Camping

Thought I’d better blog this before Link beat me to it. He is winning the blog war at the moment….

Last night we went to Suzy and Lincoln’s and had dinner with our dear friends Mandy and Dave who recently moved to Melbourne. Mandy and Dave are in our inner camping friends circle and since the weather is getting cooler we haven’t seen as much of them as we would like. Anyway, we went to Waratah Bay with Mandy and Dave about 6 weeks a go, and while we were there they taught us a game called Puerto Rico , which is ranked as number one game on www.GameBoardGeek.com. After the initial confusion of trying to learn quite a complicated game, we finally ‘got it’. And ended up having 3 games in one day, which is quite a feat since the game we had last night lasted over 3 hours…. Any way, Brian emerged victorious and a good night was had by all, it’s not an easy game to describe, but it is vaguely like Monopoly in trying to acquire wealth and property, but instead it is setting up a new colony…. OK that doesn’t really describe it well at all, but if you like games, this could be worth a try. Mandy and Dave have left the game so we can have a play since, despite it’s ranking, it is not easy to get locally. To prove our level of addiction Suzy and Link our coming over shortly for a follow up game…. stay tuned….

I have recently purchased Foto Fusion and have created a few basic layouts with it, the first one below is of a night late last year at Suzy and Lincoln’s for a BBQ, so here are all the people that were there Puerto Rico-ing it up last night… Click on Pictures for a larger view.
Below is a layout of our weekend at Waratah Bay with Mandy and Dave. Dave was teaching the girls how to surf. I really enjoyed doing this layou as the photo’s made me smile and remember a great weekend, also the kids will remember this forever, they had a ball learning to surf with two of their best friends, Mallory and Odette. They really didn’t want to get out of the water, but all good things must come to an end. I think this is something they will try again next summer.

Below is another quick one on our Easter trip to Bright, we stayed both at the caravan park and also at Lincoln’s Mum and Dad’s house at Harrietville. Brian (Link’s Dad) was a wonderful host and we loved being there. The kids had a ball and made some new friends, Claudia and Mitchell who we have arranged to camp with next year.

Just like the divine Miss A, I too did the Smudge course at DAA along with a few other MAC girls, this Smudge I did of Quinn, before I really knew what to do. Scott Deardorf was an excellent tutor, with excellent video and written tutorials and the class was very chatty and full of inspiring people.

Here is the Eagle which was what we all did in the class.

Since Link has told you what he is reading I thought I should. I have had a bit of a reading hiatus lately, due to late nights and also the fact that I have been enjoying audible books on my iPod, but I recently caught up on all the First Tuesday Book Club vodcasts that I had missed on the ABC and it inspired me to get back into one of my loves, books. I went and bought “The Broken Shore” by Peter Temple, which had had a good review on the show and while I was at the book store I picked a book off the shelf called “The Book Thief” by Marcus Zusak, I bought this primarily because it was written by an Australia about the 1st world war set in Germany. Well, what a fabulous read… I like to read books slowly and savour them, but this I read in 3 days, reading the last 1/3rd of the book in one sitting, finishing at 4.30am. I can highly recommend this book, it was written with an unusual style, and was extremely engaging, I can’t recommend it enough. Unfortunatley I trued to start The Broken Shore straight after it but the writing style was so different I had to stop, will start it in the next few days.

Lastly, we ended up having a big sleep over here on Friday night, trying to take advantage of having Mallory and Odette visiting from Melbourne. So with six little girls staying in our rumpus room there was lots of, Wii-ing, SingStar-ing and DVD-ing happening, they were of course Angels and looked after themselves pretty much. Also in these pictures is Jesamine (Quinn and Bronte’s cousin) and Chantal, who is also belongs to one of our camping families. They had such a great time and here are some pics to prove it….

OK off to Puerto Rico it up now! Have a great day :-)

Updated to add: 5 games… (they ended up staying for pizza…bad I know….Lincoln NONE (although he thinks he has a better average because he kept coming 2nd…)

Score
Lee won 2
Suzy won 2
Brian won 1

Man, it has been ages, life is busy, but I hate to neglect my blog, it always makes that first post back harder, since I have been too busy to post and yet, really have nothing to tell…. ;-) And to my blog buddeis, I have also been neglecting my blog reading, sorry and I’ll get back to it soon! mwa :)

Work is busy and working 4 days is taking up more of my ‘me’ time than I had hoped. But in saying that I still love it. It’s my 12 month anniversay tomorrow, how freaky is that? It feels like such a short time and I still feel like I am learning everyday.

