Dione

pages!!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:51:00 +0000

Remember me?

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:27:00 +0000

Did you know that one of my favourite scrappers is Ali Edwards? Today while I was watching Brothers and Sisters on 'TV on demand' and browsing some blogs at the same time I had a lot at hers - I think hers was the first blog I ever really read - and I found this inspiring entry. it is 20 tips for scrapbooking and it TOTALLY made me want to go and start a new page. I love her style even though it really is different to mine. and I totally adore her handwriting. Wo! I would give a lot to be able to learn to write like that. so if you are a scrapper, go look - read - then scrap, if it affects you the same as it affected me.

Lots has happened since I last posted and I have done loads of pages. I have also finished designing for Scraplets - which is sad but good. Some of their products were out of this world and I will miss having them. I don't think I have seen any of them at any shop in NZ.

I don't think I have any photos of any pages that I have done recently. but lets have a look...

Weeks from Hell

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:32:00 +0000

I am riding a roller coaster - a neverending one. every time I think we are slowing at the terminal and I start to catch my breath and prepare to undo my safety apparatus, it speeds up and takes off again! I have been a blubbering idiot, got happy pills from a doctor and experienced a day or two of something that tried to convince me that the roller coast didn't exist, then a counselling session where we focused on the reality of the rollercoaster adn the wisdom of riding it. and then many hours in shock - eating- and hoping its all a dream - a very bad dream!

wow I need to scapbook this analogy!

anyway after some sanity from the counselling I thought I was on the up and maybe we were finally sending down stabilising roots (picture organic roots sprouting from the rollercoaster and trying to grab onto supporting poles and surrounding trees) then realised today when I snapped at CJ that I really did need another happy pill (anti anxiety - lorazepam or something like that).

So here we are. Hoping a weekend without demands will blur the rollercoaster at least long enough for me to breath again.

One of the ups was someones suggestion that i put forward a proposal about providing counselling for the social work program in the form of a research proposal. and I had some hours of the brightness of possibility of change and escape. but today Logan suggested that it was a longitudinal type study that probably wouldn't need many hours a week - there fore could be done along side my regular work. that was one of those moments when the subject stays still but the b ackground and surroundings zoom in and out in a wild uncontrollable manner.

(deep breath in. long slow breath out. repeat)

here are some pages... hope there aren't any I wasn't supposed to put up yet. its so confusing to me in the state I'm in! First 4 are scraplets. last one is not. I have some more that I haven't photographed yet. Will try tomorrow!

The question of the hour.

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 08:06:00 +0000

I was discouraged to find out this week that there were well over 100 applications for the job I was so interested in. It brought up the old debate in my head about how important is it really to have a job you love. I dream of having a job that I actually WANT to go to, a job that I enjoy doing. But then I wonder if I am being greedy as I have a really good job that pays well and is relatively secure in these hard times - so am I just asking too much - hoping for a fairy tale ending - in wanting a job that is perfect.

I am just not happy giving up so much of my precious time (and my time is precious!! to me and to my kids) to do something that is not exciting or fulfilling, and that just steals my life away. But I do love the travel I get to do, and it is getting me towards the big goals I have that cost money (one is going on a cruise!!! haven't mentioned that have i!!) and the work is not too hard. SO it is not terrible, I don't HAVE to get out, it just isn't all that.

Do you know what I mean? Is it asking too much to have a job I enjoy or am I being ungrateful and greedy? Hmm the question of the hour for me.

I had a talk with my cool dad and he made a very valid point - even if you have a job you love, it is often the people and the atmosphere that will make or break it. I think that is very true. You can enjoy a not-so-good job if the people are cool and you have friends. And since I often don't fit in - wherever I am, but particularly where I am now, that is probably a bigger point than I have given it credit for.

ok change of subject.

