HAPPY AND SAD...

Hi guys, I just thought I would let you all know that my 14 year old son Max just got his first job at McDonalds he starts next Tuesday... It's happy and exciting news but also quite sad, I can't believe my baby will be working he has grown so much in the last year.

And my daughter Alice who recently turned 16 got her Learner's permit and had her first driving lesson, with her Dad of course 'too scary for me' in my car though... Alice has been working at McDonalds for a year and a half and it has been really good for her, not the best wages but it has given her some responsibility and her own money which has been great for me too... Anyway she is driving us crazy all we hear 24/7 is "can I go for a drive" "can I drive here" "can I drive there"...

I've been collecting vintage frames for a couple of months now to make a family photo grouping, I have started painting them cream and then I am going to scan my photos and print them off in sepia or black & white not sure yet, I will see which looks better.

This is my collection so far...

I've been playing around with the layout now all I need is a spare wall to hang them on...

The lovely Mel from Mel's Rose Place was talking about collections in a previous post 'which I have only just caught up on' and it started me thinking about what I collect without even knowing it... I LUV teddy bears, I LUV Gail's paintings, I LUV throws and cushions, I LUV roses, I LUV white cane furniture and wrought iron beds, I have recently fallen in LUV with china dinner plates and tea sets that have roses on them and after looking around I noticed that I seem to have a thing for cake stands...

Here are some pics of the collections I never knew I had...

These teddy's don't always hang out like this, I just tried to get as many of them as I could in one pic...

I think I'm going to have to buy some of those lovely faux cupcakes that a few of you lovely ladies make...

I'll try and do a collage of all my gorgeous Gail goodies, I'm up to 16 prints, 1 lovely shelf, 1 letter/key holder, 1 original and I have another original and a print on the way, and I also got a cute little Gail box thing on ebay OOPS I almost forgot I managed to be the lucky winning bidder of her little cupcake original off ebay as well...

"My daughter's boyfriend Jake was sitting in my lounge room the other day and said it doesn't matter where I look I see roses" mmmm just how I like it...

Would LUV to see the collections that have snuck up on you...

PS. I went to the lovely Nikki from Chi Chi La La's today to pick up another of my ebay naughtys have a look isn't it soooooo cute...

PPS. I think I'll have to do some extra days at work...

LOOK AT MY NAUGHTY STASH...

Hi ladies, yes I'm still here... I really don't have any excuses for not blogging only that I have been working a lot and tired a lot... Anyway I have been having a quick sneak peak now and then and I'm in awe of all you lovely talented ladies. I just can't believe all the energy and enthusiasm you guys have.

I had a lovely camping trip with my sisters and all the kids, my daughter took a few of her friends with us so it was a bit full on especially in the bathroom... I'm sure you can imagine. Haven't really had a chance to look at the pics we took but I will definately post them when I get around to it...

I'm still recovering financially though and I've been very good on ebay and

http://www.gailmccormack.com/ Gail's website which I am a regular to. But last week I just lost it and went a little crazy and yes you guessed it; I just had to have them.

So here are some pics of my new treasures they are just lovely I'm very proud of myself...

Firstly my new Gail bathroom print isn't it devine...

Now I might have to change my whole bathroom decor from blue to pink...

Then I really splurged on this gorgeous 'American Beauty' trio and sugar/creamer set (I won't tell you how much it cost) but it was way toooooo much and I think it's the start of a collection...

I also got this lovely pedestal plate stand it's so sweet I absolutely adore it...

And this little crystal vase which next year will be full of real roses from my garden...

Last but not least I also got a lovely Ashwell Roseblossom quiltcover set and these lovely photo frames they came with pictures of vintage ladies wearing pink hats but I replaced them with my own little 'angels' first holy communion photos.

Just look how the lovely Tanya (chic2510) from Ebay has wrapped them I felt like it was my birthday I didn't want to unwrap them they looked so lovely...

and she even included these lovely little tags as well...

Oops nearly forgot my gorgeous little vegetable tureen...

Don't you just LUV them, I must say they have cured my feeling sorry for myself...

Ok enough of the good stuff, you know how it is when your just too busy to do anything and things all of a sudden start to get neglected, well my garden does... My lovely fuschia is no more, along with a few other favs and the two new rose gardens I planted back in spring that I didn't get around to putting the weed mat down, well the grass was taller than the roses.

So I spent all day pulling out grass and weeds now they are ready for the weed mat and bark, but to my surprise the roses are still going great. My pride and joy cecille brunner weeping rose has finally grown over the hoop and looks ready to start weeping...

This photo is back in Spring when I was thinking 'mmmmm' is it going to do anything...

And "TA DA" look at it now and it's been flowering all summer too which is great...

Ok now I'm off to catch up with everyone so I will be unavailable for the rest of the night.

Have a great one

BACK FOR A WEEK AND HEAPS OF CATCHING UP TO DO...

WARNING IT'S A BIT OF A BABBLE...

Hi ladies, how are you all... I've been off on a holiday for the last week to lovely Toowoon Bay at the Central Coast of NSW just fabulous. I did miss my late night travels around the world to everyone's blogs, but I had a fantastic time.

Now to catch up I hope everyone had a great NEW YEARS EVE, mine started out great we had a BBQ/birthday at my sister's place. Yes I turned the big 38 and boy do I feel it, anyway all was great lots of family, food and fun. We actually got the happy birthday in before midnight for the first time in the last few years and the kids all enjoyed the sparklers and party poppers after the big countdown.

I was minding my nephew for the night and returned home at about 1.30am to find my daughters friend who was at a party with Alice and some of her other friends at my house with two boys that I had never seen before, they had come back early as she had Alice's keys, anyway they promptly left and I just had a bad feeling about them and after a quick look around realised that my sons new playstation was not where it usually was. He was staying at my sisters for the night so I quickly rang him to check and as suspected it was gone, we quickly jumped in the car and went looking for the boys, luckily we found them up the street and after a few choice words regarding the police they owned up to taking it and said they would show us where it was. They took us back down the street to a yard and in a little bush they pulled out Max's new playstation, phone, ipod, ipod shuffle, nintendo ds and Alice's ipod and ipod shuffle. I couldn't believe it, I had only noticed the playstation gone, but the little ........... had cleaned out my kid's rooms. Anyway after a HUGE lecture we returned home and I was just in total shock, I couldn't sleep for a couple of nights but now I have come to the conclusion that it has to be my bad and good luck for the year "hopefully". I think we were SOOOOOO LUCKY to get it all back...

Anyway on to the holiday we stayed in a cabin overlooking the beach with a fantastic view and a great verandah to just sit back and relax it even has it's own bbq built in with a sink attached, when you stood at the front door it felt like you were on a boat all you could see was water all around. We went with my sister Sonia and her husband Serg and their son Michael, my other sister Julie and her kids came up for a couple of days and even mum and dad came for a day as it's only about an hour and a half from where we live a great time was had by all, fishing, playing cricket, swimming, sunbaking and just kicking back, mostly kicking back for me....

This is the view from our verandah...

This is the view from my bed...

I even took one of my Gail prints...

This is where I kicked back everyday...

Assorted pics...
Mum having a snooze (she was only resting her eyes) and thats my sister Julie trying not to have her photo taken she's like me I hate having my photo taken, Sonia and Serg cooking a bbq, Alice and Max fighting over the remote, my room, Sonia and Jess kicking back in my spot, Max and Michael box heading, Max playing guitar hero, the boys playing beach cricket and Alice doing what she does best... sleeping. And the last pic is what it looked like the day we arrived YUCKY luckily everyday after was absolutely lovely....

(CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE)

I'm back for a week and then we go camping for 10 days at Anna Bay which is a lovely spot a bit further up the coast and yes I did say camping, We go with both my sisters and their husbands and all the kids, my daughter is also taking 3 of her girlfriends this year (scary) We are very spoilt campers though; we have ensuite sites which have their own bathroom and we take fridges, electrical appliances and just about everything but the kitchen sink. The kids love the camping it always brings great memories...

I will spend the next few days catching up on everyone's blogs and can't wait to see what all of you creative ladies have been up to, I've still got a list as long as my arm of things I want to get done at home but they will have to wait till the next holidays...

Have a great day.....

I'M BACK FULLY RELAXED AND READY TO GO...

Ok so this is where I've been the last few days, and believe me I needed it....



Hi Ladies, what a great Christmas, I hope everyone had a great one too. I had the whole family over on Christmas day 'the whole 26 of us' and it was just fantastic we have a traditional hot xmas dinner and then my neice dresses up as santa and we do the whole hand out the presy thing which takes forever, anyway it all went off without a hitch and we all had a great night.

I put my daughter in charge of xmas day photos as she got a new camera for xmas, which I really don't want to talk about as she dropped it last night and it's now not working $300 down the drain... So when I get it fixed I'll post some pics of the day.

I also do a Christmas dinner just for Danny, Max, Alice and me on boxing day and I took some pics with her old camera which I have actually used more than her over the last 6 months.

Before Christmas dinner...

After Christmas dinner...

Danny sneeking off for a lay down...


Max's gingerbread house he makes one of these every year and he still isn't getting any better, you should see the mess when he's done...


I have also posted pics of my gail goodies and my white xmas tree which I finally got up two days before xmas, and yes some photos of my back verandah...



How gorgeous is this my first Gail 'original' I'm soooooo happy....

And my little key and letter holder It came just in time to hang santa's key...

I know I got a bit carried away but I've been promising the verandah pics for ages and I just luv it out there. I work in a school so I've got the whole school holidays off YIPEE, so if anyone is looking for me this is where I'll be with a cold beer in hand, sorry ladies I am a beer girl just can't stand the taste of wine...

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE...