I found, it, I found it, I found it

Woohoo I found it!

So excited. I wazs cleaning up in my scrapping room - packing away the goodies from Paperific that I had just dumped on my scrap desk and sorting out the lace packs I had in piles on the floor. Anyway.......

When placing things away - there in the back of the cupboard, tucked away. I found this albeit small but very exciting bundle of.............
.........................................................................................

You'll never guess! In amongst all the new goodies I had bought was a small clump of..............................................................

Scrapping mojo! YAY ~L~

All of a sudden had not just heaps of enthusiasm but ideas popping around in my little head! I know exactly what I will be doing this weekend. Hope I found enough mojo to stretch over the whole weekend! Can't wait to get started.

Part time ......Ppfffttt

Lately I have been stresing and feeling guilty about my contribution to the household budget (or lack thereof). I have felt bad that I am only working 2 days a week and knowing that this is likely to drop more soon. However, I haven't been taking extra work into consideration.
I worked out today that yes.. I am officially only on 2 days a week but this week I am working 5 days (between 2 places), next week am working 4 days and 4 days the week after.
Maybe my lesson for today is to stop stressing the small details and look at the bigger picture!

In other news......

Got to send a shout out to Sandra and Andrea who both have special job interviews over the next 24 hours. Praying for both of you.

A fun afternoon

Had a great fun time today. It was a mad, busy day but a good one too. Spent the morning running around cleaning the house - having been away last weekend and then working this week the housework was a bit behind and I had people coming!

We had Jhorjie over for Tash to play with. We had promised Jhorjie when we met the twins that she could have a day with Tasha this weekend and the girls were so good together. They are so well behaved. Kyle had his friend Shaun over which is always pretty full on to say the least! Even Maggie the dog has a friend over to play! (We are dog sitting Mums dog overnight) And Tony has been sorting out all the junk that we have been putting aside for a tip run, borrowed Phillip's truck and got that done today.

This afternoon Cass moved her monthly card class down to Worrigee so I got to stay home and make 8 christmas cards for $15. And they were amazing cards! She is such a clever lady. It was great to catch up with Jane as well. We really don't see each other nearly enough - we communicate regularly by sms but don't spend near as much time together as we used to. I really miss that contact! All up there were five of us there: Cass, Jane, Gail, Kristy and myself. It was a nice group and just a friendly relaxed afternoon.

Home Mk 2

Yep made it home safely. Am now very tired and exhausted. Would love to share some pics with you but......(insert blushing face here).... actually forgot to take pics for most of the weekend! Anyway had a great time.

Friday
Got up nice and early and got the kids off to school then drove to Canberra and caught flight down to Melbourne. Have to say thanks to Kase for the pics of the new Pignataro twins. They were born as I was travelling today! Sandra met me at the airport and I don't think we drew breath for the next few hours catching up on all the latest details! Got home after stopping off on the way - we wanted to try out the new flavoured vodka but couldn't decide which flavour so bought 2! ~L~ (Raspberry and Citrus for the detail oriented!)
Then we sat out the back and watched the sunset sipping our drinks which were lovely! We went around to see one of the dentists SJ worked with who was moving in to lend her Matt's muscles! Then we came back home and sat and chatted and laughed. (Sorry Matt :( ) Eventually got to bed sometime around midnight I think.

Saturday
We went to Paperific! I got to meet the lovely Miriam who is such good value and heaps of fun. We wandered, chatted, did the touchy-feely thing, checked out the make and takes - did a couple of them, bought a little (yeah okay maybe a little more than that!), laughed a bit more and just had a great day. Got some cool stuff - stamps, new sassafras papers, a gorgeous cupcake chipboard album, ribbons, and heaps more. The weird thing about Paperific was the fact that I was recognised by people I had never met ~ then we realised it was because my face had appeared on Sandra's scrapping. So I became famous vicariously through her work! It was kind of off-putting though when people said "I know you don't I?"

Then back home for more drinkies and sunsets. Then a bit more chatting (not much we were both pretty worn out) - mainly I just sat in the chair that I am sure is there just for me - I love sitting there besides Sandra's scrapping desk watching her creative process and listening to Matt's music and checking out his photos. This guy is so creative and his pics are amazing. Check them out if you get a chance!

Sunday
Slept in till 8:30! Then we hit the shops! These shops were amazing. We just to the local shopping centre - ie this shopping centre services just their suburb but what a complex! Imagine a crossroad intersection with a mall the size of Nowra Fair on each of the 4 corners! (well technically 3 - the 4th is under construction) Did quite a lot of browsing and spent ages checking out baby clothes trying to decide - Keira wasn't much help she kept finding cuter and cuter outfits.
After doing a spot of grocery shopping we headed home and just relaxed and vegged out for the afternoon. Had the yummiest home made Satay Chicken pizzas for dinner. mmmmmm so good. Then I attacked Sandra's craft stash and did a heap of stamping to bring home.

Monday
Got up nice and early this morning as we had to be out by 7.00. Matt dropped us at the train station and SJ and I caught the train into the city where we sat and had breakfast before parting ways. For this country girl who isn't all that used to public transport I was so proud of myself. Today I
* Caught a train (okay so Sandra was with me so maybe that one doesn't count)
* Caught a tram
* Caught a second tram
* Found the bus terminal
* Caught bus to the airport
* Checked in ~ no mean feat as the check in took an hour and a half (was actually worried I would have nothing to do - ended up being very glad I got there early!) Did have a good chat to an architect from Newcastle who specialises in sushi bars whilst in the check in queue!
* Flew back to Canberra (after getting a free upgrade for being nice to the check in staff ~ all I did was change a $20 for them!) in a nice new plane.
* Tracked down car in long term parking (I am sure it wasn't that far away when I parked it on Firday)
* Drove home!
* Collapsed in a heap!

All in all I had a great weekend. Am now totally exhausted and missing Melbourne already. Have to work on that transfer again Tony!

Have to say thanks to the Allan family for once again being my family away from home. For welcoming me in and letting me be one of them. For putting up with my weird sense of humour and for letting me be me. Matt and Sandra you are the best friends a girl could have and I love you both MWAH. Miranda thank for the smiles at breakfast ~ what a great way to start the day. Keira thanks for the bed again sweetie. Hope your voice is back soon - but in the meantime STOP TALKING! Jamie, hope you are feeling better soon mate.

Thats about it - would love to share pics but.....Doh.... can't!

Now I just want my bed!

Home

Not happy - just did the longest post about the weekend and blogger lost it! Will sit down and try again

Mayhem and Madness

Yep you can tell from the title that all is normal here in the Lucas household ~L~

This week has been kind of mad with lots going on - mainly so I can organise my 4 days away! Soooooo excited - can't wait to totally terrorise Melbourne again ~ hmmmmm wonder just how we can get into trouble this time (note to self: Keep SJ away from security buttons!) So I will drop the kids at school on Friday and then drive up to the airport leaving them at the mercy of their father for the weekend!

I was a very proud mummy when Kyle came home from school on Monday with a note saying he had received a CREDIT in an ICAS computer skills test he did at school. Very proud of you mate - well done.

Am very excited over the fact that on Friday I will be an auntie again. Keep Simone, Greg, Jhorjie, Dominic, **** and **** in your thoughts and prayers (edited to protect those who don't know names etc of the twins).

Have applied for a couple of jobs so anxiously waiting to hear back. Have loved only working 2 days a week but the bank man doesn't like it quite as much as I do ~L~

Anyway hope you all have a great weekend. Will catch up with you on the other side of it!

Cards

Well I finally got around to uploading the pics from world card making day at Gails. Here is a glimpse of some of the cards I made. Some are fairly basic but I am happy with them. Also got some cards made with the "impossible" stamp from Jane. Forgot to take a pic of them so will do that and post them up here at some stage.


Oh and for anybody still counting ~ 5 days to go!!!!!!

Bye Bye EJ

Well Erin is off up north to terrorise ooops I meant explore the sunny state of Qld. Hope you have a great time and things go well for you!

The girls went off to Berry for one last Banoffee Pie expedition. Tasha managed to join them and had such a ball. I wish I could have gone but some of us had to work!
Tasha loves spending time with her cousins and thought she was just soooooo special being allowed to join the "grown ups" for a day out.
This pics were taken by Tasha (with some help from Erin) - you can see how much fun they had!

Bye Erin you will be missed and family gatherings will be sooooooo quiet without you ~ we may need to invest in a foghorn that we set to sound at regular intervals so we don't miss you too much.

Woo hooo

Just a quick post

1) 8 days to go - my arms are tired from all the practising ~L~ All your fault SJ! Zoom zoom a zooma zoom zoom - up in the air I fly!

2) Just got to shout out a big HELLO to Miss Jane who has been mentioned on numerous occasions in this blog. She has finally found her way to this little space (kinda scary - wonder if she knows what she is in for!)

3) Just gotta send random *hugs* to the wonderful Cass.

Anyway gotta go get ready for work - this working every day isn't much fun!

World Card Making Day

Who'd have thought there was such a thing but apparently there is so off I went to spend the day stamping and cutting and colouring etc etc. But first things first........ got to get the exciting stuff out of the way first!

13 DAYS TO GO

Till I go to Melbourne. Am soooo excited. I don't think there is a person who hasn't heard! Woo hoo Can't wait to see you to give you a REAL hug. Have been practising my airplanes - it is soooooo long since I used them.

Now back to our normal scheduled programming.... ~L~ Had a ball at the card making day and made...... wait for it......... 12 cards today! And I am happy with all of them. Will get pics up here over the weekend. Came home covered in ink and glitter ~L~ guess that means it was a successful day!

Oh....... don't forget to fix your clocks guys - daylight saving starts in a few hours!

Pics

Jeneen, you were asking about the water levels at Hidden Valley. the answer is low!!! There were some patches of decent water and in some places it would be deep enough to swim but in Hidden Valley itself, through the "rapids" as they used to be - this is what it looked like.