Sports Day, a scrapjack, a cybercrop & a COVER!!!

Friday was Sports day. Emma was in the junior carnival in the morning and Sarah, the senior one in the afternoon. Have a close look at the sky in the background on this photo of Emma- hmmmm, dark & cloudy- and although you can't see it- windy and freezing!!!! The junior carnival made it until about 10.30 before it was called off due to a HUGE down pour. I didn't get many photos of Emma- here she is (too fast for me) in the egg & spoon race- LOL!!!
A few of us Mums went out to lunch (yummo) thinking that the senior carnival would be cancelled too- it wasn't so we spent an afternoon standing out in the wind and light rain trying not to be blown away!! I'm glad I did however as Sarah blitzed the afternoon!!! She came first in the shot put, 200m, 400m, long jump and came second in the 100m. She was also in several team events. Woo hoo- although they haven't announced it yet (announced at Friday's assembly) she should be Year 4 Champion Girl!! One proud Mumma here! :)

She is now very excited to be representing her school in the interschool carnival next Monday & Wednesday!!!

Moving on- here is my entry for this month's Megan Stephenson scrapjack- 'Too Cute to Spook'. How cute is Emma!!! Look Kim- I used the spider stickers you surprised me with- Thanks!!



Craft Attic held their monthly CC during the weekend and I managed to actually complete some of the challenges. Usually I spend all my time chatting online and scrap very little!!! Woo hoo- I won Friday night bingo too!!! Thanks Megan- great calling!

This LO 'Ten' was based on a sketch.

For this challenge, we had to use old stuff from our stash. The Rusty Pickle paper that I have used here has been in my stash forever!!!The MM foam stamps I've had for ages too! The flourish is not old- that's new- yummy isn't it!!!

AND FINALLY!! WOOOOO HOOOOO

My first cover!!!! Yes, this cutie pie on the front cover of this month's For Keeps is Emma!!!The LO is one I did back in March or April for a Craft Attic CC challenge.
I had no idea until the gorgeous Nic left a message here on my blog congratulating me!!! Yes- I am one happy cookie!!!

Anyway, stay happy and stay safe.

Love Janine xxx

Sarah's room...

This is for you Tracey!!! Photos of Sarah's room .... before and after!!!

We had a HUGE clean out at the same time. Lots of things were thrown out, lots of things donated to the Salvos. So now Sarah's room (although not big in the first place) looks so much bigger, better, cleaner and fresher!!! Adam still has to put up the decorative top part of the blinds (this weekend) and then the room is completely finished!!! Yeeeeehaaaaaa!

Yes- Sarah LOVES it and so do I!!!

Have a WONDERFUL day and stay safe,

Love Janine xxx

My girl has turned ten..

My beautiful girl has turned ten!!!

Sarah had a low key birthday this year. No party. Sarah had her bedroom redecorated as part of her birthday present and got to have one friend sleep over - she picked Grace (no surprises there!!) After acrobatics on Saturday afternoon, Grace came home with us. That evening we took the girls out to dinner. We went to the Nag's Head Tavern and it was yummy scrummy!!! We also saw Evan Almighty- talk about laugh!!!!

I eventually got the girls in bed by about 11pm however I could hear them laughing and chatting for a long time. I was hopeful that they might sleep in on Sunday morning- NO CHANCE!!!!

6:30 and they were up - Sarah was eager to open her presents. One spoilt girl lives here!!!

Here she is, scooting around the yard on her new bike, still in her pjs!!!!

After yummy pancakes for breakfast the girls just 'hung out' until we took then ice skating in the afternoon.

Check out these 'twin wanna- bes'. Grace bought Sarah this t-shirt for her birthday and got one herself so of course they HAD to wear them!!! Pretty cute huh? Skating was great fun- even Adam skated AND managed not to hurt himself!!!

After skating we can home for more yummies- ice cream cake-

I took one very tired Grace home at about 5:30- after one very low key but fabulous birthday weekend!!!

I got up really early Monday morning to make these scrumptious buttery fly biscuits for Sarah to take to school to share with her class mates. They are actually two milk arrowroot biscuits stuck together with a melted marshmallow. (Place half a marshmallow on the bottom biscuit, in the microwave for 10 seconds and then squash on the top biscuit- for anyone interested) Sarah tells me they were a hit with the kids- they loved them!!!

So that is it- I'm the mother of a ten year old!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far!!

Stay safe.

Love Janine xxx

A bit of fun...

