....And again!

I did this last Monday, right after my last layout, but it's taken me this long to photograph it and upload. I told I was no good at this blogging bizzo.

"Finders Keepers" is based on the Pagemaps sketch for this month and is my little man at his first egg hunt.

Not that he hunted - we showed him where they were, he sat down and tried to eat it. As far as he was concerned he only needed one!! LOL! We've still got a freezer full of eggs, Cooper had had enough after half a rabbit and Jack was sick on the day. So no one's really eating them (except for Dad, who would eat them all in one sitting if we let him)

More scrapping..... sort of. I altered Ebony's cast with some old rub ons. I was bored and I was looking at her thinking I don't want to see all sorts of crude drawings from her friends all over it.

Yes, one of my children finally succumbed to their acrobatics and really hurt themselves! Of course I didn't believe her and told her to put an ice pack on it. Sent her to school the next day only to be called up to bring her home. It's one thing to be told by a nurse it's broken and another to be lectured by the deputy principal that "it doesn't look right". In my defence it swelled up between home and school. But I have been told I'm not the first and I'm sure i won't be the last, to misdiagnose my child. (unless of course my gorgeous friends are just saying that.....) . So that was yesterday and now I need to go find my modge podge cos the rub ons are rubbing off.

Cheers Vikki

I finally scrapped something......

that didn't involve copying from a layout or sketch. Granted this layout has been 6 months in the creating, but it's all mine. When I finished it I thought to myself, "That'll do it's done". But it's actually growing on me and I like it. You couldn't believe how good it feels to actually stick something down again. I have been so devoid of inspiration, so 'over' scrapbooking, I was actually considering chucking it in. But I can't, I still love the process, looking at what my gorgeous friends have created, I knew it was in there somewhere. Deep deep down, and finally it's bubbling to the surface again.

I also haven't had anything to blog about, boooring.... Truth be told I'm not very good at this, it requires an ongoing commitment and I'm realising that's not my thing. Commitment that is...

Being here every monday to write about what's going on, too much pressure.

So in a nutshell here's what's happened in the last few weeks anyway...

Ebony broke her arm, no photos yet. She's embarrassed.

Jack turned 6 and had a low key party at the park with his closest buddies..

and it was Easter. This year I actually managed to get to the shops early enough for some decent eggs. One big one each and a couple of crates for hunting. Of course it rained and the hunt was done inside, but once the sun came out, the kids took the eggs outside and did it all over again, and again and again!! I found one they'd missed when I was gardening the other day, it was like seagulls to a chip!

So basically that's it. I'm going to go try to do another layout now, from scratch, this will be an interesting test!. i think I know what I'm doing......

Look What the Kids Dragged In......

Meet Tinkerbell, aka Tinka , Tink or Kitty. (although I think she should be called 'Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat'. Long live Calvin and Hobbes. ) White as snow and eyes of gold.

Those who know us know we're not cat people but she adopted us. To cut a long story short she followed us home when we went for a walk one night. 3 days later and she was still camped on our doorstep. I took pity on her and gave her some chicken, can't have her dying on my watch! And from that point she became ours.

We did take her back to the place she ran out from , but it's for rent and no one is ever there when we dropped in . The neighbour didn't want to know - yea thanks for your help. So if you recognise her 'sorry', but she's being looked after and she is happy.

You have to wonder why when you see pics like this....

I often wonder if she thinks 'what the hell am I doing here??' It's not unusual to see a streak of white flash through the loungeroom, followed by a child yelling 'Kitty, come here! I just want a cuddle!'

So now as a cat owner I must act responsibly, we keep her in at night, and she wears a rather noisy bell, but next on our list is sterilisation. Thankgod the shire discounts this. No kitty's for us - god Shaun would freak. (He reckons he hates the cat and won't do anything for it, but I've spied him scratching her ears while she lounges in our bed!!) I guess she's captured all our hearts..

Til next time

Vikki

Things I didn't know then but do now....

Part 1 : Bali

So I'm sitting here today hating the heat and swatting away the endless swarm of flies and I had a revelation.

There are NO flies in Bali.

Well none that bothered us anyway. We had a bee who tried to drink our coke, ants that bit and heaps of bats. No flies. Which is astounding considering the amount of rubbish piled up here, there and everywhere. Maybe that's it, the rubbish is so plentiful they have no need to bug people. One thing is for sure the heat is bearable when you're not spitting flies.

So to revelation number 2, Bali does not have an organised waste disposal system. Apparently rubbish is chucked out the front door, in front of your stall or on the vacant lot next door, and then every now and then you'll put a match to it. Hotels and restaurants are the only places you can find a bin.

Bali is not Pram friendly. Kerbs can be anything from knee height to ankle high. If there is a hole in the path , put a piece of ply over it. My kids had to climb the steps to the shopping mall, they were so tall. Needless to say we carried the pram alot.

Along with a lack of building code seems to come a lack of road rules. Our driver tried to explain the road rules to us, but it pretty much sounded as if they were optional. As long as you beep first anything goes. As for scooters you can carry as much as you can hold! That includes a few chickens in a cage, a broom and a bag of clothes plus your infant child! Helmet if there's room!

People always told me, the Balinese love kids. LIARS! The Balinese are obsessed with children. Quite often we'd be held up for minutes at a time while a group of women would pinch the cheeks, and rub the hair, and exclaim how handsome our children were. Jack learnt very fast to hide behind one of us when groups of ladies approached. Even men would hi five the boys, and comment to Shaun how lucky he was. A few times we'd stop at a market to browse look up and find Trent 3 stalls up, being passed around and adored by a group. Freaky!!

You can buy Bintang beer everywhere. At the mini mart, the safari park, the waterbom park, the zoo, at the cafes in the mall or the ice cream shop. At the mini mart you can also buy ciders, and vodka mixes. So cheap! $2 aus will buy you a 750ml Beer or a 375ml Smirnoff. (I often wondered what would happen if I got Ebony to buy the beer.)

Macdonalds delivers 24/7. (with bintang if you so wish!)

Monkeys are dirty , horrible nasty creatures!

The monkeys are located near Ubud, which is an amazing town in the mountains. Here you'll find artisans converging from the smaller towns in the mountains. Women with baskets on their heads and men with weird deformities and growths we never suffer from because obviously of our proximity to modern medicine. It also has the biggest market place rubbish pile ever!

And in amongst all the chaos, and dirt, and jaw dropping sights there is the beauty. The absolutely stunning shrines in every home, the massive roundabout art and the guardians that stand out the front of hotels. Watching bats steal fruit from your balcony, or a Ulysses butterfly alight upon the Bougainvillea, the beaming smiles of the people and the stunning tropical forest. The WOWS certainly outweigh the ewws!

I really can't wait to go back. Without the kids, so I can explore further, spend more time getting pampered and shopping. Mmmmm, Mojito anyone??

Scrapping Boys

Just a quick post today.
Here is my challenge for November's challenge at Scrap The Boys. Be inspired by the Poem Snips and Snails.

Nature 101 and a birthday

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit of a nature nut. I can sit for hours and watch ants carry food home or birds bathing in puddles. It's a great way to waste time. So imagine my thrill a few weeks ago when a Willy Wagtail decided my knee was a great perch to spy bugs from. I was weeding the lawn at the time and stirring up all sorts of creepy crawlies. He really made my day. And then on the weekend we had such glorious weather I went and sat on the back lawn soaking it up. Who should pop in but Mr Wagtail. He never touched me this time , just hopped around my legs, and came right up to my fingers. Just jokingly I said to him 'are you waiting for me to stir up some bugs?' and ran my fingers along the grass. And he followed my hand. Cos I wasn't doing anything anyway, I thought I might as well find some for him. So head down, bum up and fishing through the grass like a junkie from a gangsta movie I searched for bugs. DS 5 thought I'd lost the plot, searching for bugs is a boy thing!!
Anyway we gathered a heap of bugs up and placed on the sacrificial altar (aka a piece of brick) , with their butts squished so they didn't wander off. Almost immediately Willy swooped down, filled his beak and took off. And was back in no time hopping around us both waiting for more. And oblige we did, he was picking them off as we were putting them on. So brazen. He wouldn't take them from our hand but some bugs never hit the brick he was soo close. DS tried a couple of times to touch him but he'd fly up to the fence, flash his eyebrows and chitty chat at us. It was really amazing how he had no fear of us, how he trusted us to give him this food. Would've been the easiest pay day he'd had I tell ya. In some sweeps he had 5 or 6 bugs in his mouth, I'd say he's got chicky's in a nest and took the bugs back to them. I just love this stuff - Shaun calls me Dr Harry (Better Homes and Gardens) in his dry, sarcastic way. Mr Wagtail hasn't been back, probably full up, or maybe we've exhausted the bug supply, we did sacrifice a few. LOL!!
And the more exciting news!!My baby turned 1!! Oh, where has this year gone???
Cake shots - Little piggy polished off two big chunks of cake. I think it's his first cake ever actually. How sad is that?? I'm such a naughty mummy!! He had a low key sorta day, blew up a heap of balloons, sat him in the middle and he was set - instant party.

So we're off to Bali on Friday, bit excited, a lot scared. Not of Bali so much but of not enjoying myself. Who's bright idea was it to take all the kids? Oh that's right, NOT MINE!! LOL, I'm sure they'll be too excited to be naughty! See you when we return!!

Cheers

Let's Get Shabby.....

Here's my take on this month's sketch challenge at Let's Get Shabby.The criteria was sketch and something Vintage. The little filigree heart was pulled off some old necklace, and the book page is from a 70's edition of Alice in Wonderland. The Roses are Prima which is vintage inspired! I'm really clutching straws here aren't I? And before someone screams sacrilege at destroying my precious books, the kids got there first! I have 4 kids, precious things are just not welcome in my house. I've tried and I keep failing. No where is high enough, no where is secure enough, give up Vikki! ;-)

About the photo, my Daughter 9 and her friend at a classmates halloween themed birthday party. Apparently big brother is a budding photographer and had a studio set up in the garage, where he took photos of all the kids, the girls obviously bugged him into getting a print out!! Which reminds me, I shoulda scanned it first - Doh! The grave images are from a stamping on Acetate swap we did through the group last June. Thanks charmaine.