Yes- I'm still here!!!

Oh man- what a week.
Firstly - fantastic news- my big brother Brad, whom I think the world of and love dearly, flew home last Friday night. Brad, his wife and kidlets have been happily sailing around Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia for the past 12 months... however due to certain circumstances, Brad had flown home temporarily- much to my delight!!!!Georgie and the boys are still on the yacht in Langkawi. I picked Brad up from the airport last Friday night and look what he brought for my girls-
How happy do these girls look!!! LOL- don't worry, that bottle is filled with chocolates- not alcohol!!!!
Dad was absolutely thrilled to see Brad too. Talking of Dad- more good news...his kidneys are functioning normally and if he continues as is, he will not need further dialysis- woo hoo!!! Within the week, Dad should move from Royal Perth to Bentley rehabilitation hospital for lots of physio to get him walking properly and from there- woo hoo- HOME!!! Yee ha!! Dad has been in hospital since March 6th and I can tell you- he is well over hospitals!!!!

On the scrapping front- not much has been going on... quite sad really. :(
Just a few LOs.

Yes, I know there is an 'r' missing - this is Em on one of Dad's vintage motor bikes.
Emma again- being a pink pirate!!!The LO looks dull here, sorry but the LO looks better IRL.

In other news, my younger brother has made life extremely difficult this week and I have lost lots of sleep over him. I have tried my hardest to protect my girls from all his cr*p, however I feel it is all getting on top of me. Some days I could just scream at the total and utter lack of suitable medical facilities available for mentally ill people. All I can say is that thank goodness we are a strong and together family or we would have fallen over and crumbled long ago. Enough said.

Woo hoo- it is a long weekend here in Perth and apart from haircuts and acrobatics in the morning... we have not much on!! I am so hoping I can get some scrapping done- LOL- I'm having scrapping withdrawals!!! I was planning to scrap tonight however I went off to a friend's house instead...now I'm home- I'm ready for bed!!! LOL!!!

I hope your weekend is sensational!!!
Love Janine xxx

Delicious soup!!!

I made the yummiest soup tonight so I thought I'd share.

Sweet Potato and Pear Soup.
25g butter
1 white onion- finely chopped
750g orange sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2cm cubes
2 firm pears, peeled and chopped into 2cm cubes
750ml vegetable or chicken stock
250ml cream (fresh or sour)
mint leaves to garnish

Melt butter, cook onions until soft. Add potatoes and pears and cook for a few minutes. Add stock, bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes and pears are soft. Cool slightly then puree. Add cream, garnish and serve.

Yummo!!! We had this tonight with some delicious crusty bread- mmmm very nice indeed! I love soup in winter and I'm always looking for new yummo recipes ....so if you feel inclined to share, then please do. :)

In other news, my darling daughter (said with gritted teeth) closed and locked the front door this morning- with the house keys still in the house - aaaarrrrggghhhh.
Luckily I'm not the helpless type so I climbed on the roof (yes I was dressed ready for work), pushed roof tiles up, squeezed through into the roof cavity, crawled to the manhole and jumped through into the house, unlocked the house, when back up onto the roof to replace the roof tiles, jumped back down and then had to get changed (I was covered in dust from the roof cavity) and then off I went to work!! Great start to the day huh!! I can laugh- NOW!!

I forgave her however because like my Emmy girl, I love my beautiful Sarah girl too. Love her, love her, LOVE HER!!! Last Friday she got a merit award at the assembly and her teacher spoke to me telling me how she is continually impressed with Sarah. Hmm that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. We received a letter yesterday from the high school we have enrolled the girls in and Sarah has her enrolment interview in two weeks. Bit scary, however I have no doubts that Sarah will do well. Worried about me though- what am I going to wear?? LOL!!!

I thought I'd finish with some fantastic news- Mum is back home in Bunbury at the moment and tonight she rang me in tears, happy tears- Dad is being taken off dialysis for the time being. The doctors are really pleased with how he is progressing so they are stopping dialysis to see how he manages! This is just the best news as about a week ago, the doctors told us that the chances of Dad's kidneys working again were slim. HAPPY, HAPPY NEWS!

I hope your week is just as wonderful. Oops, I know I haven't posted my most recent LOs- will do that tomorrow!

Be happy and believe that good things happen!
Love Janine xxx

Check out this girl!

She is just so beautiful!! Yes I know I'm slightly bias but hey....check out these photos!

Hard to believe she is only eight! I love her to bits, she's my gorgeous Emmy girl!! Love her, love her, LOVE HER!!!!

This last photo, I took today. The girls went to a birthday party and I stayed and helped out. I also took a heap of photos. It was a fabulous party. Lian (the birthday girl's Mum) had all the bits and pieces for the girls to make gorgeous bead necklaces, bracelets and earrings. It was fantastic and all the girls made terrific jewelery- clever cookies!

Well, this week has been yet another busy week-gawd, aren't they all!!! As well as the craziness of all the afternoon activities and weekend sports, I have done some more cleaning- YAY!!! I have three more HUGE garbage bags full of clothes ready for the Good Sammies. It feels so good to be doing all of this 'cleaning and clearing out'! Watch out.... because I still have heaps more to clear out!!! LOL- don't stand still in my house or you may be cleared out!!!

On the scrapping front, I've had a bit of an off week. At one stage I had three unfinished LOs on the go. This is unusual for me as I usually finish one LO before starting the next. So on Saturday night, I sat down determined to finish the LOs and I managed to finish two of them! I'll photograph them soon and share.

I hope that your week is wonderful.

Stay safe and cuddle your kids often!

Love Janine xxx

What does a Mum do on Mother's Day???

Be a taxi driver for her 10 year old DD and take her to yet another basketball carnival of course!!!! Luckily we didn't have to leave quite so early as last time. Sarah played in an Under 12's basketball carnival in Mandurah this afternoon. It was games only, no finals and our team won their first game 22-12. Their second game was an 'on-the-edge-of-your-chair-game' - very even, low scoring and going goal for goal. Unfortunately our girls went down by one goal however it was a fantastic game. Their last game of the day was a walk over. They won, convincingly, 30-17. I seem to have been given the job of official photographer for the team. After each carnival I've been asked to supply a photo of the team for the RBA website.

Here are the team after their final game this afternoon. Sweaty lot huh??? I love that Sarah is a part of this team- she is widening her group of friends and experiencing new situations with this team and I'm so proud of how she is handling herself. So.... I didn't really mind spending my Mother's Day taxiing my girl around! :)

Okay, on to Mother's Day- HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mothers out there!!! I am a firm believer in quality, not quantity so I hope you spent a lot of today being with and cuddling your gorgeous children. I'm not particularly into the commercial, spend heaps of money on Mother's Day thing. In fact, I love my children's handmade treasures far more than any bought items on Mother's day. My absolute favourite to date has to be Emma singing to me "You are my Sunshine" - this was last year and still very fresh in my mind and heart.

I roped Adam into taking heaps of photos tonight of Mum, myself and the girls, then myself and the girls and then just Mum and I.... so I will have some fresh new photos to scrap very soon!!!! Wooo hooooo!!!!

Speaking on things made... here is the mini box that I made for my Mum for Mother's Day- the one I would now love to keep myself!!! I bought the kit from Tarisota, a gorgeous 'Box of Love' designed by Suz Doyle. My Mum loved it and so did I. Here it is...

Anyway, I still have uniforms to iron for tomorrow (groan) so I had better go. I do hope your Mother's Day was wonderful.

Have a fabulous week.

Love Janine xxx

Yeah, yeah... I'm still alive!

I honestly don't know where the last week has gone - HEY who stole last week!! LOL!!!
This week at school we have had the little kiddos doing lots of great things for Mother's Day. Check out this card. For those of you whom were lucky enough to be at the Scrapboxx retreat, you may remember that I won the raffle- THE CUTTLEBUG!!!! YIPPEE!!! Well, I've put it to good use. I took it to school and let all my little 5 year olds have a go- aren't I nice!! (It is safe, back at my house now!) They all made a card similar to this for their Mums for Mother's Day. I was wrapped with how the cards turned out. We did lots of other bits and pieces for the Mums including making Chocolate Yum Yums and Ginger and Macadamia Nut Balls with the kids for their Mums. (I have the recipes and am happy to share if anyone wants easy recipes that kids can easily cope with)
On Wednesday, we had a special Mother's Day afternoon tea for the Mums. We helped the kids make scones and sultana and cinnamon pikelets. The kids sang a collection of songs for the Mums, presented them with their presents and then served them afternoon tea. The Mums were thrilled and so were we- a great afternoon for all involved!

Apart from that life has just been ticking along. I have been doing more cleaning- I am really loving the fact that I'm finally getting organized. This week I've cleaned out several cupboards in the kitchen. given Emma's bedroom the once over(again) and started on the hanging clothes in my walk-in-robe.
We have also had dancing x2 , basketball training, hip hop x2, netball training x2, more basketball training x2 and basketball games x3.

On the scrapping front, I haven't done a great deal however this week, I have made the most gorgeous mini photo box album for my Mum for Mother's Day- I will share after Sunday! I really like it and would now like to keep it myself!!!
Sorry about the terrible scan but here is the LO that I did over a week ago now. I am really missing my scrapping time however am totally loving my more organized house. Sadly the messiest area in my house now is my scrapping space. I'm just such a messy scrapper, I really don't think my scrap desk will ever remain neat for long!!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and to all the Mums out there- have a lovely day on Sunday.
Stay safe and be happy.
Love Janine xxx

Basketball, netball, more cleaning and a movie!

Oh man, I've been living life in the fast lane!!!!

Friday afternoon saw the beginning of the winter basketball season. Emma played first and I'm thrilled to say her team won. Emma is not the most competitive player however she played really well and 'got in there' with the boys in her team! (Em is the only girl in her team!) Sarah's team player straight after and they won as well- convincingly...52-4. Sarah is not only playing in the under 12 competition but in the under 14 comp as well. Her U14 team is made up from the girls in the U12 Flames development squad. Their coach is playing them up a division to give the 'hard' game practice. They lost their first game however the team they played were the winners of the U14 summer season and no other team in the summer comp scored double figure against them. Our girls lost but score 25 points to their 39. No bad considering!!!

Saturday saw the beginning of the winter netball season. Emma's team started the season brilliantly. They won 26- 2. Emma scored 13 of her team's 26 goals and she only played in goals for 2 of the four quarters!!!
Sarah's team won as well although not as convincingly. They won 9-3. Overall it was a good start to the basketball/netball winter season!!! Yes- I love team sports for my girls. I love that it builds team skills and wonderful friendships. Crazy for me however running from training here, there and everywhere!!!

After netball on Saturday the girls and I took the train to Perth to see Dad. (Mum had already gone up in the morning.) Dad is looking so much better. We were able to take Dad in a wheelchair down to the cafe and have a coffee. He is improving however is still having dialysis for his kidneys three times a week. His leg is looking not too bad. Most of the skin grafts took and his leg is slowly improving. He looks thinner however- at last weigh in, he has lost 20kg!!! (This is not a bad thing for my Dad as he was quite overweight)

After leaving the hospital, Mum, the girls and I walked into Perth and ...you guessed it...went shopping!!! This sports store was having a closing down sale and we got some great bargains!!! I was very pleased to pick Sarah up a fabulous pair of basketball shoes for about 60% off- BARGAIN!!!

Later that night, after dinner, Mum and I got in the cleaning mood and I cleaned out my 'plastics' cupboard and also my pot drawer - I threw out heaps and now both and spick and span.

Sunday is the day of rest right...WRONG. Mum went off to the hospital early so Adam and I did a heap of gardening. Edges done, lawns mowed, patio and drive way swept, weeds pulled- a great morning's work!! By lunchtime Adam wanted to settle in and watch the footy so I decided to take the girls to the movies. Emma decided not to come in the end after much ummmming and arrring. I'm glad she didn't because Sarah and I went to see The Spiderwick Chronicles and I just know that Emma would have found it too scary. Sarah and I loved it!! Sarah has read all five of the Spiderwick Chronicles books so was really looking forward to seeing the movie.

After we got home I decided to keep on cleaning my walk-in-robe. I have a set a drawers in my wir and a set in my bedroom but not in the wir, so I cleaned both of them. WOW- heaps more clothes for the Good Sammies!!! While I was doing that Adam decided to buy a new mattress for our bed. Lucky Harvey Norman's open on a Sunday! We have been talking about it for ages however had never gotten around to it so off he went this afternoon and bought us a new mattress for our bed. I had already stripped all the beds this morning and washed the sheets, pillow slips and doona covers so putting a new mattress on was no issue at all. Geee I hope it is comfortable!!!

On the scrapping front, I haven't done much at all- too busy cleaning!!! I do have one LO that I finished during the week but I haven't photographed- soon I promise.!

I do however feel very pleased with myself with all the clearing out I have achieved!! Woo hoo- I feel like I'm slowly getting my house organized!!!!

Before I go, please remember Maddie McCann in your prayers- today is the first anniversary of her disappearance. I can't even begin to imagine how her parents must feel.

Stay safe, stay happy and have a wonderful week.

Love Janine xxx

Out with the old.....

...and in with the new!!!!
I think I need to go shoe shopping!!!

My walk-in-robe needs a HUGE clean out so I decided to start today by cleaning out and sorting my shoes. I threw out (bin or Good Sammies) 28 pairs of shoes- YES 28 PAIRS!!!! OMGawd!!!! Boy was I ruthless!!!!

Now the shoes that I still have are fabulously neat however looking rather sad in the number department- hmmmm, solution -SHOE SHOPPING!!!! LOL!!!

Hope your day has been wonderful!!!
Love Janine xxx