We went to Bright for Easter, it is truly a little peice of heaven and we can’t wait to get back there, but it will be a while, although we’d love to get there over winter to stay on the cabins that they have there. We camped right on the river, which is sadly lacking in water due to the drought, but it was so pretty and the kids had a ball with all the exciting exploring they had to do. We also had to camp without power for the first time in years, but it was no biggie, didn’t really effect us at all. Good food, good champagne and good company, all in all a great holiday….pics to come soon….

Ummm, what else? Oh it’s Quinn’s birthday this friday. I am having my own little crisis about that. I can’t believe she is turning 10 and it really seems obvious in the last month or so that she is not a little girl anymore. I am not one to worry about my age, it’s just a number, but this is really bothering me. A well meaning friend commented recently that she acts more like she is 12 or 13! That freaked me out too. Anyway, here is a sneak at her party invitations, personal stuff blurred out of course :). I took the pics here at home, and they turned out OK. (CLICK FOR A LARGER VIEW)

Oh and talking about Quinn has reminded me to wish Nic a very happy birthday for the 22nd! Quinn didn’t forget, and wanted to wish you all the best :)

Not much news on the layout front, being time challenged at the moment means it has taken a backseat, but here are two more recent ones, that I have done. Click for a larger view

My Digi Scrapping class starts tomorrow night, so I have been madly updating my notes for that. I did just mean to skim over them, but I ended up adding to the first weekes notes, beginning at 5 pages and ending at 15. Now I am only on the second weeks notes, but I’ll get there. Looking forward to beginning classs in a new venue, with new computer and a smaller class. Should be good. Looking forward to it.

The wonderful MAC Karen is heading out to Oz soon, so the MAC girls hope to have another gathering then, very excited to meet this lovely sweet person and maybe pick her brains, knowing what a fabulous photographer Karen is, I couldn’t let that chance slip by, and I think there will be a few more MAC girls wanting to take advantage of that talent!

I kinda feel like I have more to say but not sure what it is….oh I know, I read a great book recently, if you are a working Mum, it is a fabulous and hilarious read, if you’re not, you should enjoy it just as much (although, the non working Mum’s I know that have read it, thought it was a bit of a dig at them). I have to disagree, I thought it was a big dig at working Mum’s and all the antics that some go through to try and keep their lives, families and careers on track. Anyway, enough babbling, the book is called I don’t know how she does it and it’s by Alison Perason.

Click on the title to read an excerpt.

My weekly movies have been put on hold due to my partner in crime getting a job! Although she will only be working Fridays for a couple of months so we can resume after that. It has actually worked out well really, I am not sure I would be able to fit them in at the moment anyway.

Oh and a small one. Shez, Tenille (a friend) and myself all joined a camera club recently. It looks like we are going to learn heaps. They recently had a Car Rally, which we had a list of things (I took the whole family) we had to take photgraphs of, whilst driving and looking for clues etc. It was great fun and I took some pictures I would not normally have taken. Here are a few of my faves, sorry the colours are a little over saturated, gotta get my screen calibrated…. Click for a larger view

~ LAYOUTS ~
First a couple of layouts, the first one is my baby, Bronte and I used a song by Van Morrison in this one, which I love, called, Into The Mystic. Love the dreamy look on her face in this pic.
Credits: Textured Overlay from Scrap Artist. I also grunged it up a bit more with standard PS brushes.

Next one is my bigger baby Quinn, this is the pic I posted last time, which I just love. The frame is by C Borgfield, but I am not sure where it is from, sorry, also the brushes are just free downloads from somewhere, but I can’t remember where. I wish people would name their brushes so I can give due credit. The background and word art are by me.

~ BREAK ~
Hope you all had a great Australia Day and long weekend. We came back a day early as the weather wasn’t great and was going to get worse. But it was nice while it lasted! Got to finish my audible book and got lots of relaxing in, and a lovely walk along the beach and we also got to sit on the beach, all snuggled up with the girls and watch the comet which was pretty spesh, so we did fit a lot in for the short time we were there!

Also met these lovely people that were camping behind our friends, I was in the van and heard Brian chatting to them, and came out and had a short chat, I thought they mentioned something about lambs and that they were from Thorpdale, so I assumed they were Sheep Farmers, then they went off to cook dinner and we ate ours. During dinner Brian mentioned that they were actually potato farmers, I said that Shez’s parents were from Thorpdale and they probably knew Shez’s family, later on we started chatting again.
I said “I have a friend whose parents are potato farmers in Thorpdale, you might know her family. I can’t remember her maiden name but her married name is Sherryll Ray, do you know them?”
The lady (Joan), said “Sherryll Ray…hmmmm….OH!!!! Sherryll Ray, that’s our daughter!!!!!!!”
ROFL!!!
Then they asked my name, which I said, and before I had a chance to explain how I knew Shez, they both exclaimed “You’re Lee!!! You’re to blame for our daughters’ obsession!”
“That’s me”, I say sheepishly! LOL. What a small, small world we live in! They are just the loveliest people, not that I am surprised, their daughter is very special and a great, true and loyal friend to boot!

We are busy today doing more stuff around the house, painting old pots and clearing a few more boxes from the garage, we are also clearing a spot for one of those slimline sheds in the backyard, mainly to house the lawn mower and maybe the bikes, if they fit. I would dearly love to be able to move in our garage, but it is chock full of CRAP! LOL Then we are going to do a bit of plant shopping tomorrow, severely restrained by our budget, we are also in desperate need of a doorbell, all our friends have taken to ignoring the front door and coming straight round the back as we never hear it!! LOL

~ CAMERA CLUB ~
Shez, Tenille (a friend from Brian’s work), and I all went off to the Coal Country Camera Club meeting on Tuesday night. It was a great night and I look forward to more meetings. They have field trips and weekends away and best of all, families are welcome on the trips! The level of skill there is amazing and more than a little intimidating, but I just know I will learn heaps and best of all the people were lovely!

~ INTERESTING STUFF ~
Well, at least I was interested LOL. First this blog had me in hysterics http://www.thingsmyboyfriendsays.com/ it could be my sense of humour but I hope you get a giggle too, I should mention that there is some ‘colourful’ language going on here, so beware.
Also thought this was pretty groovy too, some interesting effects…http://www.typorganism.com/asciiomatic/ . This is a blog I stumbled across, I have no idea how, but I did http://dooce.com/, the interesting thing I liked on this blog was this series of pics here http://www.3situations.com/BillSullivanWorks/MT4.html loved the candid looks on all the faces, wish I had the courage to set up and take pics of random people like this. I found myself wondering about each persons life and where they are going and where they are now…like I said, interesting, at least to me… ;-)

Have a great day and go spread some happiness ;-)

~ SLIP SLOP SLAP ~

OK Here are some pics taken while we were camping. As you can see Footy Fever was rampant, with at least a couple of people having a kick, most of the time. First pic on the left is Bronte, in throws of sunscreening herself! Next is Odette, Mandy and Dave’s daughter keeping Bronte company, during said sunscreening :)

~ FUTURE STARS ~

Here’s Quinn and Bronte showing off their skills, with a big drop punt from Quinn and a magnificent Mark Of The Day from Bronte! Bronte is absolutely footy mad at the moment and loves to have a kick, she proved her devotion with a fairly admirable attention span while the football was on (better than mine at least). Quinn has a soccer ball and leans more towards that, but still enjoyed a kick with the gang.

~ THE AUSTAR GUY ~

This is John, behaving a little too much like the Austar guy, taking marks over his daughter and crushing her in the process. Emily was only laid up for 2 days and with some chiroprachtic care was able to overcome her injuries and should make a full recovery. She should be OK by pre season. (Just kidding, of course)! Gotta love the look on Emily’s face in that top one. Classic!

~ JUST ONE I LIKED ~

Love the smile on Quinns face in this one, so thought I’d share too. I really must get some scrapping done, I have scrappers block at the moment, and need desperately to unblock!!!

~ THE FRENCH DOORS ~

This last one is just for Judy, she was pretty excited to hear we had French Doors in our bedroom, so I took this pic, whilst in bed one day, so I could show Judy what I look at when I wake up in the mornings, you can just see the corner of Brians bedside table, the pic isn’t the best, but you get the idea. Who would think that view is a 7 minute walk to the CBD! Gotta love it!

Have a great night :)

When we are camping, for some reason we are all very tired at the end of every day, despite the fact we don’t actually DO a great deal. We all sigh, sitting around the fire and say “Another Big Day O Nothin’ “. LOL

I always come back feeling so refreshed, happy and feeling lucky that we get to spend this special time with our families and close friends. We were pretty lucky with the weather although we did have one particularly windy day, other than that it was great. We had extra friends come over on the Saturday to spend GF day with us and we had our traditional hotdogs for lunch and then “The Big Roast” for dinner. “The Big Roast” is big, usually 3-4 peices of meat and copious amounts of yummy vegies. Suzy even managed to bake a cake for Bronte and Mandy who have birthdays today and tomorrow, it was very yummy, especially since it was baked at the last minute! And finally ended with marshmellows around the fire. Of course, as tradition dictates, we had perfect weather on Sunday we packed up LOL. oh well, better than rain. We unpacked in record time and were completely sorted by 6pm, we are getting good at the end bit! I didn’t take many pics but did get one or two good ones, which I’ll post soon.

After such a relaxing time, work was a big shock today, very very busy and just non stop, I didn’t get half as much done as I wanted too, but enjoyed it anyway. Especially when I got told we are getting a big reward soon! Yippeee, the dates are yet to be announced but I am hoping like mad I can make it! Fingers crossed.

Also it was Bronte’s birthday today, my baby turned 7! Oh even when she is 57 she will always be my baby! She got a little mini stereo for her birthday which she loved and then after school all her cousins came over for cake and a play, while all the adults chatted. Just lovely! I did take some pics of the blowing out the candles, but they are still on the camera and I’m too tired to get them off, so I’ll do it in the next day or two.

Lastly, I came back to the news that another two of our MAC girls met! Judy was in New Zealand visiting family and caught up with our resident Photography Guru, Karen. They had a lovely time and Judy commented that “it was like meeting a family member rather than just a friend!” How lovely. It’s not long until our get together and I can hardly wait to meet these great ladies. Sadly not all of us will be there this time, but we will all be together in spirit, and those not there won’t be forgotten.

Lastly I thought I would do my first “Imagination Prompt”

The question that came up was “What did we do before the internet”

My answer is “I have no idea!” LOL

Have a great night everyone!

Oh I so wish I was this motivated when it comes to spring cleaning my house LOL. I have been busy renovating my blog, as you can see, and while I was doing it, I was getting lots of valuable feedback from the MAC girls, so thanks girls.

In my frenzy I have also helped renovate, Angela, Shez and Sharon’s blogs (Sharon’s is still a work in progress, under review and discussion.) Go check them out, I must say, I think they look better than mine LOL, oh well!

~ IMAGINATION PROMPTS ~
I have also added a section for “Sites I Love to Visit”, the top one is a site I found yesterday, called “Imagination Prompts”, I thought it was a great site to use when I can’t think of anything to write here, but, in saying that, I really am enjoying this blogging journey. I have found that it helps me focus on all the good things in my life, and when I sit down in front of my computer ready to make an entry, I can clear my mind and really think about what I have achieved, enjoyed, laughed at, and for the most part it’s all good! Anyway, I am rambling, check the site, if you need to be inspired, either for writing on your blog, or even in your layouts, I think it’s a great way to get started…. so get writing, I love reading about my cyber friends, it’s like a special glimpse into everyones inner self, don’t worry about your spelling, or editing your feelings, the important thing is to get it down….*stepping down off soapbox now*. ;)

~CAMPING~
Our camping holiday was delayed slightly, due to inclement weather, (otherwise known as bloody strong winds!). We are now heading over tomorrow, it’s been nice to get those few extra days in at home. Also, I am going to try and take a leaf out of (MAC) Judy’s book and not overpack, I loved your theory Judy, but I am not sure I’m strong enough to do it! LOL

~REALITY~
Well I spoke too soon about how great my darling daughters have been lately, it all came crashing down today LOL. They argued over everything and it drove me insane! Hopefully, getting away tomorrow, will interupt their cycle, and they will revert back to loving sisters. Even worse, is when they are arguing one minute, and start giggling insanely the next! Oh soooo frustrating, but I love them more than the world either way.

~SLOW COOKER~
Finally bought a slowcooker today, threw in some Chicken, Carrots, Brocolli, Cauliflower, tinned Tomatoes, and a sachet of Apricot Curry Chicken, (didn’t have any apricots LOL). Anyway it was quite tasty and the meat was lovely, but I forgot to put an onion in and I think that was a missed. But I am looking forward to experimenting more! We might even take it camping!

~LASTLY~
*Judy, I hope you are enjoying your holiday, I’m sorry I mixed up your departure day, and don’t forget to have a drink for me when you meet up with (MAC) Karen :)
*Mick, glad to hear you are healing well, although my morbid side is dying to see your scar! LOL
*Lis, so glad your back

Oh I was gonna upload some camping pics, so you could all see how beautiful it is, but bloggers not playing fair tonight :(

Happy days…. :)