I have completed more pages and have in fact started putting them up on my walls around my scrap area. I control a corner of the lounge (some might argue that I control the whole house, but we won't go there...) with my scrapbooking things and my goals for the year are up on my wall. (maybe I should photograph them and show you...) and now I have about 10 of my favourite latest pages up there too. and whenever I finish a new one, I will take down my least favourite from the wall and add the latest. before I started doing that, I just finished a page and added it to the ever growing pile and didn't really ever look at it again. I have way too many pages to put into albums - or not enough albums perhaps - because I would much rather spend my money on supplies than albums!

SO here is the last page I finished. I like it in theory but not sure if it is all that. The only journalling/title is We are Davies. the colours haven't come across quite right and there is some threadless stitching that you can't see (part of the square background frame). And sadly Alyssa was almost out of the shot - doubly sad or perhaps poignant - as this was her last family event before flying off to OZ.

Yes I'm still alive, and have been designing up a storm since I last posted...

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:04:00 +0000

HI!! I know it has been a long time since I posted and even though there is probably a draft post somewhere that I haven't pressed publish on, but that doesn't really help. But I have been doing a lot since I was last on and the most exciting thing is what has made me come now to post again. I am applying for my dream job - as a Graphic designer at Te Wananga o Aotearoa. This is where I already work as a disability coordinator in Student Support. My work there is ok, there are some really good things about it and I get to fly around the country quite a bit. but when I stumbled upon the ad for the graphic designer I knew i had to apply. I may not have a hope of getting it, since I have no quals or official experience in it, but I had to give it a go.

I do have a very good eye for detail and a huge love of design. I think i have a very good instinct for design, balance, contrast too, so I went for it! Since I don't have all of the things they want I knew I had to get in there and show them what I can do, so instead of a covering letter I made a mini poster in Photoshop that was titled CHOOSE ME! I hope that catches someone's attention.

I mentioned my blog on the poster, so I figured I better update with some of my latest work. Of course it is my art that show the skills I believe I have for this kind of work. The job is only a junior/intermediate, and will be focussed mainly on layouts for adverts and stuff, but I would love to do that and start there! Honestly, I think I would be so happy doing that work, that I might actually look forward to going to work! that would be a change.

So here is some of my latest art pieces!!

These two pages are inspired by and built upon cool plastic shopping bags I got from Pagani and Shanton (?). I thought they were so pretty that I didn't want to throw them out. I checked them with my PH pen and they seem to be ok.

Most of the stuff I have been doing lately (including this one - Sleep Tight) has been for A2Z Scraplets - a design team I am on. They are an australian based manufacturing company and they make a wide variety of chipboard shapes... they are all interesting and some are absolutely beautiful. I like the doodlets the best - there are some just gorgeous swirls and shapes... go and have a look! Scraplets are a wholesale seller only, but they do have a list of online stores on their blog that you could order from.

And while it is awesome to have the pleasure of designing for them, that has been the problem for putting pages online too - I can't put pages on here until they are put on the A2Z Blog, and if I submit (I have a few coming out in up2Scrap magazine soon) then i can't add them here either, and so I just don't get round to it!

So how about a quick update on my family for those who know me well... Alyssa is on her way to Brisbane, with her boyfriend John and his family. John is already in Brisbane and Alyssa and the rest of the family are in Christchurch until they can go over. Chanelle has pulled out of year 13 to start uni a year early. She has had her first week of her degree in Early Childhood Education at Waikato University and seems to be really enjoying it. That leaves Caylah as the sole Evans at Church College in it's last year open. She seems happy about that! CJ has started High School this year and is doing well with that too. He is at Melville High and I am excited that he will be taking piano lessons!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:21:00 +0000

So Im in the middle of a week off work with tonsillitis and other related infections. Everyone has been sick around here. Except Chanelle. And then Alyssa is here too so it is even more crowded than usual.

It has been good to connect with home again. LIke I said last post, I would give an aweful lot to be able to stay home full time again.

Isn't it wierd how you don't appreciate stuff like that when you have it. I used to be so frustrated with being at home with the kids all the time. I defnitely didn't enjoy it. And I hated housework. Now I don't mind keeping the house tidy - although I could never be accused of being a neat freak, and crave time at home. and time with the kids. I just can't get enough these days.

I wish I could have done it the other way around... If I could have worked and felt this way first and THEN had to stay home with the little ones I would have loved it! and I think I would have been a better mother for them... although you never know do you. It is easy to look at something that isn't happening right now and imagine that it would be great - the grass is always greener and all that. The odd time when I take care of Grace or Cody for Shel, those little chatterbox pinklings (that is what I call them since they wear pink every minute of every day) drive me crazy!! they never stop talking and they need you ALL THE TIME.

Life is busy

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:39:00 +0000

Isn't it? I know it's not just me. I know it is the world in general these days. We have had Caylah's best friend move in with us recently. She is 16 and pregnant and along with her comes her boyfriend - every day for a lot of the day. And since Cayz' boyfriend is also here every day a lot of the day that means I now feed 7 people most days and we hardly have any space or privacy.

that just makes everything feel so busy and full. Don't get me wrong I actually enjoy the social way our life is now and I love having them all around and I love being part of their lives. It is just that it leaves so little time for anything else...

Like my business idea. I am too chicken to write about it yet, but I am planning to start my own business. It started when I was less than satisfied with my work a few months ago (this has picked up now) and in thinking about getting another job I realised that I would just be trading one 'its ok' job for another and what I really wanted to do was to have more freedom in my time to be there when the kids were doing stuff and take them places they need to go etc. For instance Caylah sat her test for her drivers licence on Friday. And I had to take Laman (Katrina's boyfriend) to an appointment to try to find him a course or a job. And I have had to go with Katrina to WINZ appointments and Cayz has been to the doctors a few times lately. How are you supposed to do all that when you are required at work 8.30 - 4.30 monday to friday.

So frustrating!!! Honestly if I could give up work and stay home I would soooooo do it tomorrow!!

ANYWAY... I have some good scrapbooking news!! I have been chosen for another Design Team. It is with an australian chipboard manufacturing company - A2Z Scraplets They have some absolutely gorgeous swirls and curls and I can't wait to start using them!

This was good news since I bombed in both of the comps I was participating in. Which actually suprised me because I did this awesome page for one of them (can't even remember which one any more!!). the challenge included several things to include, as well as a found item and some packaging or labels.

and I really liked this one too although once again the photo doesn't really do the page justice. there are bling in a swirl pattern across the bottom that don't really show here. I cut out some flowers out of vellum and loved how they looked layered on here.here is a two page spread for one of those competitions too. DIdn't like this one so much but the frames were excellent! you were supposed to do a creative frame and so I used this shiny red wire twist tie stuff that I go off my nana a few years ago and I twisted them into curls and stitched them on. I really liked how they turned out.Ive done something else inspiring lately - I visited the glaciers!! Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. The weather wasn't great and I didn't get really close but I saw them and I am glad taht I did. The first one is Fox and the second one Franz Josef. I would really like to do one of the half day walks that takes you right up and onto the ice.

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:59:00 +0000

So I have been trying to get back into the challenge thing... not as successful as I would have liked but its a start. I registered to participate in the 'so you think you can scrap' comp at scrapbooking by design, and didn't get any points in the first round with this one:
Then I didn't get round 2 completed. I started this page but them realised I hadn't used a photo with me in it. Duh!
then I tried again. I have never tried again when I was doing a challenge. I usually just do the best I can with the one I start and then go with it. So I worked on this one, but when I realised I was too late to submit it I completed it without all of the required items. They were supposed to have Paint, Torn paper, Stamps, Ribbon or trim, A flower (or more if you wish), Clustered embellishments, Mixed photo sizes ... one of which must include you in the pic!!
Then today I sent off for some info for a new DT and to participate in Embellished Idol. I have tried out for DT membership with them before and obviously bombed and I am a little freaked because I hate to get canned in the first round, but ... I know I am good enough, so I need to try. I notice that they do a lot of texture and treatment of papers and embellishments. And they tend to use a lot of colour. What have I got to lose?

