Notes from the side of a volcano

Five on a Friday

1. After years of retching and tears and refusal to eat anything other than a few nibbles of carrots and broccoli, Daughter-Two has suddenly decided that she can eat three vegetables every night. (I was originally pitching for two, but one night I gave her three veges and she ate them without complaint so I decided that should be the rule). I have no idea why the sudden change. She says "I just decided I quite liked vegetables". (Although she then did add, "And I know it makes you happy if I eat them").

2. The poor thing came home on Monday very quiet and subdued. I asked if she was OK and she finally admitted she might feel a bit sick. Half an hour later she was dramatically sick. Fifteen minutes after that and she was asking for more afternoon tea. She really wanted to go to school the next day but I kept her home to be on the safe side, and then I was relieved to wake up myself the day after feeling very flu-ey. (Because at least I know why she was sick if I have the same symptoms myself).

3. I took the camera for a walk around Kingsland yesterday (a suburb near Mt Eden with a small stretch of shops which are now more interesting than I remember from a few years back). Though apparently now populated by people who you can imagine thinking "oooh, get me, I live in Kingsland",  the down and outs are still clinging on despite not being the demographic for the design shops, coffee bars and house prices. I always find it fascinating how suburbs change over time.

4. Daughter-One and her grandmother went to see "Jersey Boys" last weekend and they both absolutely loved it. We delivered them to the beautiful old Civic Theatre, which Daughter-One tells me is one of the few remaining "atmospheric theatres" in the world. It was only narrowly saved from demolition itself. How could people have knocked down these things? It's a mystery to me.

5. This weekend's new kit was a delight to design. Here's a sneak peek:

 

 

 

Five on a Friday

1. The special hell which can be a school trip was refined to it's highest order yesterday, when  I was a parent helper on a school trip to the Boat Show at the showgrounds near to the school. Which involved firstly a 2km walk along a busy road shepherding the 34 kids, some of whom had only one speed (slow, with added smirk when you asked them to move a bit faster particularly when crossing the roads). Then, when we got into the showgrounds building, my confusion over why they were told they had to bring swimming gear was answered by the sight of two huge temporary pools set up inside. So then I had to get my group changed into swimming gear and they got into the pool for 10 minutes where they were taught basic snorkelling techniques. I didn't realise that even the snorkelling googles weren't enough to convince  Daughter-Two to open her eyes underwater until she swam into the side of the pool and nearly broke her nose. With the 10 minutes up and her in tears, they had to get out and struggle back into their uniforms before setting off on a circuit of the other activities. Some, thankfully, were ones I could sit on the sidelines and watch but we finished with "spinnaker sail" packing races. Splitting into two teams left one team short of a person so the young yachtie running the activity simply volunteered their "teacher" (ie me) to make up the balance. (I'm not much taller than most of the kids after all ... not much taller but a lot older and not as healthy as I may look ... I am suffering today). I never had any interest in yachting and now I have even less ...

Nevertheless, as always I was glad I went  ... and Daughter-Two  won the 'dress up as a lifeguard and do a pretend rescue race' despite putting both legs through one leg of the shorts.

 

2. Lots of people have been asking how we arranged the trip to France, and our experience of the home exchange. It was a very spur of the moment thing (which we can do, both being largely self-employed). We were jealously discussing the neighbour's planned trip to Europe, and I said that "one day" we should do a house swap. Purely for daydreaming purposes we looked at www.homeexchange.com and there was someone wanting to swap their apartment in Brittany with a house in Auckland. "Wouldn't that be great' we sighed, "wish we could do it". And then we looked at each other and realised that we could (by cashing in all our nearly expiring frequent flyer points and taking Daughter-two out of school for a couple of weeks). So we listed our house on the site and within a matter of hours had arranged that swap plus another with a couple from Strasbourg. And the actual exchanges went very smoothly, with everything as described and people very keen to make the experience as good as possible. The only drawback to it is the time you need to spend beforehand emailing and making arrangements and making sure the house is all in order. It's definitely not the same as booking a hotel then sitting back and daydreaming about the holiday.

3. It's sale time at Designer Digitals!

Every regular item is now marked down 30% AND there are 31 new items also marked down 30% as well. This is a great time to stock up on all your favorite items. The sale runs through midnight California time next Tuesday (May 22nd).

That also means that this week's new designs are already in store:

 

4. Here's how I scrapped with them:

(with Belle Francaise elements)

(with the new template and Belle Francaise elements)

(with Gemma kit)

(with Cubist templates)

 

5. We all went to the zoo last weekend, and saw the lions close up for the first time, as they made the most of some autumn sun. (there is glass between them by the way)

 

Five on a Friday

1. We still feel a bit discombobulated after our return from France and haven't quite got back into the routine of work. The Husband is trying to keep the French vibe going with a new regime of a glass of red wine and a chocolate every night.

 

2. It was nice to see sun again though - and the clarity of the air was a surprise all over again. On Saturday we all went to Thorne Bay, which is where we saw the first local paddle boarders a few months ago.

They appear to be breeding:

There was also a very laidback shag on the volcanic rocks:

3. I've spent the week playing catch-up, but lost two days unpacking and doing laundry and downloading photos. Only about 5000 of them.

 

4. I am tired of the predictability of incompetence. I spent nearly an hour before we left on the phone waiting to speak to someone at the Health Board contact centre. I finally got through and asked that a hold be put on the appointment for a bone scan I am waiting for. Only to return home to one letter telling me the appointment time, and a second letter telling me off for missing the appointment and saying I wouldn't get another one.

5. I have managed to get a kit finished (one which I started while in France). Here's a sneak peek:

Five on a Friday

1. Yesterday I set off early to pick up Daughter-Two from school, as I had to pick up something from the pharmacy on the way. I carefully tied up the dog to the fence beside the shops, and went in to collect my prescriptions. It didn't take as long as I thought, so I ended up at school ten minutes before the bell would ring. "Oh, well", I thought, "I'll just go up and hang around outside the classroom. At least I don't have the dog with me".

It took a few seconds for the penny to drop as I thought "Hang on, I DID have the dog with me".

So back I ran to the shops, where the dog was standing looking somewhat perturbed but very pleased to see me. And back again to the school, arriving very red-faced and panting.

Reminds me off all those stories of babies in their prams forgotten outside the butcher's shops in the old days (ie when I was a baby).

 

2. Every week I do a "Saturday Scraplift" challenge for the Designer Digitals blog, where I pick a great page from the gallery and three DD creative team members do "lifts"  (layouts inspired by it). I try to do one of the lifts myself, unless the week is just looking too crazy, and I always love the layouts which result. Here's just a few:

(inspired by Blesus):

(Inspired by Joanie):

 

(inspired by Georgina):

(inspired by Connie):

 

(Inspired by Alina):

There are lots of other regular challenges and inspirational ideas on the blog, so if you are looking for digital scrapbooking challenges, check it out.

3. I got my hair cut today. Quite a drastic change. Went from bleached surfer look (not sure how that happened since it was the summer that wasn't) and lost about 8 inches in length. So far no-one has even noticed. Not daughter-Two, not Daughter-One, not even the dog. Perhaps The Husband actually looks at me and will notice.

4. We are going to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" tonight if he gets home in time. All the aging, wonderful British actors you can imagine all gathered together in one exotic location. Should be great.

5. Here's a sneak peek of this week's new kit:

 

More scrapbook layout inspiration from Designer Digitals

Loved seeing how people used the new Spring Bursts paperpack:

Carol:

 

Jen:

 

Doris:

 

Sarah:

Love these pages by Joanne:

 

And Linda often has inspirational designs using ripped paper, just like this using "Ripped and Stitched Do-it-Yourself No.4":

Five on a Friday

1. Gone are the days when you turned up early at the airport to make sure you got a window seat and wore your "lucky pashmina" to try and get an upgrade. Now the airlines have wised up. To get a window seat or upgrade you have to log onto your account and put in a request, paying cash for the seat of your choice or bidding with frequent flyer points for an upgrade. Fortunately today I had to ring to check about taking The Daughter's epipen on the flight, because for some reason The Husband had a request in for the middle aisle on one of the long legs of our upcoming big trip. Which he no doubt did because he thought he was requesting an aisle seat for his long legs. Trouble is, what we really need is a window seat for  The Daughter, who gets very anxious and uncomfortable if doesn't have the window to lean up against. Now, after two hours spent on the phone and internet, I have a changed request in for that plus all the information I need to book window seats on the other legs of the trip ... and a little less of a grip on my sanity

 

2. Google makes planning travel so much easier. Trouble is, I tend to use it as a "stress shift". I make sure everything is planned to the nth degree beforehand so that we don't waste time and energy blundering about once we are there. Where's the closest supermarket to the railway station where we have a two hour break en route and need to get bananas, cashew nuts and other food The Daughter can safely snack on? No worries, the address is in the folder along with a google map. So on the trip I am a model of organisation and relaxation. Before the trip  .. not so much (that's a lot of googling).

 

3. The Daughter has been off school for so many days with a shocking skin infection but it looks like the latest anti-biotics are doing the job and she is looking less like a plague victim. Unfortunately I need a spreadsheet to work out when to give her what.

 

4.The dog has decided that my raised vege patch is a nicely designed outdoor loo for me.  I yell, "oy! No! Stop! and he looks at me with a "What??? What???" look. Those ready to be harvested carrots don't seem quite so appealing now.

 

5. Here's a sneak peek of one of the new products coming to the store at Designer Digitals this weekend:

 

Five on a Friday

1. I am looking forward to a big trip soon, and in preparation got "Paris: A Secret History" from the library. I don't recommend it if you are planning a trip. Fascinating book,  but now when I walk around Paris I'll be imagining the streets running with blood and sewerage and starving artisans grinding up bones from the cemetery at Les Halles for food.

 

2. I had The Husband come home early (ie before 9pm!) last week because we were supposed to be preparing for another "Weather Bomb". He took down the shade sail and moved stuff off the deck. But it never really arrived at our place. More of a "weather fire cracker" really - a bit of gusty wind and some rain. It was pretty dreadful elsewhere though.

 

3. Last Sunday afternoon the nearby private girl's school had some sort of fundraising event involving what sounded like a mass dance show with a teacher acting as choreographer over a loud speaker. I am not sure that they knew they were broadcasting to the entire suburb, but an hour of "move those hips" and "step to the left, step to the right" wore pretty thin.

4. I find this story quite fascinating. Working as a designer for a huge chain? Just right click and copy someone's photo off their blog and slap it on the front of a line of tee-shirts. Surround it with some daisies and they'll never notice ....

I think we need to start having classes for all teenagers in online etiquette and copyright issues.

5. Here's  a sneak peek of one of the templates coming to the store at Designer Digitals this weekend:

Five on a Friday

1. Daughter-One arrived at work last Friday to find the library closed. Turns out the sprinkler system had malfunctioned and flooded the place. Initially they said all five floors, later three floors. But whichever it is, the combo of water and books is never good.

2. I had to go into hospital earlier this week for an endoscopy. It was OK, and the results came back great. (Although I've been feeling pretty blah since, which hopefully is just the lag effect from all the sedatives etc and will wear off soon). Truth be told, beforehand I was most concerned that I might say something inappropriate to my new specialist, who is absolutely the spitting image of Dr House, and equally informal only cheerful and with a delightful English accent. We have very jokey conversations when I am in full control of my faculties but who knows what I might have said and not know? Fortunately I was conscious throughout. Or so I thought. However, now I realise there are some worrying large gaps when I can't account for what happened....

