Monday 24 May 2010

And We're Off!!

I've just posted my UKS Weekly Challenge. I'll keep you updated on how many people play along. :D

These were the elements of the challenge:
  • A non-12x12 layout
  • Include something BIG
  • Use bright, happy colours or papers
Here are the examples I worked soooo hard on last week:

Look Both Ways Layout




Materials used:  Basic Grey Offbeat papers and coordinating scrap cardstock.  All the arrows, title, swirls and paw were cut on the Craft Robo.  Dymo labeller and red tape.  Dimensional Magic to give the title words and the paw an epoxy look.



JUMP Layout




Materials used:  My Mind's Eye Bloom & Grow papers. The letters, jumping children silhouettes and swirls were all cut on the Craft Robo from various files.  I used the Hot Off The Press Fold-a-Swirl template to make the flowers.  The gem brads are an unknown brand.  EK Success & Fiskars punches for the scallop and circle tag.  Lots of Kindyglitz glitter glue.  Sakura Stardust pen to outline the letters.  Cheapy glitter pen to write the words.

I feel so tired now after doing these layouts as I feel as though they have sapped all my creative energy!!!  Especially the JUMP layout.  Neither of them really turned out the way I had envisaged them in my mind, but I'm still happy with them.  I'll definitely try these freeform layouts again - they're really fun!  Why don't you give it a try too and see what you can come up with?

*hugs*

A Wicked Saturday and Another Sneak Peek!

Since it started showing in Sydney six months ago, I have not wanted to go and see Wicked as I'm not a big Wizard of Oz fan.  However, the Receptionist at work came in one day last month and raved non-stop about this great musical as she had seen it the night before.  Then other colleagues who had also seen it started raving about it too. So out of curiosity, and because I'm so easily influenced (LOL), we booked tickets to see what all the fuss was about.  We decided to see a Matinee show so that we didn't have to drive home too late.

Well, the day came and I wasn't too excited as I wanted to stay home rather than have to head all the way into Sydney, but the tickets were booked and there was no backing out.  We headed down early and went browsing through Paddy's Market and then had lunch at Market City.  Gus just had to have his usual Hokkien Mee at McLaska.  We were glad to see it was still there after all these years.  LOL


Finally the time came for us make our way to the Capitol Theatre.  Of course I had to take some photos as souvenirs. LOL


We brought a program because I ALWAYS buy a program to every theatre production I've seen.  Then we settled down into our seats, which were pretty good - fairly close to the stage in the Stalls.  The lights dimmed and the show began . . .

Wow.  All I can say after seeing Wicked now is wow, and I can definitely relate to all the rave reviews I've heard.  I was completely blown away by the music, the costumes and the fine acting.  Of course I'm also a huge sucker for a tragic romance, and yes, I will admit to bawling my eyes out near the end.  LOL  I have to admit that Phantom is still my most favourite musical, but Wicked comes a very close second!

The storyline also intrigued me.  I had the feeling that there were some things that might have been in the book, but didn't make it to the musical, so I've now ordered the Wicked book by Gregory Maguire (plus the sequel, Son of a Witch) and can't wait to read it.  I also thought that the ending was a bit weird, like it was tacked on just to make it a happy ending.  From what I've read of the reviews of the book, I don't think there was a happy ending!  But I won't spoil it for you - go read the book!!

Okay, before I leave you today, I'll give you another sneak peek of the second layout I've done for the UKS Weekly Challenge.  I wanted to do a third one, but lack of mojo and motivation means I'm just going to have to stick with two!  All will be revealed on Monday.  Enjoy!


*hugs*

Wednesday 19 May 2010

A Sneak Peak!

Earlier in the year, I signed up to host one of the Weekly Challenges on UKS.  This challenge involves the hostess/host team setting specific criteria that must be shown on the submitted layout.

That time has now come and I'll be center-stage next week!  Yay!

I've given this challenge a lot of thought and planned to do four example layouts, but of course I only started them this week, and haven't even finished the first one!! 

Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm very much a "do-things-at-the-very-last-minute" girl.

Unfortunately I can't show you what I've done, but here's a bit of a sneak peak of the first layout. There are will be three more to come.



*hugs*

Tuesday 18 May 2010

The Kitchen Renovation Debacle - Day #2

This post was supposed to be dated Monday, 10 May, but for various reasons, I haven't posted it until today (see post below, LOL).

After spending the previous weekend cleaning off all the granite dust from the front of the house, wondering why the rubbish piled on our front lawn wasn't taken away, eating lots of takeaway meals, and using the laundry tub as a temporary kitchen sink, the kitchen guys came back on the Monday to do more work.

I had to head off to work (2 hours each way on the train by myself, boo hoo!), but hubby managed to get the okay to work from home.  Lucky him!

The Project Manager turned up first thing in the morning with our shiny new sink. Thankfully he got the right one this time. The rest of the kitchen guys turned up a bit later in the morning and started pulling off the tiles from the wall.  The plumber arrived shortly after and frustratedly headed off again since the kitchen guys were still stripping tiles and hadn't installed the sink or cooker ready for the plumber to connect.

Finally the kitchen guys departed around lunchtime after they had pulled off all the tiles (AND part of the walls!), installed the sink and cooker, and installed the new pot and cutlery drawers - leaving lots of dust and debris behind in the kitchen.  Hubby decided not to clean it up until AFTER the plumber had been.  Good decision that as more dust and debris was added as the plumber did his work.

The plumber didn't actually return until late in the afternoon.  Connecting up the dishwasher, sink and cooker was uneventful.  Hubby waved them off into the sunset, then tried to turn on the water.  It seemed that when the plumber told his apprentice to turn on the water mains, the apprentice turned the tap the wrong way and had actually stopped all water to our house.  Arrgghhhhh!!!!  Apprentice - YOU'RE FIRED!! (LOL)

When I eventually got home at 7pm, my awesome hubby had turned the water mains back on, cleaned the dust and debris from the kitchen, and vacuumed and mopped the floors.  Gotta love him.

What now?  Well, the benchtop is done and the sink, dishwasher and cooker have all been connected.  The new drawers are in, and the tiles have been pulled off the walls. 


The Project Manager was supposed to arrange a time for the kitchen guys to come back on Thursday, 13 May to finish gyprocking the walls, ready for the tiler.

There was no sign of him, nor any phone calls.  Sigh.

[Update:  He did ring me this afternoon to say he'll be coming back this Thursday.  Apparently he needs to find a new gyprocker.]

I'm hoping that the kitchen will be finished by the June long weekend.  At the very least.

Stay tuned for The Kitchen Renovation Debacle - Day #3!!  To be followed by The Laundry/Ensuite Renovation Debacle. . . LOL

*hugs*

Monday 17 May 2010

The Mystery of the Disappearing Week (and a bit)

Help!!  Something strange has happened here.  My last post was dated 7 May.  Today is 17 May.  What's happened to the ten days in between?!?! 

After a bit of thought, here are my theories:
  1. I was abducted by aliens and have lost ten days of my life while they poked and prodded me and possibly took me back to their home planet.
  2. A spell was cast over me, putting me to sleep for ten days only to be woken up by a kiss from my Prince Charming.
  3. I was drugged, kidnapped and held in some secret place for an undisclosed ransom sum. It's taken ten days for the police to find and rescue me.
  4. I stumbled into a time portal and I've been catapulted ten days into the future.
  5. I was hypnotised and held in a trance for ten days.
Erm . . . 

Okay, okay!  So none of the above theories sound all that probable!  Here's the real reason:  I still haven't managed to catch up on my sleep, nor have I managed to develop a regular sleeping pattern, so I'm still a walking zombie.  And just as ugly.  LOL
I also seem to have lost all enthusiasm and motivation to do anything except eat and sleep.  Even the arrival of my melting pot PLUS a couple of other stash deliveries at the end of last week did not rouse me from my apathy/ indifference/trance (whatever you want to call it).


The kitchen still isn't finished but more on that in the next post.

I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things soon.  Hopefully.  Soon.

*hugs*

Friday 7 May 2010

The Kitchen Renovation Debacle - Day #1

Finally the day came when the kitchen company we appointed was going to work on our kitchen.  They were supposed to be here yesterday, but due to one thing or another, they weren't ready.  It's a simple renovation really.  Just replacing the benchtop, dishwasher and sink and re-lacquering the doors.  We're not asking too much! LOL

So I thought.  Nothing seemed to go as planned today. Especially for the kitchen company Project Manager for whom everything seemed to be messed up, running late, or not at all!!  Thank goodness that wasn't my job. :D

We (Gus managed to get clearance to work from home today) got up early this morning and cleared out the side of the kitchen that was getting a new benchtop.


The Kitchen Guys didn't turn up until 10am when they said they were going to arrive at 8am. The Benchtop Guys turned up at around 11am, but the Kitchen Guys still hadn't installed the dishwasher so the kitchen wasn't ready for the new benchtop to go on, so the Benchtop Guys went off to do another job first.

By lunchtime, the kitchen was finally ready for the benchtop and our shiny new dishwasher had been installed.

(Whoops, just realised this photo still has the old, gungy dishwasher in it!!  See below for a peek of the new one.)

But the Benchtop Guys were nowhere to be seen.  So we waited.  And waited.  And waited.

Finally at around 3.30pm the Project Manager comes back and is surprised that the benchtop guys hadn't started yet.  Um . . . no, they hadn't turned up yet.  So after a few phone calls, it turns out that they were stuck at the other job and couldn't get to us until 4pm.  So the Project Manager calls the Plumber and leaves a message on his mobile telling him not to come until 4.30pm.  The Project Manager then left to get another sink as the one he got had a big dent in it.

Ten minutes later the Project Manager returns with the Plumber close behind.  Turns out that the Plumber wasn't going to be able to do the job for us today as he had planned a weekend away and wasn't going to work late today.

{pick jaws up from ground}

After a bit of umming and ahhing, we decide that Gus would stay home on Monday and be here for the Plumber and possibly the Electrician.

Finally the benchtop guys turn up at 4.15pm and it took them just over an hour to install the new benchtop. Probably good the plumber didn't hang around as he would have had a loooooong day! LOL The kitchen guys didn't supply the sink that we wanted, so the benchtop guys just cut the hole. I'm hoping the sink fits in when they bring it back on Monday!


So after a long and worrisome day, we have a new benchtop and a new dishwasher installed, but no sink and the stove hasn't been put back properly or hooked up. Looks like a weekend of BBQing or takeaway!

I'll keep you updated. :D

*hugs*

Wednesday 5 May 2010

The Zombie Walks

It's 1.30pm on Wednesday, 5th of May. Lunchtime. At work. The sun is shining even though it's been raining on and off. I've just finished my lunch which consisted of a chicken and tabouli wrap and a mandarin. Will soon have to go back to staring at numbers and wondering why they aren't balancing. Ugh.

Why am I telling you all this? No particular reason. Just showing you how much of a zombie I've become lately due to lack of sleep.

4 hours sleep a night x 7 weeks = zombie Winnie.

Must. Go. To. Bed. Earlier.

Must. Stop. Surfing. Internet. Till. After. Midnight.

Normal programming should resume shortly.

I hope.

*hugs*
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