Work is... well work. I have been at my new job for 6 months or so now and it is OK. There are up times and down times. I have been able to stay with Alyssa in Wellington and Susan in Whangarei and I have visited some places I have never visited all through work. I am learning te reo through Te Ataarangi - I get every Thursday afternoon off to do this. And I might even be able to fulfill one of my life dreams (see a glacier) next month when I go to Greymouth for a conference. Those are the ups.

But there is something about the management of the culture or something that is off. I feel stupid there. I make mistakes and I feel like an absolute idiot far too regularly. Now you need to know that I KNOW that I am not an idiot or stupid. I know that. so I know that the reason I feel that way is outside of me. But hard as I try I can't figure out what it is that makes me feel that way. That is the down side - along with the fact that they are trying to get us to do too much work for the number of people.

Ok Cayz and Chanelle are giving me a hard time for asking what they are whispering about. Cayz told me to go back to talking to myself.

Ok really have to go. I have to take photos of the pages I want to add here.
I hope I will be back to add them today or tomorrow! - added: what do you think of these 6x12s?

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Tue, 27 May 2008 07:37:00 +0000

Hi.

I have been busy scrapping with my latest kit for Paper Pesto and will add the pages after they have been published on their blog. I Enjoyed doing them and felt I got more and more into it as I went along. I did 7 pages - in about a week! most I have done for a while.
Here they are

Church College 50th Reunion

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:46:00 +0000

After several to's and fro's Susan and I are attending the reunion! It starts tomorrow but I still have to work so I won't make it to anything until friday. I went to the last reunion, but this one is special. I am really excited about who I might see again. I don't have anyone in mind to catch up with, but It is just exciting! Aunty Gaye is coming over today, cathryn and Brett are coming back from the states, and lots more people.

I have been attending Condors song fest practices at 7 am all this week and it was been like a little reunion each morning as more people arrive. Not many that I know, of course - I wasn't very populr ro well known, but that feeling is really cool. I'll take some photos and add them over the weekend if I get round to it.

For those of you ex-college students who aren't here - so sorry you couldn't come!!!

album about me

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:57:00 +0000

So over easter I had a marathon scrapcamp at Shel's. four whole days!!! It was eventful in more ways than one, but what I did achieve was to half complete an 8x8 album about me. I wanted to do something that if a person read it they would be as close to really knowing me as they could be without meeting me... I wanted to scrap the hard stuff that doesn't seem to come out in my regular pages. I brainstormed a list of topics and just worked through them. I really enjoyed it. So here are a bunch of them. I have done a few more since easter to, but haven't photographed them yet.

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:58:00 +0000

no layouts today, just a thought. For anyone not from NZ you might not get this, and even some who are! I went on a noho Marae in the 3rd week of my new job. Noho means stay or something like that and the Marae is the centre of the Maori community. It is customary to stay at the marae for all sorts of things including Tangi (funerals - which is at least a 3 day affair) and everyone sleeps on mattresses spread all over the floor. A big part of the marae is the kai (food) hall and the ablution block (not sure if this is a well known word because I have only ever heard it used at a marae, but it is not a maori word.

ANYWAY I have come to see the the best way for a group of people to break down the barriers, bond and get to know one another is to stay overnight some where. Is it because you can't hide your horrific snoring, or that it is unavoidable to have people see your morning hair and smell your morning breath? Either way there is a closeness and a comfort that is build when you stay the night all together that I don't think can be reached any other way.

The work one was interesting - with a distinct work feel during the day and some huge laughs in the evenings - of several hundred people - I think over 500. I have also stayed at a few while I studied - with class mates, and then many with Single Adults from church. They are all different yet this staying over bonding thing is common.

What is that all about? Has anyone else noticed this? go on - all two of you should put feedback so we can pretend that this is an interactive blog! go on!

Alyssa's gone.

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:41:00 +0000

I have encouraged her independance since she was 6 months old. She has been an enigma her whole life - loved by EVERYONE, I don't think I know anyone who didn't love her on first sight. She is definitely unique. It has been her life's work so far to be as unpredictable and 'anti' as possible. A teacher once called her quirky and that is probably the best description of her that there is. She has been a thorn in my side since she became a teenager overnight at 12. But we managed to find a narrow and windy path of peace over time. There have been many times in the last 3 months when I have said "I can't wait until she leaves". And I held my tongue as she spent more and more time with a boyfriend who I am apathetic about.

But today when she drove away with Natalie and Natalie's parents, I was caught completely unaware by the grief I felt. Tears streamed down my face for several hours as I thought over and over 'She's gone'.

So imagine slow dramatic music playing while you slowly scroll through the following selection of images of Alyssa April Evans!

I WANT PIZZA!!!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:19:00 +0000

Dominoes Toni Pepperoni on thin crust..... warm and melty, spicy and crunchy. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I'm bubbling with creativity!!!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:36:00 +0000

I don't know what it is but I just can't wait to get my hands into the paint and paper, I feel like throwing all my letters up in the air and swimming in the rain! (course I would never do that!! too much time to reorganise) (but then organising supplies is pretty fun). It could be that I whipped up 8 6x6 pages with my goals for the year the other day, or it could be the digidares site (I just LOOOOOOOVE those digi pages!) when I look at that site I almost want to do digi! Come one, if you are a scrapper, don't you just want to do pages like those?????

So what is stopping me? I know, I don't have enough little files!!! and since I just had to clear 40 gigs of trash off my 80gig hard drive which was full to 79.5gigs, I don't really want to clog it up again with that. Well not right now anyway!

We now have 3 computers! We first had a second one when I was allowed to bring a laptop home from Webhealth to work in the afternoons about 2 years ago, and we just couldn't live without it after that. So Dad gave us an old laptop, until that died, and then Paul (THANKS PAUL) passed an old one down. I had to throw a bit of money at it to get it going, AND it now only has windows 2000 on it because we don't have a legal copy of a recent version for it... but then the other day Dad said he had upgraded mums comp (yes they have one each) and did I want another one!! So I converted our dining room into a computer lab by taking up about 1/3 of the dining table with our 3rd computer!

I was missing all the IT stuff but today I managed to wangle permission to get Photoshop installed - and it turns out that Wills has Freehand on his comp. COOL!!!! I seriously don't know if I will be able to hold out in this non-IT job, but I guess Photoshop and Freehand will help!

Work is going well. Kindof. in theory. I guess you have to get used to people. I have been feeling a bit (unreasonably) peeved that I have to prove myself and regain my usual 'miracle worker' status. Really this is the first time I have gone from one job to another, since Webhealth was my first 'real' job and it has been ... ummm... interesting.

so, just changing the subject, here are some pages I have done lately. I really like this first one - it was for a dare - um Aussie Scrapjacked
Notice the mix of coloured and black and white photos. and yes I admit, I didn't take them! It was Chanelle. Guess what!! Chanelle is taking Photography in school this year!! I am so excited! She better be top of the class!.
I really love this one, using the biggest board chipboard swirls by (um sorry can't remember) that I just got over christmas. They are so much fun. The summer breeze one has some too.Here are the ones I did for Paper Pesto last month:

and then there are these ones...
See how I sewed silver thread to show the rain drops? this one was really fun! I went and bought the thread specially - something I never do!!
the colours in this one are SUMPTUOUS! (cool word) and even though the photo is not the best, I lvoe this page. ALyssa wrote the friends part and I outlined it and cut it out. I also drew the journalling spots.

I suck at this blogging thing!!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 05:11:00 +0000

Let's see if I can do better in 2008.

I am starting the New Year with a new car and a new job and some may say a new family - as Alyssa will be going away to university in Wellington in February. I am having another page published too, so my scrapbook 'career' is managing to float despite my lack of attention. I have been working on my latest commitment for Paper Pesto for a week or two and the collection was fabulous! Some cute stuff the I probably wouldn't have bought myself and some papers that were almost too cute to use! It was a bit off the beaten path for me and I have had to work a little harder than I did last time. But thanks for the challenge, Kate! I am quite pleased with my results! I won't post them here until the kit is released.

We have had a fairly relaxed Christmas day - I finished up at Webhealth on 21st December and had managed to complete my Christmas shopping well before then. We had lunch at Shel's around 2 and took a family photo:

So I have been home 5 days in a row more or less (aaah bliss!!) and have completed a couple of pages and browsed a bit online. I have really been enjoying browsing the Embellished website - particularly the pages of one of their design team members Ali Russell. Take a look here:

http://embellished.typepad.com/ali_russell/ http://www.embellished.com.au/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=581

I needed a little inspiration and Ali has definitely done that! Thanks Ali!!

We are heading off north to Whangarei tomorrow for a few days, but as soon as I get back, I am so getting into the scrapbook swing of things! I bought myself a little plastic chest of drawers from Bunnings for Christmas - 25 drawers - for my chipboard and other random letters. Will take a photo if I remember. It was fun to sort my letters into there - but then I got engrossed in cleaning up my space and I opened a shoe box and found about 10 more chipboard alphabets! I need to upgrade my chest of drawers already!! It is the first time I have complained about having too many scrap supplies.

There has been one other little hiccup that got in the way of my scrapbooking - the DVD player in the lounge where my scrap corner is, has died, or at least taken an extended holiday. I like to play and replay Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis while I scrap and without that I am stuck with TV (no we don't have sky or freeview) and that is pretty much hit and miss. I am watching an old series 2 episode of Stargate Atlantis as I type. I can't live without my scifi!!

So did I tell you that I was published in Up2scrap? One of my pages was a full page addition in the December issue! It is so cool to see your work in print, and it is not usually the pages that I think are the best... if you are interested in being published - do it! submit submit submit!! Send everything. You just can't tell what they may be looking for! Up2scrap won't publish anything that has been put online - even on your own blog, but the others don't seem to mind. I have been submitting by email - about 10 pages per email and I might send several emails at a time. I make sure that each photo is only about 100kb, and I don't usually submit them for particular categories. I have submitted to probably 5 different magazines, but have only been accepted by 2... so far :-)

Here are the pages I have done since I got back from the states - except for the Paper pesto kit of course. Not many really. And this first one 'daydream' is a mystery - it has gone missing! it was stuck on the wall with blutak and then poof! gone!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:59:00 +0000

Here are some of the pages I did while I was staying at sharons

But wait there's more...

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:13:00 +0000

If anyone has been reading along or has seen me at all this year, you will know that I ahve been job hunting for nearly a year now....

and guess what???

The hunt has come to an end! I have a new job!

Starting in January I will be the National Disability Coordinator for Te Wananga O Aotearoa (the Maori university for all you pakehas out there!)

I really am published now!!!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:09:00 +0000

I know it is the same day as my last post, but I thought this deserved its own post. This week I bought the Scrapbooking memories edition that has 2 of my pages in it!! I have carried the mag around with me showing everyone, and I am pretty chuffed - as they say!

NEWS! NEWS!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 07:58:00 +0000

We have broadband again!!! It seems like it has been 6 months since we lost our broadband - not sure if reality agrees but we finally have it sorted. It was a telecom issue - we needed to have our phone switched to a closer cabinet and though we have known this the entire 6 months and have tried through 2 different ISPs it was not until I signed up with xtra and became a telecom customer that we were able to get the change made!!!! I know!!!! incredible. When we finally got the telecom guy to come - as a telecom customer - it took him 30mins and not worries at all to get it sorted.

It really is too amazing to believe!

I have been back from my trip for about 3 weeks (?) and can now add some photos.... here goes with some of the highlights:Spongebob Crocs - worn by Cameron
The Nauvoo Temple - took so many photos of it.
Beautiful sunsets over extremely flat and open spaces
and more sunsets
and more yet. This one was over the Mississippi at Nauvoo.
We were driving along through the some state I can't even remember the name of and we stumbled on this gorgeous courthouse. We walked around it and took pictures. We have to ask someone what the building was and what the town was called. sorry can't remember now.
Cute Gaby, or is it Gabey, or gabby....
PB Loco - a peanut butter cafe.
Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins and more pumpkins
My sisters and me - Sharon, Francie and me!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:08:00 +0000

I have not done any scrapbooking of over a week now, since I got to Francie's and since I barely bought anything when i went to 2 scrapbook shops this week I think I must have done as much scrapbook shopping as I can manage too ( I know!! is that even possible??) I am really looking forward to getting home to use the stuff I have bought!

But actually I am more looking forward to seeing the kids. For that odd few of you readers who are not friends or family - I am a single mum of 4 children. I have been raising them on my own for nearly 10 years now, and am finally at a point where I miss them when I go away! For so many years time off being the mum, and having a break was so sought after that i did not think about them when I was away if I could help it and I never missed them or longed to get back home. So I am pleased that I enjoy my kids and my home enough now to look forward to going home again.

and of course I look forward to my own bed (even though it is an ancient lumpy mattress that I inherited from Jenni and Matthew and have been trying to reply for at least 7 years) and my own kitchen (even thought I have very much enjoyed all the cherry flavoured things I could find here in the US) and my own ward.

Life is good.

but i am already planning my next trip!!

its half over!!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:53:00 +0000

I am resisting the urge to fall into old patterns and start regretting that the holiday is half over! I still have conference to enjoy and nearly 2 weeks of rest to continue having so i want to just enjoy it!

We had an incredible adventure to Nauvoo - Sharon and I drove 2000 miles - over 3000 Km across several states and we saw and heard amazing stuff about Church history including being in the very room that the prophet Joseph Smith was killed in. I am almost speechless about that.

I scrapped a couple more pages at Sharon's. That was so fun. Like scrapbooking in a scrapbook shop with every possible need at my fingertips. and I found tools on my last day that I didn't even know she had.

I have also bought obscene amounts of scrapbook supplies and my bags are already very very heavy - not yet overweight, but very heavy! and i am probably not finished with the scrapbooking stuff!! and I still have some other things I need to get here in Utah including quads for the girls, a suit for CJ and some last minute requests from Dad and Shel. And i am almost ashamed to admit how very few items I have bought for the kids. (not a good motherly type am I?!?!)

I have started looking at jobs available back in NZ - at least the ones i can find online... have found a few possibilities, but nothing that really grabs me. What is going on with that?

I bought a new camera that i am really enjoying using... can't remember the brand and model right now, but it fits comfortably in the new handbag that Sharon gave me for my birthday and so it is right there most of the time - exactly what I wanted!! It has 7megapixels and 6X optical zoom - one of my wants - so that i can get in nice and close - but the big plus over my kodak is some sort of image stabilisation, so there are way fewer blurry shots. it also has an easy exposure adjustment that i have used several times already and lost of features that I haven't played with yet!

Yes, you did read correctly - I am 40 now! and it isn't really a big deal to me. Actually I actually think of it in a positive light rather than a negative. I am a cool and up to date, energetic and interesting 40 year old woman and at the risk of sounding cliche - i know much more about myself and feel so much more confident in my own skin than I did 10 or 20 years ago, that I would rather be 40 than anything else!! I love that my family are at where we are at - that my kids are almost all teenagers and in fact three of them are so close to Independence that I better spend time with them while I still can!

I love my life!!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:56:00 +0000

Well a week of my 4 is gone, and I have mixed feelings about it. I have definitely had a fun week and am always enjoying spending time with Sharon. Don't get to see Mark much and enjoy the boys - although they do stretch it a bit some times!!

We watched the boys Sacrament Presentation today and it was super cute (a sharon-ism) with all of those cute little american accents. I can hear my own accent twisting a little and resisted it - because I knew what mum would say! but then gave up and just went with it, although I do take the opportunity to talk to myself every now and again to get the kiwi straight in my own head!!

I have been feeling like I would really love to live here. I have never thought about it before, and I don't know if I would get sick of it and want to go back home if I did, but ... I am just admitting to the feeling i am having.

I think I will go get my camera and take some photos of my pages and add them right now. because I struggle to write without adding photos too!

Hello from Aurora, Colorado!

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:06:00 +0000

Hi anyone who is looking!

sorry I don't have any new pages or photos to add right now, because I am at Sharon's house (my big sister) in the US!!!! It is Wednesday here I think, and I arrived Saturday. It is good. I am not thinking about work, am doing a lot of scrapbook shopping and talking talking talking with Sharon. the boys are really cool and adorable and even though Cameron barely stops talking he has the widest smile!

I have been scrapbooking for Sharon using her photos and her supplies and it is fun. It is cool to use her stuff - she has everything I need! I have taken lots of photos of the boys, will have to check and see if they are any good and maybe add some. I will have to take photos of the pages I have done too.

Weird. I actually can't think of much to say.

I had a bit of jet lag for a day or two - only slept about 16 hours total in the first 3 days including the flight. I woke at 2.30am the other day and didn't go back to sleep until 7pm. I used a little medical intervention and slept through to 6 am and now all seems fine. It was so weird, i wasn't in NZ time or US time - it must have been mars time!

oh well Sharon tells me dinner is ready - such a hard life - posting to a blog while my dinner is prepared for me!

see ya.

Still here

noreply@blogger.com (kiwidee) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:27:00 +0000

Well even though it has been a really long time since I last added a post i am still here. We have been struggling with our broadband for months now... and I don't want to get into it becuase it just makes me mad, but they say we should never have been approved for connection from the start even though we had it going for over a year before we lost it, and there is a cabinet in our suburb. They say they are going to expand the cabinet, then they are not. They say we connected to the cabinet, then we are not. You never get the same story twice and you have no power to do anything about it.

ANYWAY......

I have stopped looking for a job right now as I am gearing up for a trip to visit my sisters in the states in 5 weeks (from today but who's counting!) and I am ok with that for now. I am super super excited and will be going to Denver first, having a road trip up to Nauvoo for my birthday and then going to Salt Lake for conference. Can't can't cant wait!

It is currently 11.38 Pm and I am waiting to be able to go and pick Alyssa up from work at BKs at midnight. I am so overtired and all I want to do is fall into bed and sleep 12 hours... but i guess these are the sacrifices mothers make - or the consequences of my ill-thought-out desire to have my children working for some pocket money. All three girls work now - two at BKs and one at McDs. There are goods and bads. The goods being money in their banks, responsibility and independence and the bad being the 6Km I have to drive one way (12 return) 8-10 times a week! It may sound petty but with petrol over $1.50 a litre here in NZ it adds up pretty quickly. I don't have the most economical car, and it costs nearly $100 to fill and that doesn't even last 2 weeks these days...

anyway enough moaning... and on to scrapbooking.

I have totally dived into doing A4 and 6x12 dimensions and will add them all here as soon as I can get this internet going properly. The initial push was a challenge on SBBD and I just flew on after that. The change in shape has really been exhilarating and the only down side being the trimming I have to do before I start.

I have also sent applications for a few more design teams and did a quick stint in the Embellished idol competition. I thought it would be really fun, until I was eliminated in the first round! Will try not to dwell on that for too long!! I am still participating in a few competition blogs - my favorite being the Scrap jacked ones, and then the dare ones - aussie dares, no 8 wired and the american one. and have won a few. It is so good for my self esteem when i get a page displayed or commented on.

So, if you are a scrapper and if you have never tried another shape and size ! do it! and let me know what you think! Or try another size that you have never done - like a double page. or try a double of a different shape - like the A4 can be put together by the long edge or the short edge. It is really interesting!

Now before I go (will try to add photos tomorrow) here are two fabuloso thoughts to keep you going!

Everything will be alright in the end, so if it isn't alright, it isn't the end!

Don't wait for the storm to pass, learn to dance in the rain

I must scrap them soon! oh and desiderata... but that is a whole other post!