3. The next morning after this, it was Daughter-Two's turn  to go the hospital. She has a very small jaw and lots of teeth which don't know quite know where they are supposed to be going. She has to have at least one of them out, but this can only be done in the main Children's Hospital as she has a history of stopping breathing under general anaesthetic. So it was back to the oral health service for special needs. A new dentist to come under the Daughter-Two spell this time, and totally lovely herself. She gave Daughter-Two the pick of a box of "crazy bones" which her own children had grown out of. Daughter-Two chose a smiley ghost. Back at home I could hear her in her room introducing it into a Sylvanian Families story and calling it "The Grin Leaper". ("No, don't worry, I'm not the Grim Reaper .. I'm the Grin Leaper because I smile all the time and jump around a lot).

Sounds just like Daughter-Two herself.

4. Goodbye summer. Quite glad to see the back of you.

5. A sneak peek of a new mini-kit coming to the store at Designer Digitals this weekend:

 

 

Five on a Friday

1. We went to Thorne Bay last weekend for a late afternoon swim. It was the perfect time - not too hot but the water was warm and the golden light was lovely. Unfortunately I didn't take the camera. There was a family there trying out a paddleboard. It's the first time I've seen one being used here in New Zealand, though we saw them a lot in the States (and this family was American). They had an adorable little baby, naked apart from a string of amber teething beads, and they were tossing her in the air as they swam, laughing and looking for all the world as if they were just waiting for someone to take a photo of their new perfect life in NZ and pin it on pinterest.

2. The weather remains crazy, and it's as if we are now living in the tropics. The other day I was working away when I heard the loudest thunder I have ever experienced. I went outside to look up at the sky (because our house was bathed in brilliant sunshine). The neighbour was doing the same, and we wondered if it was thunder or perhaps armageddon? The sky was totally black over the city, and apparently the thunder there broke windows and set off burglar alarms.

3. I am still scrapping my way through Daughter-two's baby photos. For travel pages, where I only have a few poor quality pics I love to blend at least one of them into the background.

4. Daughter-Two has started One Day School (a "pull-out" programme run by the gifted education centre) on Mondays, along with another boy from her class. She is loving it and settled in with no transition worries at all. Not loving the challenge of getting her to the venue - a school in a "disadvantaged" suburb on the other side of town. I asked her on the first day if they got to use the adventure playground and she said "no, it was too charred".

5. This layout serves as a sneak peek of the new Worn Border templates coming to the store at Designer Digitals this weekend:

Five on a Friday

1. On the final stretch with the organising/decluttering project. Trouble is, I fear it is becoming addictive. I keep looking at things and thinking "hmmm, I could sell that ...".

The Husband thought I was getting addicted to buying vintage suitcases as well, but every one had a use:

(This one is on the top of the bedroom cupboard , tagged "Vintage Clothing")

 

2. I don't get blog spammers. How can it be economically viable to trawl through google-looking for old blog posts that mention re-roofing or house-painting so you can post a spam comment touting your own services? No-one but me reads comments on those old posts I am sure, and I delete the spam as soon as I am alerted to it. Having blogged that I have just re-roofed and repainted am I likely to think "oh, gee, this  guy in Florida that just spammed me sounds like a great cheap option. So cheap I can't pass it up so I'll just get the house painted again. Of course, I'll have to pay for his airfares from the US to New Zealand but that shouldn't be a problem..."

 

3. Sewing again, just because I love gingham:

 

4. Daughter-two is turning 10 soon, but we will be on the other side of the world when she does. I am starting to accumulate birthday presents that can be packed and taken with us. Trying to think small - but even so there were a couple of slightly larger things I couldn't resist. I'll had them under the warm clothes from her .. and from The Husband who has to carry the heaviest suitcase!

 

5. Going really retro this week at Designer Digitals. Here's a sneak peek of the new kit coming this weekend: