the midnight scrapper

crazy love...

No, don't worry, this is not some gushy post-Valentine's Day recap! A couple of cards and a few cupcakes that I made, was the sum total of the celebration in this house.

There was the 3 chocolate hearts I bought for the boys, but I forgot about them and then stumbled on them by chance a few days ago. Oh well!

But, the next day is when things got a whole lot better...

Yes, I got that close as he passed by, but I had no chance in hell at getting a good shot as the pandemonium around me had my hands flying all over the place as he got closer.

Girls night out was a whole lot of fun. Thank you Mr Buble for making us laugh, for singing every song that I love and for working the crowd just like we wanted you to.

Swoon!  

happy estonian independence day...

Gary's father is of Estonian decent so it seems only reasonable that we have to carry on the family heritage. Of course Gary grew up not really embracing the whole "Esto" thing but we now like to have a little celebration of Estonian Independence Day, just for fun. It also gives us another team to cheer for in the Olympics and the Eurovision song contest LOL

So our  night has included flying the flag, playing the National Anthem (Google it, it's very rousing!) and eating a selection of sort-of "Baltic Inspired" foods, as I just can't bring myself to jelly meats, or cook up some blood sausage. Go here to check out an Esto Food blogger for more ideas about traditional foods.

May God watch over thee
And amply bless
Whatever thou undertake
My dear fatherland!

Long live the independent democratic Republic of Estonia!

Long live peace among nations!

The Council of Elders of the Estonian National Council

it was so worth the wait...

My birthday lands just 5 days after Christmas, and often I will get a combined gift from my family. This year my sister was heading to Anaheim - Whistler - Vancouver - Las Vegas - Santa Monica,  straight after Boxing Day so it was decided by all that my gifts would be a little light on Christmas Day with the promise of good things to come once they returned.

I would trust my sister to buy me anything; she has great taste and a knack for finding interesting and unusual things. Well I just want to say the wait was worth it.

Here's my little Christmas / birthday haul fresh from the USA (thank you Aussie dollar for being so damn good LOL)

Clinique skincare (check) Canadian maple syrup (check) ginger room spray - the best smell ever (check) my signature perfume (check) and...oh, what's that in the little blue box?

I was so surprised to see that come out of the bag.

And to find these beautiful earrings. Thanks family, totally wasn't expecting a treat like that :)

And just for fun, here are Mickey's ears on Byron, only they are Mickey's butt. Ha!

So I can now say I had a very happy birthday indeed :)

attack of the mutant vegetables...

Little did I know back in September when I blogged about our new "super sized" garden that we would be marvelling at "super sized" vegetables come summer. We have had a bumper crop of tomatoes, herbs, cucumbers, squash, zucchinis, corn, spinach and even a few potatoes.

We love to pick fresh zucchinis, split into 1/4's, splash a bit of caramelised balsamic on them and then put them on the barbecue . Heaven. So we have picked, and eaten a few over the past months and all quite normal.

Then one day Gary yells out, come look at my big zucchini (I appreciate that in a house full of boys this is a snigger worthy comment so feel free to have a little chuckle before continuing LOL). I did get up and go look and this is what I saw...

Oh, OK Gaz, that is a big one (yes more snickering!) Now he had our attention and the family all gathered. 

 I'll spare you some of the other, um, less flattering photos that the boys insisted on posing for!

Now we got serious and dragged out the tape measure...we needed cold hard stats.

Then we thought we had better give a comparison to a "normal" zucchini,

Now you are all really impressed aren't you? And just incase you think that it was a fluke...

We also had some mutant squash (normal size on the left, super size on the right).

I'm pretty sure that the mutant zucchini will be woody (yes, yes, snigger, snigger) and tasteless but they sure do make a great gardening story.

it's that time once again when all things must be sorted and purged...

Yes the annual clean up / clean out that I do in the boys room has come and gone and what fun it was. Just ask the boys how much they love participating...Byron actually begged me not to make him do it. Now aside from the joy I get from the completion of this task there are valid reasons why I put them through this torture:

1. They share a really small room and it fills up fast

2. They are growing like crazy and so much no longer fits, but still takes up space

3. Byron collects / hoards / keeps / saves EVERYTHING that crosses his path.

And so against a barrage of protests we began by dragging everything out on the bed...

And then we have all sorts of fun trying on everything. If it fits and we love it, it stays. If it doesn't, it goes. I even got Byron to clean the skirting boards in the cupboard after I swept them out. Nice shot hey?

Then, as I was refolding what had to go back in, I got Byron to empty out all his baskets and bedside drawers. There are no words to describe the things that came out of those drawers.

Lots of bags of rubbish resulted from this step alone (oh gee Byron, is that 2 asthma puffers I see there, when you assured me you did not have a single one and is that the missing charger I see LOL)

Do you guys really need more deodorant...not until this little collection is all used up!

And so we continued to work hard [ insert more whining] until we had dealt with every single thing in that room. And then it looked like this and all was right with the world.

Just so you know the bed skirts were still drying on the line...a night soaking in a tub of bleach sorted them out LOL. And for what it's worth, I walked into their room about 2 hours later and Oscar had dropped all his dirty clothes on the floor and left his wet towel on the bed before he went out. OK, so for 2 hours it was a picture!

happy new year...by the skin of my teeth!

So here we are...welcome 2011.

We had a Vietnamese dinner and went down to the harbour for the fireworks, which was fun

This was an hour before and the beach was really starting to fill up

And then we had the show (all photos with a point & shoot, so not the clearest)

 

We were home in time to watch the Sydney fireworks (OK, they were just a smidge better LOL) and then a movie and bed. Party animals I tell you!

So much has happened since I last updated (um, HSC results, Uni applications, Christmas, December Daily, Christmas Craft, work...the list is long) and I do plan to catchup, but for now...

Happy New Year and look out 2011; here I come :) 

ten on tuesday...the catch up edition!

1. The HSC is done, finished, over. Lucky Oscar had the full 5 weeks by starting with English on Day 2 and finishing with Art on the very last day, and the last exam. Talk about being hard work keeping him motivated when all around him his friends were finished. Now the wait for the results. Here he is on the way to exam 1, stressed and nervous so totally needing a photo.

2. The pool is finally in. Yay! The turf needs to settle and the gardens need to be done and about a dozen more  jobs to be finished off, but the boys are swimming and this makes Byron very happy indeed (in fact he went the whole weekend with out seeing a shower - the pool does the same thing right? Nice!)

3. I have scrapped more in the past month than, well in a while. First up Crop for the Cure. I did a lot of catching up with friends but I did end up doing some work (Christmas cards - getting all super organised I was LOL). Kim was a machine, completing a full December Daily book on the night. 

4. Second round of scrapbooking was the annual Craft weekend with friends - also affectionately known as Camp-Whuck-a-Chuck. You bring what you want, do what you want. We scrap, sew, crochet, quilt, paint, bead and some just read a book and sip champagne. It's all good. Pulled a couple of late nights and got a lot done. We are also served the best food (thanks Suzanne & Michelle) and I made cupcakes that say it all.

5. The new gallery at w.c.s. went up on November 1, so yes just a little late in getting that out there. If you haven't already had a look...go now! 

6. Gary had his soccer trip away down the coast. He packed his guitar and surfboard. What! Gaz, do you think you are still 20!!!! The photos crack me up and a good time was had by all.

7. Are you doing Ali's December Daily? Well I am and I am all ready to go. I purchased Ali's 6"x8" downloads (30% off sale so that was good) and worked with the awesome SEI Christmas paper. Sneak peek only as it has to go up somewhere else real soon (I know, you'll never guess where!)

8. We survived the Spooky Party, and fun and frights were had by all. So many lollies to consume, so little time! More on this event later.

9. The very last Year 12 activity for Oscar was the formal. He scrubbed up quite nice and allowed me to "just get the photos over with" so I managed about 150 all up - I act when I get the opportunity LOL. His 18th birthday is on Thursday and he will be officially an adult. Gulp!

10. I have been working on an album that will contain all the boys Santa photos (no, we don't go anymore. Ha!) The early years were filled with tears and escapes, the later years embarrassment (for Oscar) as he did his duty for his younger brother (please Oscar, do it for Byron) but the middle years were cute and happy and make me smile just thinking about when their clothes were co-ordinated and their hair clean :)

I think that just about brings us up to speed with my life right now. Work is crazy busy, I am planning Christmas because it's at my house this year, and surfing blog land looking for interesting ways to spend Aussie dollars (on gifts for Christmas, and maybe a few little things for me) while the exchange rate is so good.

it's beginning to look a lot like...spooky time!

Yes, the end of October is fast approaching and the preparations for Byron's "Spooky Party" have begun.

I was going wild and crazy with my new Martha spooky punch...

I have used it on the invitations, the envelopes, the lolly bags and anything else I can think of before the 31st!

Each year I have purchased a few more things to go in the spooky box (yes, at this time of year we just add the word spooky in front of everything LOL). This year we bought a cauldron, a couple of severed hands and a bag of skulls. Makes you want to come right over doesn't it!

See that bag of treats...genuine American halloween candy from our  friends the "Spooky Dillows". Of course the boys were very keen to rip that bag right open and get started but I was able to wrestle it away and am keeping it safe until the party.

And knowing that I am a lover of all things Martha, the spooky Dillows also sent me the latest special issue...spooky swoon!

We are on the countdown and Byron can't wait.

good luck oscar...

This is it, the last day of study, procrastination and practice essays. The HSC started today (no exams for Oscar) so tomorrow is it, the first exam. English it is, for everyone.

Oscar, let's hope that when I thought you were on facebook and you said you were studying...that I was not right. For once LOL

 

In other news...

We had a very terrible thing happen...we used all our download limit (NEVER happened before) and we were slowed to 64bit. 

Oh the horror...we didn't know what to do with ourselves LOL This basically put an end to any sort of blog posting or reading for that matter. I had withdrawals I tell you.

So I have now sorted that little problem out by doubling our data limit and the irony...we are now paying less. I know, crazy.

So that's where I've been...unplugged and dealing with an HSC student. Good times!

this years vegetable garden...super sized!

I have posted on the blog before about our little tiny vegetable garden and how amazed we were to see so many tomatoes, basil, cucumbers and capsicums come from such a little plot (the space between the stairs and the side of the pool.

I was so excited I even made a layout about it for w.c.s this month!

Well that little success had my dad thinking about making another vege patch that we could all share and that's when he worked on the theory bigger IS better.

So now he has made 2 vege patches and planted all sorts of good things. I think we may just drown in tomatoes this year LOL

Look at that old wheelbarrow full of strawberries. I wonder how many will actually make it into the house LOL.

With the prospect of a bumper harvest coming our way I have been doing a little reading in bed at night...

I think I might just have to dig out my bonnet and apron that I purchased from a Laura Ingalls Wilder gift shop when I was in the states in 2008.

Ha!