Reflections

It happened . . .

Yep . . . the road between Longford & Sale (Sth Gippsland Hwy) has been closed, so if we need to go to town now we have to drive around via Rosedale . . . not that I should need to for a little while because I did everything I needed to do yesterday.  We've got clear skies this morning so am going to try and get a little washing on the line to hopefully dry before the expected rains come in from the west this afternoon.

James came home from school yesterday with a note saying there would be no school today as a result of the expected flooding, so school holidays have officially started for us now!  Yay!  No routine for 2 whole weeks!

Last night I got stuck into a circle journal page for a 'Friendship Album' an online group is putting together for one of it's members . . . once again I got a little carried away with the hand stitching, but hey - that's just me!

Oh and speaking of Circle Journals . . . Wendy I haven't forgotten about yours . . . it's next on my list of 'To Do' items!

Thanks for stopping by!

Flooding

What a 'typical' wintery day we experienced yesterday - cold, blustery and wet (although not quite as wet as those further to the east experienced) but we have managed 73mm since the wee small hours of yesterday morning.  I've read on Ninemsn, that Bairnsdale has managed 93mm to date and would you believe it but Mount Baw Baw had 355mm rain fall from 9am to 4.30pm yesterday!  I wonder if that is correct?  Seems like an awful lot of rain!

Our 20,000 gallon tank was overflowing early yesterday afternoon (*sigh* - and we had to buy 2 loads of water over the summer months)  and I've heard lots of reports of trees down in the local area too!  We had the power flickering on and off throughout the course of the day and we lost power completely at about 3pm.  When I telephoned, I was told it should have been restored by 4pm but it was about 8.30pm when it finally did come back on.

The boys thought it was great though - I went and got the 'Portable Gas Stove' that we take camping and the toaster thingy and they had baked beans on toast for tea - oh and all by candlelight too - Adam called it their "camping tea" - *grin*

I had to laugh just now as Adam woke and come out of the boys bedroom - I hear the light switch (in the lounge) click on and off and then his little footsteps running into the study where he says "Mummy. isn't it great that the power is back on"!  Isn't that just priceless?  Needless to say, when Adam went to bed last night at 7pm, the power was off - *grin*

Anyway, I wonder what today will bring?  They are tipping the Thomson River to flood at levels like the 1990 floods which could mean the road between Longford & Sale gets cut at the Caravan Park - I'm going to do the School & Kinder runs this morning and then get into town to catch-up with a friend, then do the shopping and get HOME!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Shirl

It's finished . . . finally!

No doubt the girls in my local scrapbooking group have been waiting for me to share the 'Heritage' page I had been working on at our scrapbooking day last week but hadn't completed.  I really struggled with this page (as the girls well and truly know - *grin*) . . . I couldn't get the background colour choice right - initially I was going to go with shades of green BUT I didn't like how everything just seemed to blend in . . . so then I thought maybe a black background would work BUT no . . . wasn't really 100% happy with that either - there just seemed to be too much contrast that detracted from the photos.  Isn't it frustrating when things just don't come together as you'd planned?

Anyway . . . I ended up playing with lots of colour choices and bits & pieces for embellishments AND I'm pleased to say I've finally finished it . . . another page for my Heritage Album!

Here's hoping you have a wonderful day!

Shirl

A big weekend!

Well . . . it's been a big weekend in the Fyfe household with James entering his first Go Kart race yesterday.  Whilst he's been a member of the Bairnsdale Go Kart Club since earlier this year and has been up to the track and done some practice drives, yesterday was his first official race day with the club.

Actually, the day started off perfectly when he was given the number for his kart - he so badly wanted to have the number '5' and as you can imagine, he was thrilled to learn that there was no other 'Midget' kart with that number in the club that he was able to have it!  Oh . . . and because he's a newbie, he's got to have 'P' plates on his kart for a while too! *grin*

Being his first race day meant that he had to start the 3 heats and 1 final race at the rear of the grid - in 6th position (there were 6 'Midget' karts - 3 driven by girls & 3 driven by boys) and he finished 6th, 6th, 5th & 6th . . . needless to say he was quite impressed with his 5th finish!

He did quite well handling his kart  - probably a little on the slow & cautious side but he was pleased he had no spins as that was something he had been doing when we'd gone up to the track for a practice (mind you Stuart learnt that the kart was a little on the light side earlier in the week and so added some weight to it before race day).

Oh . . . and to top off such a wonderful day for James, he won the 'Junior Stewards Award' too - I'll snap a pic of him with that later today . . . needless to say it's off to school along with some photos for show & tell this morning!

So all nerve levels can return to normal in this house now - the 'first' race day is over . . . mind you, he can't wait to go back up to the track for another practice session now! *grin*

Just before I go . . . a very special get well message to my Mum & my brother who aren't in good health at the moment . . . love to you both and here's hoping that today is a little brighter!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Shirl

Heritage Gallery

Since I have added some of the Genealogy links that I find useful in my Family Tree research, I have recently been asked if I could share some of my Heritage scrapbooking on my blog as well.  So for those of you who are interested, I've added a Heritage Gallery for you to browse through!

Enjoy!

Shirl

Heaps of scrapping!

Yes, I've been doing heaps of scrapping since I last posted . . . mainly finishing off projects I started using the *new* June CLUB Scrappit which has been released at Scrappit today!  Why not check out the June CLUB Scrappit Newsletter whilst you are at it too . . . heaps of inspiration in this one again . . . here's one of the projects  I had been working on . . . another 5 x 7 matchbook album with photos of my niece (same design as the one I did earlier this month).  I took pics as I was making this one, so for those of you who asked for directions on making one . . . I should have something put together soon - I promise I haven't forgotten!

For those of you in my local scrapping group, I promise to bring this one along tomorrow so that you can all take a peak  . . . the papers are just stunning in real life - embossed with glitter as well - not that you can really tell in the scan!  Incase anyone wanted to know, the 'B' is a Maya Road chipboard letter that I've covered in Bazzill, doodled on and added some bling as well.

Does anyone have kids who are really 'into' the cars from the 'Cars' movie?  Adam is - he just loves them and puts any money that he gets (birthday or pocket money) towards buying ones that he doesn't have.  You can imagine his excitment for his birthday when we got him 'Mack' . . .

Mack opens up and you can tune up 'Lightening McQueen' (which I know means absolutely nothing to anyone who doesn't know anything about the Cars movie but believe me - it's a big deal to my 5 year old *grin*)  Anyway . . . that wasn't what I was about to tell you . . . Adam (and James) have been wanting to get some of the newer cars that have come out BUT they are really hard to track down . . . imagine my delight when Stuart came across a place (yep on Ebay) that had the full range of the cars that are available . . . 'Red' (the Fire Truck), 'Tongue Lightening McQueen', 'Hydraulic Ramone' and so the list went on!  I ended up getting quite a few which I'm going to put away (maybe for Christmas) but also as the boys save their pocket money they can buy them off me (not that I'm about to tell them what I've got - *grin*)  Adam inparticular is going to be so very excited.

Actually . . . all this talk of Adam's fascination with the Cars movie reminds me I really must get on and scrapbook it too - I've been collecting tags, packaging, stickers, etc to use along with photos of Adam at play with all his gear but just haven't scrapped them yet . . . I really must get my act together *grin*

Ok - until next time . . . take care!

Shirl

Updated Photo Albums

I decided to re-hash the way my photo albums were displayed and now have one single album for everything I do as a Scrappit Design Team member and then one for all my other creations that I do just for me.  Check them out in the left hand column.  In each album you will find a collection of scrapbooking pages, greeting cards and other off-the-page projects that I hope inspire you to get creative too, all listed from newest to oldest!

Enjoy the browse!

Shirl

Saturday Mornings

Why is it that when kids have the chance to sleep in they don't?  *grin*  Both yesterday and Thursday mornings I had to wake both the boys so that they could ready for School (James) and for Kinder &  a Parents Club meeting  (Adam) . . . yet this morning after Stuart left for work at about 5.45am, I heard Adam out of bed just after 6.30am.  He must of played quietly in the playroom for a little bit though because I didn't hear them both until around 8am.

Hopefully once the fog clears it's going to be a nice day today . . . you can make out the clear blue sky above the fog . . . so hopefully the grass will dry out enough to run over it and neaten it all up too.  I'd done some spraying over a fortnight ago and the weeds are finally looking really sad and sorry . . . it's amazing what a little rain does for sparking the weed growth.  I've got the garden bed out the front of the house needs a little weeding too, so I might add that to my list of things to do today, along with replacing a couple of plants in that same garden as well.

The new June CLUB Scrappit is out next week too so I'm in the midst of working with the gorgeous range of products in it.  Have you checked it out?  It's available on pre-order on the Scrappit site and a little bird told me that it is selling fast, so if you think you might like to get yourself one, don't leave it too late or you'll miss out!   Mmm - I just looked and I can't see a pic on the site yet . . . shh, don't tell anyone I showed you . . . the papers are just gorgeous with glitter on them too! 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Shirl

Been busy . . .

If you are someone who is checking back on my blog a little more regularly now, you will see that I'm starting to add some other links down the left side menu that I regularly visit - there's favourite music artists, in the kitchen, in the garden and  family history categories now, which I intend to add some more links to over time.  I'd also like to include some of my family history information there as well as I've often had people ask me if I happen to be related to so-and-so (but I just have to work out the best way to include it - LOL)  Anyway - keep checking back to see what's new!

Hey, how's this for a pretty neat pic!  It's just your ordinary common toadstool that I spotted growing under one of our grevilleas (95% of our garden is Australian Natives) and I just couldn't resist snapping a pic of it . . . love the closeup shot with all the dried flaky top showing too!

When was the last time you captured an aspect of your garden in a photo?  Have you checked out the Scrappit Photo Competition . . . it's up to Round 3 at the moment.  There have been some wonderful entries in the previous two rounds (and some very happy winners I might add) - why not check out the Round 3 theme and get your entries sent in!

Have a great day everyone!

Shirl

I couldn't resist!

When I browsed through the photos I'd snapped of those 'thank-you' flowers (scroll down), I couldn't resist having a play with one of the images to create my blog banner . . . what do you think?  I've been meaning to do one for some time now and whilst it is a little on the basic side . . . I don't think it looks too bad!

OK - back to your regular viewing - *grin*

Shirl