Notes from the side of a volcano

Feeling retro ......

It must have been meant - a happy meal that came with the pair of plastic glasses on the day she wore her new-to-her dress. Sadly 30 year old well-washed fabric wasn't up to bouncy Miss Tigger, and it was torn by the end of the day. Still, it only cost $2 ...

She spent the whole day complaining that she was cold, as well. Despite the cardigan and leggings. It's officially summer here in New Zealand tomorrow, but no-one told whoever is in charge of the weather.

The people at the "Christmas Wonderland" Christmas tree display were equally confused. It was all snowflakes and reindeer and snowmen..

Yet as we queued outside they were hopefully trying to sell cold bottled water, in recognition of the fact that we SHOULD have all been sweltering in t-shirts and sunglasses.

After a quick lunch, it was off to school for the "Family Fun Day and Christmas Picnic". Storm clouds or not , there was no chance of her turning down the chance of a bounce:

But there was no picnicking this year. At this rate, we'll all be wearing woolly jumpers and scarves on Christmas Day (of course part of me feels that  is how it should be, and I still miss the Christmas season in England).

Which brings me to what is new this week at Designer Digitals ....  a retro Christmas kit that comes in TWO versions. A traditional Christmas kit, and a fun special version for those who have holidays where it's warm and sunny.

Paperpacks are available too:

 

Plus templates:

Layouts:

 

photos ...

 

Here there be icebergs ....

Well, icebergs a couple of hundred miles off the coast of Southland and heading this way fast.

Fast by iceberg standards.

Which I guess is pretty slow.

But anyway, my point is that it is supposedly summer in a couple of weeks here in New Zealand but it has still been freezing. Today the sun did make a brief appearance however, so there is still hope.

Daughter-Two and The Husband have gone off on a school trip to the Howick historical village. The Husband wanted to be the Victorian bank manager but all I could find for him was a pair of braces from an op-shop and a spotty scarf to knot around his neck. So I handed them to him and said "sorry, you're the blacksmith". Daughter-Two looked absolutely adorable and very authentic in a dress my sister found, a mop cap I sewed for her and a tablecloth around her shoulders. Photos soon.

Meanwhile, the computer is playing up, the dog is vomiting, the architect is sending incomprehensible permit applications to me and I see it is clouding up again just as I was about to hang out the washing ...

two new templates in store at Designer Digitals this week:

 

Finally found a use for the dog ...

He makes a very good running companion.

 

Yes, I have decided to take up running. Bought the fancy shoes – they cost more than any other item of clothing or footwear I’ve bought - and have been dragging the dog out every morning this week. It’s amazing how much better it makes you feel, even if you wake up feeling ninety-nine as I have been lately. (Turns out that stomach bug was actually the auto-immune Crohn’s flaring up, or maybe it triggered off a flare up, but whatever, it’s a struggle to get up some days right now). But once I get moving it’s better and I figure if you can run then it can’t be too bad (apologies to Mam with the broken foot).

 

Running is the perfect exercise for me since I am chronically unco-ordinated but even I can usually manage to put one foot in front of the other without mishap.  Although no doubt I will one day trip over the dog (watch out for that in a future blog post). He also has a habit of stopping dead in his tracks when he wants to do a poo or he sees something he doesn’t like. (Things that do not, according to his small brain, compute – such as rubbish trucks picking up wheelie bins or fairy lights in trees).

 

Also this week I was watching the news when on came “my” story about Rodney Hide (our attention seeking local MP and ACT party leader). I was laughing so much I nearly fell off the chair. Because the day before I had been tootling about the net looking for a better local dentist, when I came across the endorsements page of a fancy dental practice and there was Rodney grinning like a maniac to show off his mouthful of refurbished and very white teeth. He looked like a cross between Jaws and Liberace.

 

So I clicked on my gmail window and flicked The Husband the link for a laugh, with the subject line “the man has no shame”. (Although I was kind of tempted by the idea of sending The Husband to the same place for a cheap deal in return for an endorsement since he could well do with a Hollywood smile a la Mr Hide).

 

The Husband, a chronic tweeter with a large following in the media and political world, then tweeted the link, and the next thing you know it was third item on the national evening news … since as a cabinet minister Hide is no longer allowed endorse any business.

 

Such is the modern information highway.

 

(Though, sorry Rodney, I never meant to get you into grief and actually the teeth look great).

 

And finally, this sweet kit came together this week. I think I must be wishing for Spring (it just doesn’t seem to be eventuating this year). You can find it at Designer Digitals:

 

 

Some layouts from me:

 

 

 

And some layouts from the team:

 

 

Even more new designs on sale now at Designer Digitals

The sale is still on at Designer Digitals, and there are more new products in store right now.

Here are my latest:

I haven't had a chance to create with the Jolie kit yet, but some of the team have:

I have had fun with the new templates, however:

 


 

 
 And the new Worn Edges (with retro photo effects) are fun too. This photo of Daughter-Two in Hawaii was just crying out for the retro look:

It's sale time at Designer Digitals!

It's all on sale NOW at Designer Digitals.  

Every regular item in the store is marked down 30%! No special coupons are need to receive the discount. There are 47 brand new items also marked down as well. This is the last store wide sale here at DesignerDigitals for 2009 so don't miss out!

The sale ends on Tuesday, November 10th at 6am EST.

Also, we will be having chats all day on Saturday with freebies every hour as well. You can join me at 6pm EST on Saturday (that's Sunday at 12 noon here in New Zealand!).

Lots of new products in store as well:

 

(And more coming on SUNDAY).

Following your gut feeling that your child is different

I made the mistake of clicking on a thread on the TradeMe message board yesterday. For once it wasn't death threats to The Husband. Rather, it was someone askingfor support from other parents with children on the autistic spectrum. The thread had been highjacked by people saying it was simply the "fashionable label" at the moment and was used for kids who were simply being kids (by people who "don't know what typical kid's behaviour is like"). I quickly left before my blood boiled over. Autism covers a very wide spectrum but is very distinctive and in my opinion is under diagnosed rather than the reverse. And I don't know any late-diagnosed Aspie adult who wouldn't say their life has been improved by a better understanding of " how they tick".

Here's a link to a really good checklist for early signs that may indicate autism.

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-27158-Grand-Prairie-Autism--Parenting-Examiner~y2009m11d2-Red-flags-and-gut-feelings-What-to-do-if-you-suspect-your-child-may-have-Autism

Ahhh ... Sweet Sixteen

Sixteen years ago yesterday I had a gorgeous baby girl.

Here she is (on the right in the first pic) with her lovely friends, still as sweet as can be:

 
 

Indeed.

Actually, the piercings and the black and the spikes I can deal with. If she was a girly girl, constantly giggling on the phone about lip gloss, boys and shopping THEN I'd be at a loss for how to handle her.

She's been swotting all week and sitting her GCSEs - and ENJOYING them. Not the swotting of course but the actual exams.

I've been tutoring and trying to fight off a stomach bug courtesy of Daughter-Two. She began complaining of a sore tummy the other day, on top of the heavy cold she already had. "Nothing to worry about" I said, as I packed her off to bed. Before walking up myself in the middle of the night feeling like I was in the early stages of labour. The pain kept waking me up in the middle of vivid dreams. The only one I can remember in detail is one in which I was Mark Sainsbury (a large, mustachioed news presenter) interviewing top-less professional dogwalkers in California. Which was disturbing on many, many levels (sorry Mark).
 

The next day I felt absolutely dreadful. Not only like I was about to suffer some sort of "Alien" like stomach exploding scenario, but also with a splitting headache from lack of sleep. Fortunately both daughters were out so I decided to try the new relaxation CD I just bought. Sadly it turned out to rather naff. There I was wandering through the "secret garden where no-one expects anything of you", listening to the water gushing from a fountain .. when the Geotech engineer banged loudly on the door to tell me he had come to drill holes in my hillside.

Clearly it seems that, in this dimension or any other dimension, there is nowhere I can go where "no-one expects anything of me".

Plus I kept getting flashbacks to the dog walker scenario.

Hoping this week is better. Although The Husband has picked up Daughter-Two's cold so it's not looking too good so far. And that face paint on Daughter-One was actually food colouring which doesn't wash off ...

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Here are this week's new products at Designer Digitals:

 And the layouts: