough and then we happened to notice a crowd gathering even before the ambo got there. Wow what a popular bunch we were when they did arrive and all of a sudden all eyes were on us. Ambulance officers knew he had broken his arm as they could see it too so he was popped on the "green stick"......terrific happy gas and whisked away to hospital with me in the front seat and poor Tim left behind to enjoy the rest of Stephanie's birthday, clean up and take kids home.

Ok arrive at the hospital and xrays are taken and you could see quite clearly that the radius bone in his right arm was broken.....but hey that's only the start of our adventure. We ended up staying the night as they ended up with a trauma coming in and that kept the ED busy enough. The nurse looking after Maddi had mentioned to us that Maddi had also bent the bone when he broke it and that none of the doctors on duty had ever "fixed" a break like this before so it was decided for the best to wait until morning to have the othopedic surgeon in first thing to do what they had to do to fix it which meant surgery. Maddi was given painkillers as necessary and thankfully while drugged managed to sleep fairly well through the night....well most of it anyways, much to my relief and lack of sleep myself as I stayed awake all night long.

Orthopedic surgeon was in 1st thing and told us what they would do and made a few phone calls to get him into surgery before lunch time. 5 minutes later he is back saying that he couldn't get Maddi into surgery until later that day and so felt that it would be best considering we had been there all night that he would gather a team and do what was needed to be done right there in the ED so we could be home by lunch time. He mentioned that if Maddi was younger he would not ever allow this to happen under a local anesthetic block but seeing as he was older he would cope with it. A team of six were gathered and he was moved into the trauma section of the ED so they could hook him up to the heart and oxygen machines. 2 bungs were placed into his wrist....one in each hand and then the IV's were placed into his right hand and drugs administered for them to perform the manipulation needed to straighten his broken bone. Now the anesthetic block has it's own hazards and they have only a certain amount of time to work with it too so that in itself was a bit hairy. Ok all set up, drugs working and arm being set straight and once the orthopedic surgeon was happy, it was plastered, but not your usual plaster for a break as this had to be moulded to his arm so the bend was kept straight. More xrays taken straight away so they could make sure the bone was back where it should be and a great outcome as it all worked. The orthopedic surgeon did mention there was always the risk of his arm popping back out of shape in the 1st 2 weeks and so because of that he needs more xrays than normal so on Thursday he has more xrays to be done to see how well it all is and then the following Wednesday. Talk about busy and I am so grateful and thankful to all those involved in his care. Yes we were home before lunchtime Saturday and so could watch Stephanie open up her presents and enjoy her birthday as best as could be under the circumstances and before I could no longer keep my peepers open any longer. I had been awake for 30+ hours and was exhausted. Grabbed a couple of hours that arvo and slept like a log Saturday night.
Great start to the school holidays hey?! But at least it has happened now and not any other time and he has 2 weeks to get use to doing things left handed.....poor kid is right handed so have no idea how well he will go once school goes back and thankfully he has a very understanding teacher.

Here he is poor munchkin...........

School holidays have started and I know that for the next 2 weeks things will be in slow mode....sorry about that but with kids home and Tim still full on with studies as he doesn't get the holidays the kids want more time on the computer and that of course would be mine and not the other 2 we have.....lol
There is so much happening at the moment too but there is only one of me.....still haven't got that clone sorted out yet.



On the designing scene well I have one new set of sticker doodles out. Sneak peek yonder below. Will be available in the Pickleberry Pop Shop soon I promise!


That's all I have for today but then I think that's enough......lol for all those on school holidays here down under I hope you are having a fab time. I sure do as I am not running kids around as much...............hang on that's not true now they are older I run them to their friends places and back and that's seems to be all that I did yesterday.....lol and when I was asked "what were we doing today mum" I promptly replied.....NOTHING I AM HAVING A DAY OFF.....ahhh gotta love 'em hey....kids....right??!!!