Shabby Miss Jenn

Saturday, 11 July 2009

amazingly enough........

......the holidays have come to an end...yep it's saturday evening now and come monday kids are back at school....all mine with the exception of lance who only does an hour a week on wednesday's at the moment anyway. so how did all you mums (and dads) manage? did you enjoy them? did you manage to stay sane if not for all the time then some of the time? i surely hope so and although many of us enjoy the holidays...like me, i guess in many ways we also enjoy the kids going back to school, back to some sort of normality and some sort of routine. the other great thing about them going back to school is we parents get to breathe a little sit back and recharge!

i have to admit i actually got nothing done that i wanted to these holidays. the first week i had the flu along with maddison and then after i started to get better with that, last thursday my back decided it was time to go out with another disc bulge and today is the first day i have been able to stand upright and have the muscles in my back go back to some sort of normal and not look like the hunchback of notre dame. so the roses didn't get pruned, the scrapping was barely touched...i did make a start and that was that, the rearranging and full on clean of the house did not get done and pretty much that's that and i got no where.

so life is still full on and seems to only get busier and i personally could do with a holiday. i can't believe we are in july already and that the weeks seem to fly by quicker and quicker with each passing day. we had a taste of spring 2 days ago for 2 days and it was warm and just gorgeous. today however it is pouring down with rain, not that i mind because the good lord knows we need it and plenty of it.

our car is out of action at the moment. yep decided not to start on tuesday and has remained like that since. we called the racv out on wednesday and he told us that it sounded like it was the coil etc etc so we replaced that with a new one and the distributor cap as well as some leads and tim and his dad worked on the car all day thursday and friday and now that everything is where it's meant to be....nothing! now the smartlock is playing up it won't reset no matter what we do. so the car will now need to go to an auto electrician come monday and we hope and pray they can sort it out asap for us. so rearranging appointments, cancelling some, rescheduling others and postponing a weekend away are just some of the "benefits" <.....note the sarcasm here....of not having a car and not having a 2nd car for any needed running about.

the tricky thing is getting grace to and fro work on the couple of mornings she starts at 6 am....any volunteers there? and of course getting her to school right in the centre of town straight after that. ahhh that is going to be a challenge and if anyone suggests buses....they don't run that time of the morning and she refuses to take a taxi because she does not feel safe. anyway somehow we will manage and hope and pray the car is dealt with asap and we have it back without too many more days without it.

well at the moment i have no idea what else to blog about....yeh i could blog some more but i really can't be bothered....lol. nope i have no layouts to show just at the moment either although i recently did some for BSM but you will have to wait for those and next update i promise to throw some layouts on here from previous BSM months. well that's it for me...signing off and logging out. take care and hugs xoxo

Friday, 3 July 2009

first week......gone!

yep the holidays this time round are passing by far too quickly. the first week is almost over and i haven't done a thing it seems. mind you the weather hasn't helped seeing as it is cold wet and mostly rainy which is good just not great for being outdoors to do anything in the garden or take the kids anywhere down the street. so i hope you mums (and dads) have all enjoyed them and stayed as sane as humanly possibly.

today tim and i picked up a new hoover core 3 vacuum cleaner and also a pullman power wash carpet steam cleaner. not the sort of thing one really wants to go buy but sadly something we can't do without especially when the other vac just doesn't do anything anymore and the fact that i am tired of spending quite a bit of money yearly to have our carpets steam cleaned...now we can do that ourselves and seeing as tim use to clean professionally for a cleaning business upteen years ago he kinda knows what he's doing so that will be his job these days.

today lance and i also did a righteous pups session and that was cool because the pups are all back, somewhat bigger and more mischievous but beautiful just the same. lance walked a new dog today, not a new dog to righteous pups, but one to us and his name is albert a 2 yr old lab. he is just beautiful as they all are and lance also got to play, take photos and look after a few of the puppies which he just loved. this is something lance is enjoying so much and it's good to see him develop a bond/relationship not only with the pups and older dogs but with jo and kelly the 2 main managers there.

no recent scrapping has been done but i did manage a little on my canvases i am doing at the moment...yes they are taking forever but they are getting there and once done i am eager to take pics and show them off.

hummmm what else is new....nothing really except we plan to go see transformers tomorrow night. we saw the 1st one when it came out and everyone who has seen #2 say it is great and i can't wait just to go there and enjoy some time out from the everyday humdrum of our lives.

ok quick and simple tonight and until next bloggin' take care chris xoxo

Friday, 26 June 2009

Sickness, too many appointments and school holidays!

wow i do believe that is the longest title that i have ever titled my post with.....in forever.....well just in the history of my blog anyways. so to begin with and as the title suggests the ickies have hit here at home and we are so not lovin' it. some of you may know that grace has been sick for quite a few weeks now, started off with tonsillitis, then turned into a viral infection which of course turned into a nasty case of glandular fever and so almost 2 weeks ago we had her back to the doctors who told us to get her straight up to the hospital who in turn got her straight on to a drip to rehydrate her and fill her system up with a cocktail mix of drugs as her tonsils had swollen to the point she was having difficulty swallowing and breathing. they wanted to admit her but after being on the drip for a few hours and given some more meds to take home they thought it best for her to be more comfortable at home then in a hospital ward and of course more time off school and work. she was put on a course of steroids and an anti inflammatory as well as some goo mixture they make up to help relieve and numb the throat which in itself is just pure magic. she is getting better although some days are better then others and doc did tell us that it would probably be like this for the next 4-6 months but hopefully the next 4-6 weeks would see an improvement.

i have had some virus/flu thing hit me hard as well these past 3/4 days and with it came a terrible cough and fever but today i have felt better for the first time since it hit so i am pleased with that.

steps has been hit with something as well a bit of a cold and a little tummy bug as well and today she seems to be fairing well with it and has had a good day today. she has been having a bit of a hard time at school lately and her psychiatrist and her psychologist are working hard with her and they are also referring her to a different department but one i am so not ready to tell the world about yet.

tim has been off to have a few blood tests....well quite a few and goes back to the doctor in a few days to see the outcome of those. he hasn't been travelling all the best for some time and doc decided it was time to take further action. so a little more waiting there.

maddi is going through a pretty rough time he has started injections in both eyes now and as well as being monitored all the time it will also be ongoing so that has been a bit of a shocker for all of us. specialist did tell me last visit that as much as this is working for now and the fact that had to do something, they don't know the long term effects nor will they know how long each treatment will last and as he mentioned to me they are trying to avoid maddi coming in every week for this. whoa!!!!

lance is ok although he did have a rather large meltdown on monday but then the trigger point for that may have been the fact that we have introduced a new support worker for him and although it is early days and i have been onboard the only other time this support worker has spent time with us, so far a meet and greet monday and then thursday was over at righteous pups australia, we are hoping this to be a positive....it's just going to take time and lots of it as lance does not cope with change and/or strangers. we received results of another assessment for him this week which was his speech and language and i must say tim and i, although we knew, are having a hard time dealing with the reality of that and the fact that there is such a severe delay there in most of the sub categories and not only does it explain so much which can help all of us but makes us realise that reality is lance does not understand most of what we say and nor can he express himself very well at all.

ok so remember part of the title mentioned about too many appointments.....people don't really believe it when i say i am flat out with them and the impact it has on one individual trying to keep it all balanced so guess what i'm going to tell you how many i had for the month of may alone, yep and it's pretty much like this every month. ok so for may i had 27....yep you read right 27 appointments i had to deal with. on top of that i also had to deal with the multitude of phone calls and many of them to professionals and service providers which of course adds another whole new lot of layers because most phone calls are between the 30 - 90 minutes timing and full on. then there is the running around....yeh remember i am a wife and mum too so grocery shopping, general shopping, paying bills, running errands, house hold chores (although i must give tim credit here as he usually does the laundry, the dishes and whatever else i can manage to throw his way), gardening, cooking, pets, paper work and trust me there is stacks of that when you have kids with serious disabilities, being a taxi and of course keeping the family life balanced (hahaha) and trying to keep it close to anything that may possibly resemble normal. now just to tell you a little story....my mum rang me up this week and wanted to know why i had not been in touch or how come i had not visited her home for the past few weeks....mind you i am still trying to come to terms that this women just remarried last month only 7 months after dad died but ok fair enough....i then told her how busy i was...still didn't sink in until i told her how many appointments i had for the month of may.....yay a light bulb went on and something must have registered because she said really 27, gosh chris.....yeh gosh mum that's me alright.