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car),Bunty Mazda
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie),Baileys Irish Cream Pods
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name),J-Kin
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal),Blue Puppy
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born),Rae Esperance
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 3 letters of your first),KinJan
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink),The Green Wine
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers),Fredrick Edward
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy),Poison Turkish Delight
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ),Kaye Francis
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter),Blair Boston
12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower).Spring Tulip
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)Strawberry Jeansie
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree),Coffee Jacaranda
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”),The Scrap Light Breeze Tour

He he he - that was fun- feel free to snitch and have fun yourself- I snitched it from Rachel Greig's blog!!

Have a GREAT Thursday!
Love Janine xxx

An update...

Howdy all! :)

Sad, sad, sad- the school holidays are over.... but looking on the bright side- there are only nine more weeks until the next holidays! :0)

Update on Mark- He is getting better by the day!! He may even be released from hospital today however he will have to stay in Perth for a week or so for medical treatment but it is all looking good!!! :)

OK- what have I been doing?? I swear as I get older, the days, weeks, months, YEARS zoom past quicker!!

Let me recap-

Thursday- hmmm, I can't even remember what I did last Thursday. We would have gone to swimming lessons and also taken Aunty Lorraine to physio but other than that- I can't remember!!

Friday- Last day of swimming and then after swimming we picked up Sarah's friend Grace for the afternoon as her Mum and Dad were at work. The girls played, cooked biscuits and generally kept out of my way as I did the LAST coat of paint on Sarah's walls. Grace ended up staying for dinner and then when Grace's Dad came to pick her up, the girls managed to talk us into a sleep over- at Grace's!

Saturday- Adam had to go to work early and as it was just Emma and I home, we rode our bikes to Macca's for breakfast- yum, I love Macca's bacon & egg burgers!! After that Emma and did a bit of work around the house- cleaning up, washing etc and we put some of Sarah's room back together.

Saturday afternoon- Sarah, Grace and their other friend Kaitlyn went off to the movies so I decided to do some birthday shopping for Sarah. Boy did I turn into one cranky mumma! I had seen in the Target catalogue something that I wanted to get Sarah for her birthday-- ggggrrrr despite it being advertised in the current catalogue for sale- NO Target store, south of Perth have them in stock- ggggrrrr this REALLY bugs me, why on earth advertise something when it is not available!!! Yes I can rain check it but it could be up to 10 weeks before it comes in- gggrrrrr!

I had to console myself with a bit of retail therapy for Sarah, Emma AND myself- he he he!!

Sunday- Another trip to Bunnings for us all!! I {heart} Bunnings! We bought lots of plants and when we got home- Adam and Emma spent ages in the garden while Sarah and I put her room completely back together. WOW- it looks so much better! The only thing that is missing are the blinds. The windows are not standard size so I had to shop around to get blinds wide enough. I found them, eventually and am off soon to pick them up!!

Monday- It was back to work for me and off to Grace's house for Sarah & Emma. I think the girls spent the entire day in the pool - it was a beautiful day here! Sarah had dancing in the afternoon and in the evening, I had my first game of netball for the summer season. We lost by one goal :( however we were a player short so we were still very pleased with out efforts.

Tuesday- today and another glorious day!!!! The kidlets started back at school today so I was up nice and early making yummy lunches for them. Both girls were super excited to be going back to school and were ready and waiting to go and 20 to 8!!!

I'm off in a minute to pick up Sarah's wooden blinds.... but before I go.... here is some scrapping to share!!!

My beautiful girl- yes I'm still scrapping Holy Communion photos- I have a squillion of them!!

I had fun stitching this one. I have included a close up of the little birdie as I have stitched his tail and legs. I also stitched french knots in the centres of the flowers and parts of the flowers and the bird are raised- paper tole style.

I love this photo of Em!!! Gorgeous little possum she is!

I'm off to get the blinds...stay safe,

Love Janine xxx

Heeelllloooooo!!

Quick update!

*Mark is doing well now. He has now been moved to a general ward (all open heart surgery patients!) and is improving every day! Now he is in a general ward the girls were able to visit him last night and it did all of us the world of good- sitting around laughing and chatting.

*Sarah's room- aaaaarrrrgggghhhh. I really don't like painting .... however..... Sarah's room, although not finished yet, looks so much brighter and fresher. I have painted two coats so far but will need a third as I'm painting a lighter colour over a slightly darker one. I should be finished all the painting tomorrow.

*We spend a very nice day at the pool today. Today's weather was shocking, so lucky it was an indoor pool. I rang around a few of my friends to bring their kids down to Aqua Jetty for a swim. There were 10 kids and 4 adults. The kids had a ball swimming, leaving us adults to drink coffee and chat!!! Fabulous!

*I can't believe the school holidays are going so fast. School never goes this fast!

*I do have some scrapping to share but haven't photographed it yet- will add that to my very big to-do-list for tomorrow!!

Have a great day.....stay safe.
Love Janine xxx

:0)

Yes- Mark has been much better today!! He was just disorientated when he woke up but by the time Mum arrived at 9:30 she said that he was fine. He is still very tired and sore but the nurses had him up walking today- woo hoo!!!

And.... gawd...why do I start things like painting!!!! Sarah's room is basically empty, curtains down, shelves down and I have not long finished scrapping off the very well stuck wallpaper border!! I think it is time for a coffee!!! :0)

Some good news..

Mark is now conscious and no longer listed as critical.
Let me rewind....

Saturday- Saturday morning we did indeed go off to Bunnings. We now have paint for Sarah's room! :0) and lots of other little goodies came home from Bunnings too. I wanted to get a punnet of annuals to plant in the planter next to my letter box and while we were checking out the garden section, Adam and the girls got really keen and bought a selection of vegetable seedlings- tomatoes, leeks, cucumbers and I can't think what else!!!
I had made the decision that I wasn't going up to the hospital and Mum keep me informed by phone. At lunchtime Saturday, Mark had to have his hands restrained and he kept trying to pull the ventilator tubes out of his throat. He was not fully conscious at this stage.
Saturday afternoon Adam and the girls had a lovely afternoon, preparing the garden bed and planting all their seedlings. They even planted my flower seedlings in the letterbox for me. I stayed inside as I was watching a DVD. I watched 'Freedom Writers' - wow, really good movie, very thought provoking. I also got to do a little bit of scrapping. I did wandering out several times to check on the gardeners!
By Saturday night the doctors had made the decision to take Mark off the ventilator and he became more aware of his surroundings. Mum and Dad were there and said that he recognized them, knew who he was, his birth date etc but didn't know what had happened, the year, where he was etc. He kept falling off back to sleep- all normal according to the medical staff.

Sunday- Mum and Dad visited Mark in the hospital and said that he seemed much better than the night before however still didn't know what had happened to him and he just wanted to get out of there. Mum and Dad came to our house for lunch and then they drove back to Bunbury. After coming up here at such short notice, they felt they needed to go home overnight to re sort clothes, appointments etc. Mum is on her way back to Perth as I type. Anyway, with Mum and Dad not in Perth, I spent the afternoon at the hospital with Mark. I was really pleased when I got to see him in ICU that he recognized me straight away. By then he knew where he was, what had happened to him, he even remembered falling as he collapsed at work last Tuesday. While I was there they moved Mark out of ICU to the High Dependency Area (HDA) as he is still on oxygen and his kidneys are still a concern. When I left at about 5:30, I felt really relieved as if a huge step had been taken.

This brings us to this morning, Monday - Mum is on her way from Bunbury to the hospital and should be there by 9:30 however the hospital rang me about 6:30 this morning. Mark had had a restless night, was really confused and the nurses wanted me to talk to him. Poor Mark, he can't remember being moved from ICU to HDA and has woken up not knowing where he is. He can't even remember me being with him all yesterday afternoon. Oh - I feel very flat at the moment. One big step forward, a couple of small steps back. The nurse spoke to me before I spoke to Mark and she said this is normal for Mark to be confused and to forget things after what he has been through. Hopefully when Mum gets there he will be better. In fact, I'm sure that when Mum gets there Mark will fell a whole lot better.

This morning it is raining here. It was bucketing down earlier- great for those little seedlings! :0)
I am going to remove most of Sarah's furniture from her room this morning (better remember to take a 'before' photo) All that furniture will have to sit in my family room (joy oh joy) and then after swimming I am going to start to strip off the wallpaper boarder she now has in her room and prepare the walls for painting. Not really looking forward to this bit but I know I will be really pleased when it is done!

If you are still reading all the way down here- well done, stay safe and have a great day.
Love Janine xxx

Another upate...

Still listed as critical :(

Overnight doctors tried removing the ventilator- this was unsuccessful so it is still there. However Mark is no longer receiving adrenaline for his heart- that is good. Urine output is improving but toxins levels still being monitored so as yet no dialysis. Sedation was stopped today also- doctors were hoping that Mark would wake up today- as of 9:30 tonight he hasn't - maybe tomorrow. The nurses are frequently talking to Mark loudly asking him to open his eyes or to squeeze their hand. Mark has flicked his eyes a few times! He is also occasionally coughing(as much as you can cough with tubes down your throat!)- nurses tell me that this is good(the coughing) The internal bleeding is now under control so the three big tubes coming out of Mark's chest were removed today- yay!!!

