It Is The Day Before Christmas

and I have finally finished filling and decorating my glass baubles. I have used various papers including some Heidi Grace meadows patterned paper. I embossed the tops of the baubles with opals and finished them off with some pretty ribbons.

I don't know about you guys but this year it has taken me a bit to get into the spirit of Christmas. Christmas just seemed to come around so fast this year. I have been so busy in the lead up to Christmas with lots of work and social happenings. All good but it is nice to finally relax and enjoy Christmas eve. The kids are so excited. I love how we have all our traditions in the lead up to the big day and their excitement grows daily.

All my presents are wrapped (a feat in itself for me to have them done and not left till tonight), my baking and shopping is done and now we are waiting for the man in the red suit. We are looking forward to eating some yummy prawns and other yummy food and watching Carol's By Candlelight tonight on tv. May you all have a lovely day. Enjoy.

AWOL

The days have been so busy lately. If I owe you an email I apologise. I will hopefully get to answer them all over the next few days. The kids went back to school last week. I have been working heaps and by the time I get home I can't be bothered with the computer. Not much has been happening scrapbooking wise. My mojo went walkabout but the other day I did an off the page item and some work for my top tens, so I think it may be coming back slowly. I am hoping to start work on a mini album from Christmas a few years ago when we went to Lake Fyans. Have got together all the goodies, lots of Kaiser stuff so just have to organise photos.

Monday I had my oncology checkup (9 month appointment although I am 9 months post chemo). They do a physical to check for lumps and bumps and swollen glands. Nothing major. This doctor (a new one) was very impressed with my scar. She told me it was beautiful lol. I have had that said a lot by many doctors. I suppose some people depending where their lump is causes surgery to heal differently or change your shape etc.

You would think after having cancer there is more they would do but they pretty much leave it up to you to detect any changes, and give you an annual mammogram.

All is good. I see the doctor on 15th January 2008. The only thing I hate about the public system is that you see a different doctor most of the time. You also seem to have to wait for ages (although I did this for years privately as well). My appointment was at 10.15am (the first appointment) but I wasn't seen until 11.30am ( a quick wait this time). I hate sitting around. It is sad to see the other ladies about to begin their journey of treatment, surgeries etc.

This month is breast cancer awareness month. Please donate, buy a badge/pin etc to help raise money for research. My friend Wendy is holding a pink ribbon brunch on Tuesday in honour of me to help raise money for breast cancer research. Looking forward to seeing all the girls and helping a wonderful cause.

Tuesday morning I received a phone call from Donna G to say (her Mum) and our friend Sandra had lost her battle with cancer. I feel so sad for Donna and her family but so glad that Sandra is no longer suffering. They had a hard time over recent weeks trying to keep her pain under control. Sandra went in for a simple knee operation back in February and they found a tumour. It was secondary and the primary was in her lungs and ribs. Sandra was such a funny lady. Always made you laugh even when things weren't too good. We will miss her funny emails and her sense of humour. The funeral is tomorrow morning.

On a lighter note I have wasted time over the last few months on Facebook. Add me as a friend if you wish. It's an easy way of keeping up with all the aunts, uncle, cousins, old school friends and scrapping buddies.

Leah turns ten next week. I know I say it all the time but where has the time gone. She is having a birthday party on Saturday with all her friends at the YMCA and then family will probably come over in the evening. Leah's party is a fun and games party with rope climbing, trampolines, pass the parcel etc.

I have made up 20 gift bags filled with lollies, popcorn, juice, chips, fruit and jelly, kids packaged biscuits and heaps of other bits and pieces rather than do the standard food that I will end up taking most of it home. I am adding all the lollies into the bag rather than doing lollie bags. That way the kids can eat what they want at the party or take it all home. I have also bought them a bottle of water each and will tie a tag on the neck of the bottle with their name on it. After all the running and climbing they will do they will need a cool drink.

Not long till Mich and Lee come. Jason and I have been researching places to go and where we will camp. They have headed up towards Broome for the next two weeks. Next they are off to Uluru.

Happy birthday to Mim for next week.

Christmas is approaching fast. I have started buying a couple of presents. Everyone is coming to our house this Christmas. Looking forward to it.

All my seeds have sprouted in my greenhouse. I have transplanted a million lettuce and have a million more to find homes for so that they can grow. All my herbs have sprouted. Jason has planted three habanero chilli plants.

We have wild ducks with their babies here once again this year. They are so cute.

I caught up with Paula this morning for a cuppa for her birthday. We went to the Flying Teapot. Such a cool cafe.

Anyway it's wild and windy here today. We have an extreme fire warning. I can't thing of anything else to add for now. I will share my off the page creation shortly.

Edited to add. This afternoon I went to pick up Leah from the bus stop. Walking back into our yard along the driveway I stepped over a snake. I thought it was a small tree branch as I was chatting to the girls. It was only just over a foot long. A baby red belly black. I sent the girls to get the axe and attempted to chop it in half . Lucky for Sammy snake I wasn't successful. As I hit it there was another beside a rock on the other side of the garden about the same size. yuck. I hate them. Part of living in the bush. I would much rather see a bit one than little babies. At least you can see where they are.

Ebay Auction

Check this out. Pinched the link from Ngaire B's blog. So funny.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D130144061675%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1

Florewen Scrapbooking Retreat

Last Friday to Sunday I attended the Florewen Scrapbooking Retreat with Paula, Erica and Tracey. It was held at Lake Dewar YMCA where I work.

www.camps.ymca.org.au/htm/htm_lakedewar.asp

Lake Dewar is set on 250 acres of beautiful countryside. Featuring steep gorges, a huge manmade lake, walking trails and abundant wildlife.

I spent the weekend teaching some classes as well as managing the lodge as my boss was away in Sydney. It was a very hectic weekend for me with little downtime. I still managed to fit in some scrapping time though. May have been the long hours we stayed up lol. The first night we didn't go to bed till 2.30am and I was up at 6.30ish to prepare breakfast for all the ladies (creamy porridge, cereals, fruit, two yoghurts, a variety of breads, muffins etc and jams, honey, vegemite and more). I didn't sleep at all the first night. The bed was comfy but my mind was wide awake.

The second night we enjoyed a few glasses of wine from St Anne's Winery (a vineyard just down the road and a must see if you are in the area) and we didn't go to bed till 3.30 ( a couple of ladies stayed up till 5.30??????????). Sunday morning I had a sleep in and didn't get out of bed till 7.30am as the chef came in to do breakfast.

Although we had little sleep I didn't feel tired until the following day. I have spent the week trying to catch up on sleep. I spent the weekend battling back pain but my back was feeling much better by Sunday (went downhill Monday and I was back at Osteo, Wednesday. Starting to come good again now).

We had the best time. It was so nice just hanging out with the girls. It was my FIRST time away from home with no kids or Jason. Can you believe that.

I never got to catch up properly with a few of the girls. One of them was Deirdre. Sorry Deirdre I didn't even realise it was you (comes from never meeting before lol except online) until you went to teach your class and then you were off home.

The classes, food and company were just perfect. Wendy did a wonderful job organising her first retreat. Will share my creations when I get around to scanning them.

 

Design Team Call

DESIGN TEAM CALL

We are looking for new members to join our Design Team.

Email info@karensscrappin.com.au with Design Team in the subject and we will send an application form.

Happy Scrappin'

Karen

www.karensscrappin.com.au