yay we are officially on school holidays and i am stoked, i am looking forward to a little less rushing and i am also making sure i don't book to many appointments while we are on holidays although some are just par for the course but some i have control over and i get to organise. i am looking forward to sleeping in and when i have been as sick as i have been with little sleep over the past few nights then yes bring them on. i am looking forward to going to the pictures and using all those free movie tickets we have been graciously given by carer support services. i am looking forward to shopping at myer with my girls as well because grace gave me a gift certificate for my birthday from there. i am looking forward to a little scrapping as well both paper and digi and finishing off those 4 little 8x8 canvases i started on and have not had a chance to finish. i am looking forward to a little garden tidy up and pruning the roses this year and transplanting a couple of them. but most of all i am looking forward to being with my hubby and kids....no stress or pressure....late nights...late mornings as we wish and as we can manage.....now it's not a perfect holiday but maybe it just a little closer to normal for us.

last but not least i will leave you with a lo i recently did......... i don't usually work with purple....as much as i don't mind the colour, scrapping with it is another thing, but i love this and i love the papers thanks to chantilly lace and her recent RAK :)

Credits:
Papers - Vintage French Roses and What A Mess (brights) - Chantilly Lace
Worn Overlays - Something Blue Studios
Dirty Jeans Photo Action - Paint The Moon
Frame, Mesh and Screw - Weathered Frames - Catherine Designs
Rusty Old Frame - Grab Bag #1 - SMJ
Get Punched Alpha - Nikki Beaudreau
Black Polka Ribbon Wrap, Buckled Ribbon Wrap and Beaded Flower - Perfect Day - Paint The Moon
Everything else - Spring - Natali Design
Font - Stamp

ok so i'm outta here for now and off to do some much needed scrapping long over due for Bella Scraps MagazineTM due to me being icky these past few days. take care, stay outta trouble and for those of us on school holidays...enjoy and stay sane! hugs xoxo

Saturday, 13 June 2009

Random Acts of Kindness and a New Layout!

Credits:
Be Bold - Edeline Marta Design
Stitches and Lace - All You Need Is Love - Natali Design
Funky B&W Photo Action - Annie Manning - Paint The Moon
Meshy Brushy - Emily Merritt Design
Font - Stamp

Yes this is my latest LO created using some very yummy goodies. Now there are 2 people I would truly like to say thanks to for the RAK (Random Act of Kindness) I have received of late. Rita from Chantilly Lace who sent me a GC (gift certificate) for some of her beautiful goodies in store I could not resist and also to Edeline from Edeline Marta Design who randomly asked if I wanted to work with any of her kits whenever and of course how does one resist yet again so of course I said yes.

Thankyou so much girls I hope you both know what it means to me with what you've done.....it's been so tough for what seems like ages here in the Turnbull family and I have felt so overwhelmed with it all and although things do not look like they will slow down anytime soon.....these RAK's are truly incredible and what keeps you going as a human in some form so girls hugs to you both. xx

There is so much to blog about and let all my readers know with the recent Turnbull saga's but at the moment I am not feeling so motivated to do so....sad I know but I will when I feel I'm in the right mental space. Today although it's Saturday, feels weird, kinda one of those blah days that you feel going back to bed would make things better.....lol but no instead I will avoid that and plod along. Yes it's a dreary wet and cold winter's day here once more and the sun hasn't shone much in the past 13 days but still I prefer it to the hot sunny weather we get her in Australia which seems extreme.

Till next blog take care and stay safe. Chris xoxo

Thursday, 11 June 2009

Reminder..............

.................to oneself.....must blog....lol!!!! Much to say so little time to say it or blog it for that matter and if I wasn't so addicted to facebook and farm town then maybe I could blog more! Anyhoo short and sweet until the next "official" post as this one is just a reminder....hehehe!