We have had more information on what caused all this. The mass or tumor in Mark's heart is called 'atrial myxoma' - his was on the right side of his heart and in most cases they are benign (however we are still waiting to have this confirmed). Doctors believe this tumor caused the clots which blocked Mark's lungs, causing him to collapse. Because of the blockage to the lungs the heart had to over work and became miss-shaped. X-rays today showed that the heart is still not back to a 'normal' heart shape but is more 'heart' shaped than it was.

Until Mark regains consciousness, doctors are unable to tell if he will suffer any long term effects. It is just a wait and see game. My poor Mum has spent most of her time at the hospital. Sometimes she is really strong, other times she just cries. I spent several hours at the hospital this afternoon and let me say- NURSES ARE WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD!! Being in ICU, Mark has a nurse with him all the time and they are truly wonderful. He really is receiving the best care. We just need him to wake up now.

In other news, we went to Cirque du Soleil's Varekai tonight- wow, it was amazing! We really enjoyed it. Everything about it was incredible- the costumes, the performances, the humour- 'awesome' is how Emma described it.

Sarah's room make over hasn't happened yet. Her beautiful new bookshelf arrived and is sitting in my family room. She has chosen a new doona cover but we are yet to choose paint - maybe in the morning. A trip to Bunnings might just be the go!

And on the scrapping front- I haven't done any!!! :(

Please stay safe and give your loved ones an extra cuddle.
Love Janine xxx

Update..

Mark is still listed as critical. Good news is that he hasn't deteriorated however he has developed a temperature. He is being given anti biotics and they are monitoring that.

The doctors were able to slightly reduce the amount of adrenalin that Mark is receiving for his heart and he seems to be coping with that. His kidneys are still a concern as the urine output is not adequate enough and the doctors are worried about toxins building up so dialysis is still a possibility.

The nurse shouted at Mark to open his mouth for him- and Mark opened his eyes for a few seconds- a positive sign. Apparently patients can hear noise when under sedation however the nurses shout or speak loudly in order to get a response. At a different time today Mark lifted his arm as well- another positive sign.
I will update again tomorrow.


Thank you for your comments, text messages, emails and phone calls- I really do appreciate it. it is really nice to know people are out there wishing Mark all the best. Truly I am thankful.


Stay safe,
Janine

One phone call..

...that is all it took to turn my world upside down.

While we were at the pool on Tuesday morning I received a message from my Mum to say my younger brother had been taken to hospital and that she was on her way to my house. (Mum, Dad & my brother all live in Bunbury). Mum had a 3pm specialist appointment in Perth and minutes before they were about to leave- they got a call to say Mark had collapsed at work and was being taken by ambulance to Busselton Hospital. Dad zoomed off to the hospital and Mum stayed at home. After some phone calls back and forth, Mum decided to drive to my house so I could take her to her appointment and Dad would stay with Mark. More phone calls back and forth- Mark's condition was serious and they were calling the flying doctor to bring him straight to Perth. So to shorten the story, Sarah, Emma & I took Mum to her appointment then we went straight to Royal Perth Hospital to wait for Mark to arrive. We didn't have to wait too long. Mark arrived and was taken straight to be prepared for surgery.

Mark had collapsed because blood clots had blocked both of his lungs. His heart was working overtime trying to keep his body going. In Busselton the doctors gave him some medication to try and dissolve the clots- that was unsuccessful- hence him being flown to Perth. The doctors spoke to Mum and I. Mark's condition, untreated would be fatal however the operation would be major and high risk as it required Mark having open heart surgery and going on to a heart lung machine. We were briefly able to see Mark although he could hardly talk due to his lack of breathe.

Mark was taken to theatre about 7.30pm and we were told the op would be about 3 1/2 - 4 hours long. Mum stayed at the hospital, I brought the girls home and tried to get some sleep.
Mum rang at about midnight to say that things weren't going to plan and they had kept Mark in theatre as internal bleeding couldn't be stopped.
After an epic operation Mark was finally wheeled in to ICU. Still no joy- Mum rang again about 3.30am to say that Mark had a mass near his heart, which was removed however his heart had been damaged due to the huge amount of work it had been doing that day trying to keep him alive. His kidney, liver, lungs and spleen had also been stressed.

The hospital rang me about 5am to say could I come in as Mum was not coping so after a night with very little sleep, I drove up to Royal Perth to be with Mum. I was able to speak to the doctors and allowed to see Mark(not that he knew I was there) .The doctors were considering taking Mark back to surgery as there was still internal bleeding that they were concerned about. The medication that Mark was given in Busselton to try and dissolve the clots was now preventing clotting when it was needed. I eventually brought Mum home so she could have a sleep, rang a million people to inform them of what was going on, took the girls to their next swimming lesson and by that time Dad had arrived from Bunbury. I dropped my girls off with a friend and Dad, Mum and I went back to the hospital.

Latest news- Mark is still heavily sedated. His heart is not functioning as well as the doctors were hoping. He is requiring a much higher dose of adrenalin to keep it working that they would like. His kidneys are also not functioning as the doctors would like and they are considering dialysis. He is still bleeding internally although this is slowly improving. (they didn't end up taking him back in to surgery due to the concern with his heart & kidneys)
The doctors still are unable to say whether Mark will pull through this although he is young, fit and healthy- all positives on his side. At this stage they are also unable to say whether he will suffer any permanent or long term effects from this.

I am so tired, I have listened to so much medical jargon and I feel completely drained.
I am off to bed soon with my mobile phone near my bed- hoping NOT to hear it ring. Mum said she would only ring in an emergency.

Please say a prayer for my brother. I will update tomorrow.
Stay safe,
Janine

Holidays....

Yes indeed, the holidays have started!!! YIPPPEEEEE!!!!

Here is a quick recap on what I have been up to so far-

Friday night- We went to Kim's house for a basketball wind up. It was a fabulous night- good friends, good food, good wine, good coffee, all the kids were well behaved- all in all- a GREAT night!!! THANKS KIM!!!

Saturday- relaxed, did a bit of housework, scrapped a little, did some shopping, watched the AFL grand final- you know- a lazy day!! Sarah ended up staying at Kim's the night before and we didn't see her until about 5.30. She had a ball- thanks Kim! She came home happy but very tired, she had a shower, had dinner and went to bed!!!

Sunday- More relaxing, a bit more housework, more scrapping (see below)- you get the picture...another lazy day!!!! My friend, Linda, rang and we caught up with her for a coffee. Linda and her family now live in Albany and they are up here for the holidays. It was great catching up with her and her kiddos.

Monday- We took the girls to see Underdog. Definitely a kid's movie- but funny. I actually laughed out loud in some places. The girls loved it- especially Emma!!

The dog thing must have bitten the girls because when we got home, they gave Chloe (our dog) a bath and brushed her beautifully. She looks gleaming now.

Later that afternoon the girls and I went for a bike ride- gee the weather was glorious.

Over at Scrapboxx, Maria is running a competition using Nic Howard's fantastic new book 'That's Life'. Each month you have to upload at least two LOs. Here are my two for September. I started and finished them on the 30th- just squeezed them in before the deadline- phew!!

Monday-Lesson 1- Record a daily dairy. This is mine- 'Weekday morning routine'. The cup has significance too- but that's another story!! ;0)

Monday-Lesson 3-Daily Frustrations. Here is mine- 'Daily Frustration'- Emma and I battle with her hair, everyday- aarrrggh she drives me crazy sometimes. I know her hair looks gorgeous in this photo- a testament to my perseverance!!!

I have the photo and idea for Lesson 2 -Things I Would Miss... however that one is still on my very messy scrapping table...somewhere!!! You only need to complete two of the three LOs to be in comp running however I'm hoping to complete all three each month!!

Over at The Craft Attic, Kim has been running a week long CC. I have some LOs, nearly finished. I will share them soon.

Must go-the girls start swimming lessons this morning and I'm sitting here, in my jammies drinking coffee!!!!!

Stay safe,

Love Janine xxxx

Chris Mainwaring

Chris Mainwaring. December 27th 1965 - October 1st 2007.

This is Chris, Sarah & myself at a 'Botica's Bunch Breakfast' in August 1998. It was a millionaire's breakfast. Adam went as Hugh Hefner and Sarah & I went as his *bunnies*. For those who don't know Botica's Bunch is a breakfast show on radio- 94.5FM- Perth radio.

I was at university in 1987 when the inaugural Eagles team trained under the coach of Barry Cable on the oval of my University (Edith Cowan University - Mt Lawley Campus). My friends and I used to watch these sexy young men train- including Chris Mainwaring.

My deepest regret is the sadness that his wife and two children must be going through.

Please hug your loved ones and tell them that you love them.
Janine xxx