Fur babies..........

Diva

Van

Well as promised and after lots of requests here are the two new additions to our family....... our two fur babies Diva and Van!! Aaron named him after the guy Van on Outrageous Fortune which we both really love watching - his first choice was Speighter (those of you locals will know this pertains to a local beverage enjoyed by members of the male population here in Southland!!) which resulted in a very firm NO from me - and Diva was easy really, she is just gorgeous and a flippin madam!! To say our section has been ravaged by puppy teeth is a understatement but we have been assured they grow out of it!!!!

I took this photo during the school holidays during a sanity session to the park - plan on editing it a bit and making a canvas for the wall but here it is in it's rough form!! Who would have thought I would have 3 children - some days I can't believe I was lucky enough to be blessed with three little munchkins!!!!

Makes Me Laugh..............

This is funny!!

A bit of fun

Saw this on Hannah's blog and couldn't help myself!!!!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Bambi Escape
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavour, fave cookie) Orange Chip Tim Tam
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first 3 letters of your last name)M-Mck
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fave colour, fave animal) Pink Dog
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Daphne Invercargill
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)MckMe
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd fave color, fave drink)The Black Coke
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Charles Eugene
9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your fave perfume/cologne, fave candy) Stella Jaffa
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names) Susanne Ruskin
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Allison Auckland
12. SPY NAME: (your fave season/holiday, fave flower) Christmas Orchid
13. CARTOON NAME: (fave fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y
Melon shirty
14. HIPPY NAME: (what you ate for breakfast, your fave tree) Weetbix Orange
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Scrapbooking Sunshine Tour

Heck a few of those are a bit weird - and no cheeky comments about my middle name lol!!!
Back into a routine with all three little munchkins back at preschool and school - nearly caught up on all my work but there is always something that needs done!!!!! Holiday weekend this weekend - wahoo - going to finish the letters for the kiddie winks rooms and also try and get my stock room aka garage under some sort of control!! Happy birthday to my sisters partner - hope you had a great day Hayden!!!

Ciao for now!!!

Boo!!

Anyone still there!! Heck it is a long time since I blogged but everytime I sit and think right must update, the phone alot rings, children want something, an email needs answered etc etc!!! So alot has happened since my last post which kinda makes sense considering it's been 3 months!!! So to keep it simple and easy to read and so that you all don't nod off reading a novel here it is in bullet form

- Max turned one on the 25 July - as usual we had 2 parties (family and then family/friends!!)

- We sold our section and bought a house which is about 9?? months old - it's new and light and fabulous and I LOVE IT!!! the house building went by the wayside as it was WAY too expensive, would have taken too long (as those of you who know me will know I am a instant gratification kinda of girl!!)

- We added to our family in the form of 2 puppies - Van and Diva - very cute but full on - it's like having 2 newborns at the same time!!!

- Millie sat and passed with wonderful scores her first jazz and hip hop exams receiving Honours in Jazz and Highly Commended in Hip Hop - very proud mummy momment!!!

Well the school holidays have been and gone - while I love my children dearly bad weather and 3 children with cabin fever are nearly enough to drive you mad!! Okay so a quick post but will try and be good and update more!!!

-

School Holiday project

I have a new addiction - surfing http://www.etsy.com/, it is the coolest place for hand made crafts, lots of inspiration and guess what the girls and I are making this week??? These pots are super cute and look like they could be manageable for the girls to have as a project! So day one tomorrow officially of the school holidays and I have been sitting here racking my brain of things to do with the girls, there are all the usuals like the park, museum, friends over to play etc and on Saturday we are going here - the girls are so looking forward to this and just quietly, their Mum is too!!
To all of you with wee ones at home during the school holidays - have fun and lets all pray for fine weather!!

Ciao
Meg

Black Cat Boogie

Well we entered that strange world of school productions this week - Monday and Tuesday night saw Miss Millie take the stage as one of the 'alley cats' for her schools production 'Best Foot Forward'!!! I was SO proud of her - she was one of the kids at the front and remembered all her steps - one thing I will say about Millie is when she commits to something, she gives it 110% and didn't seemed fazed by the large audience (she is the one on the right with the white leotard on).
There is something about little people and performing which make me smile, the excitement of performing and their families watching, all the buildup and rehearsals and then the moment when they actually take the stage and get caught in the moment - I had the odd giggle as they are just so darned cute and funny but just so amazed at this young person who is just into life in such a HUGE way and wants to try and do everthing that comes her way - so cool!!!
Well we are settled into the rental we have secured while the house is being built - hope to get the final price to build this week - seems to have taken ages to get to this point and to be honest I think I will let Aaron look at the final bill - it might just put me off!!!! The kids seemed to have moved really well except for our wee guy who seems to think he is back at when he was a newborn and not going to bed until 11pm at night - little rascal!!!!
School holidays for the next 2 weeks and have got the odd thing planned for the kids but generally just some down time for Millie - she was really sick about 3 weeks ago to the point of being off school for 2 days and sleeping the day away - which she has never done before - and with the school production on two nights this week, is a bit tired so lots of sleep ins I think!!

Ciao for now
Meg

I was just thinking

as I sit here in bed typing this post listening to talkback (I know I'm a geek!!) as they are talking about and playing all sorts of music from a long time ago and it made me wonder in 30 or 40 years time what music will I be listening to and will the music I choose to listen to now will be considered 'classics'? I think there are some that will - like U2, who I love love love and even now it brings tears to my eyes - okay maybe not that bad- that I missed out on their concert when they came to NZ last year but our wee guy was only like 12 weeks old and it was going to be too hard a trip on him so we made the not so difficult decision in hindsight that we would not travel and see them, there will always be another opportunity but your children are only young once and there are some things you just have to forgo - which leads me to the fact that our wee guy is 1 next month! Holy heck where did that go - was it really nearly 11 months ago (actually I was probably sitting in bed then with a very pregnant stomach providing somewhere for the laptop to rest typing a post! It is amazing that the time leading up to that wee person joining us in the world seems to take SOOOOOOO long to be here but when you are well on the other side and they are trying to walk - yes walk I tell you- you realise that those photos are so precious, that journalling so important to record and then it makes you realise that scrapbooking is a wonderful process to be involved in!
Well it is only 6 more days and we have to leave this house and move into our rental house while our new house is being built - I was packing tonight (I am so over brown boxes and trying to make things fit into them - and it suddenly occurred to me that this is our last weekend in this house. ever. forever. And that makes me sad, really sad as this house has been a wonderful family home to us, it is the only house that my 3 children have ever lived in, Aaron and I got engaged in this house, we have brought our children home from the hospital to this house, the girls both had their first birthdays and learned to walk, I welcomed my sister back from living in Wellington after a refocus in her life and then farewelled her again, and probably the thing that this house has done is provide a shelter for our family, many of our friends when they needed a shoulder to cry on or a smile to celebrate with - I know that you take your memories with you but when I turn the key in the lock for the last time on Friday I will be sad, and I will reflect and I will take photos to remind us of our first family home................

Ciao
Meg

Being thankful......

So I have been reading Janines blog - on it she asks what are the little things that make us an individual's happy and it got me to thinking - do we only need the big things in our lives to make us happy or can we be content with the small things? For me it is a mixture of the two - I love when my three little munchkins sleep in to at least 7am and that Paige leaves her jammies on and doesn't climb into bed with us like a wee ice chip (sigh - what is it with 2 year olds and the inability to remain fully clothed.....) but then I also love when we do something big like booking our flights to Melbourne for my friend Minka's wedding, or choosing all the 'inside bits' for our new house - maybe it is human nature to always want more, improve what we have etc but on the flip side of the coin is this a bad thing if wanting more means improving our minds with study or a new hobby and is there anything wrong with wanting to strive and work hard in life to be able to improve our quality of life? No wrong or right answer with this one in my personal option but definitely a very debatable topic for all that!!!

I have heard over the last couple of days of a couple of incidents that have occurred in the industry which really sadden me - this is a drum that is often heard but I have always had the belief that scrapbooking is about preserving memories, giving ourselves a creative outlet and as is so often the case, the amazing opportunity to meet like minded people and there are so many amazing friendships that have come from chance meetings from events and forum and blogs that exist in the 'industry'. So when I hear stories of less than kind comments, mean spiritedness and just general 'tall poppy' syndrome it really does make me think of the old saying that 'If you have nothing nice to say, then perhaps refrain from saying anything at all'.

Don't get me wrong, everyone is entitled to their opinion, it's healthy and wouldn't the world be a boring place if we all thought the same things and performed the same actions, but there is a line between opinion and nastiness which usually occurs at the expense of certain individuals who work very hard to make a place for themselves in the world and who without them the scrapbooking industry would not be as colourful. I know that it all sounds very cryptic and that is not the intention of this post, but I do think that perhaps as a community we should celebrate our successes more and well focus less on what we don't like ................

On a separate note - go the kiwis in the yachting!!!

Ciao
Meg

SENZ Photos..............

Some photos of SENZ


Fiskars Stand -demonstrating their latest and greatest

SENZ Main Show Area

Kelly Rotherham - Fantastic lady and new sub-editor of Up 2 Scrap!

(L-R) Jo Burney, Meg, Janine, Neen, Megan, Beverley, Ann

Some of the amazing tags being swapped!

A junior scrapbooker we found in the hall - so many young girls at the show with their Nana's and Mum's - and they are talented!!!

More tomorrow - off to bed, am shattered after a big few days at the show!

Ciao

Meg

Airports

Are funny places, have been in a few over the years, full of extremes mostly, people rushing to catch flights, people either really upset or overly happy. I am sitting here in Christchurch airport waiting to catch my flight to Auckland and even though it is busy and noisy it also very peaceful, now don't me wrong I am missing the children like mad already but not having to change dirty nappies, explain to Paige why she cannot have crackers and cheese for breakfast and putting all the books back on the bookshelf after Max has bulldozed his way through them for a couple of days is going to take a little adjustment but I am sure I will get there!! (winks)
This is a quick post as my plane is due to leave shortly - as I sit here typing Tina Cross and Suzanne Lynch from the 'Ladykillers', the all woman group who sang on "dancing with the stars' on Tuesday night have just sat down across from me - do they classify as celebrities????

Will update once I get to Auckland!

Ciao
Meg

One sleep to go...........

Wow - cannot believe that SENZ is just around the corner!!! It's my first one and I am a little excited about being part of the BUZZ - people, scrapbook products, classes, inspiration, the list is endless!!!! I finally get to meet our DT girls in the flesh (well apart from Mrs Renfree who is always down this way LOL!!!) which is going to be great and alot of our customers and forum members as well - make sure you are wearing your Scrapbook Essentials Pins, some faboo spot prizes are going to be handed out!!!!
For those of you who are headed to Christchurch from the 12th-14th of October for the South Island SENZ, we will be revealing our tutors (and we have a pretty cool guest tutor joining us) next week, classes will be available for purchase from the 13th August and trust me when I say the classes will be nothing short of AMAZING - we have some big BIG plans in the pipelines so WATCH THIS SPACE!!! If you want to be one of the first 150 lucky people to purchase your tickets for SENZ in CHristchurch and receive a show bag full of product then go here on the 25th May and purchase yours!
Well it's off to bed for me - big weekend ahead!!!

Ciao
Meg

So much to do, so little time.................

Well the last few days have been crazy to say the least - the last of the kits for the classes of our very talented DT member Jo Burney who is tutoring for Up 2 Scrap are gone, stock for their stand is all boxed and Mr Courier came this afternoon and got it, fliers will be picked up tomorrow, last of the class extras are packed in my suitcase, have made Max's vegies and these are in the freezer for while I am away in Auckland (how did I ever think I could leave my babies for 3 days - eek!!). AM hoping like anything that my new MM Tote - and yes Tanya it is pink!!- will be here tomorrow so I can pack all my scrapbooking supplies for the class I am taking with Kelly Rotherham on Friday and for the crop night on Friday, still have a 101 things to do before I fly out on Thursday but have taken to making lists and it's a great feeling ticking them off!!

It's amazing all the little things that have to be done so that Aaron has a stress free time with three small people while I am away!!!

Our latest kit went up on the site tonight and I must say that is is my favourite of all our kits so far, love love LOVE Scenic Route papers and this is kit is full of them, go here to get yours!

I do plan on blogging while I am away with updates and pictures of SENZ, so make sure you check back!!!

Ciao

Meg

Belated Happy Mothers Day!!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful mothers day and were all spoilt rotten or spoilt their mums or the special people in their lives who take on the role of Mum for them!!! I was very spoilt with breakfast in bed - okay so in the end I had to get up and poach my own eggs as Aaron was boiling them?????? But it is always nice to feel appreciated and I guess having the excuse of a day all about me is as good as any for a sleep in which with three children tend to be few and far between these days LOL!!!! Aaron has told me to pick something out but since I am away to SENZ next week for three days and Aaron is flying solo, I figure that is enough of a pressie........ (maybe a quick trip to the shops though while I am up there!!!)

Okay so the winner of the Queen and Co containers for guessing our new house number which will be 39 is................. Christi Nelson with her guess of 38!!!! Congrats Christi - those 6 cute containers on their way to you today!!! Right so this is a quick post but here is a recent photo of our wee man - aren't those chubby thighs yummo!!!!

Have a great day

Meg

I have bugs.......

Lots of them - the head cold, coughing bleuck kind!!!!! Max has had a cold with his teething, so bad in fact I relented and allowed our GP to prescribe him some antibiotics!!! Well now it's my turn, I am one of those people who thankfully hardly ever get sick but when I do it's a doozy!!!!!
So last night instead of getting to meet Hannah and her hubby Rob, I was hunched over a steaming bowl of eucalyptus - that stuff smells BAD but it works so hunch I did!!!! So to Hannah and Rob, HUGE apologies for missing out on meeting the two of you, Michelle tells me you had a great time!!!
Not long now until SENZ in Auckland - I am sooooooo looking forward to this, am taking a class with the talented Kelly Rotherham and getting to meet some of our DT girls in person for the first time PLUS so many of our customers have emailed wanting to catch up!!! Am taking every known cure to help get rid of this flu so that I am fighting fit for the weekend!!!!!
Our monthly kit has been HUGE as usual - there is only I think like 3??? left so head on over to the shoppe and grab yourself one!!! The fancy pants papers in it were part of the new releases from Fancy Pants in January and we have been saving them up to create a yummy kit - we have had so much positive feedback on this months kit - and next month's is all ordered and is going to be a cracker - a hint I hear you ask - okay........... let's just say you will be taking the 'scenic route' to creativity next month!!!!

Ciao for now
Meg

Update

Well I blew it - my 30 day challenge that is!!! I started off with great intentions but it all turned to custard day 4 - whoever designed the 24 hour day obviously never had a very sick 9 mth old from teething, a sick Mum to look after him, hockey games, dance classes etc etc!!!! Anyway no self pity lurking here - too busy LOL!!!! No seriously I think that I need to just blog when I can, if it is every day then great, every week fine so will see how often I can manage it!!!

Okay so the winner of the RAK - Janine aka Angel Gurl - woohoo Janine, will get the yummy scorll corners away to you today, they are YUMMO, so have fun playing with them!!!!

Well the house went unconditional on Friday, we got the deposit cheque in our hot little hands for about 5 mins before paying for our section - sigh!!!! Here's a couple of photos of where our house will be built, Amelia insisted in being in one of them!!!

Also another little giveaway - 6 Queen and Co felt containers which are now empty, these are awesome for storing buttons, ribbons etc so leave a comment on the blog what you think the street number will be for our new house - it's between 20 and 50 - closest to gets the containers sent to them!!!

Our House is Sold!!!!!

It's Monday........

and day 3 of my challenge to blog everyday for 30 days - I must admit that I can think of lots of things to blog about but are they interesting??? So Mondays are always a funny day for me - they are obviously the start of a new week but also a definite reminder that the weekend is one again over and I find myself counting down the days until the weekend!!! As some of you know we listed our house and it sold in like 6 days - subject to finance which has to be confirmed by the end of this week, it turns out as they are Australians who have bought our house (moving from Brissie to Invers????) the banks are a little more pedantic about the finer details but it's done pretty much a done deal!!! So now the BIG question - where to from here for us? Well we bought a section today in a new subdivision here, not our ideal move in terms of where we ultimately want to be, but a great area, lots of families building there so we are pretty happy in the short tem - just have to decide what sort of us we want to build now - there are SO many companies that offer the complete package - right down to the toilet paper holder, so it's a big decision!!!!
We start shipping our monthly kits tomorrow, so for all those of you who receive these, start stalking the yellow vans from Wednesday!!!!!

Woohoo - day 3 done!!!

Ciao for now
Meg

Day 2 and a sneak Peek

Holy cow I had no idea so many people read my blog, now the pressure is really on with my 30 day challenge!! Two days in a row - 28 days to go!!! Well busy day today, we had some friends visit us who had wonderful news that they were going to be parents for the first time - so excited for them and it couldn't happen to nicer people, Shannelle looks fantastic and you can't even tell she is pregnant - don't envy them those first few weeks though and can say in all honesty I am pleased we are now past all those 4 hour feeds and tiredness!!! For those of you who get our kits, here's a sneak peek of one of the gorgeous projects you will learn how to make

Isn't she gorgeous - her name is the Prima Fairy and Megan Renfree designed her, every time one of the girls sends me a completed project for the kit, I am reminded of how lucky we are to have our talented design team who work alongside us to provide you with lots of inspiration!!
To purchase the kits and learn how to make your very own Prima Fairy go here!!

Talk to you all tomorrow!

Meg

Day 1 and a RAK!!!

Okay so here we go - day one of my self imposed 30 day challenge!!!! Will try and post interesting stuff each day so thought I might start off with a RAK!!!

Leave a comment on my blog so I know people still think it is worth visiting and I will draw a random name who will receive some of these yummo scroll corners from Maya Road, their chipboard is just divine and I have to say that they are my favourites when it comes to out of the box products dripping with quality!!!!

Not sure if I have mentioned it before now, but we are selling the house, we don;t really want to but with 3 kids, and a busy business we need more space so we listed it last week - the market is sooooo busy here that hopefully it won't be long and we will be on our way!!

You have been warned.......

Hello, hello anyone there??? I am the worlds worst blogger, so if anyone still checks this blog out, then as the title says you have been warned, long post ahead!!!

Righto so the must do stuff first, I have been tagged by the lovely Lynda and the flower crazy Michelle!!!!

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves, people who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names.Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I LOVE LOVE my family, even when I am covered in milk vomit, raspberry jam from sticky little fingers or felt pen, I am thankful for my three little angels every single day!!

2. My nickname is Cyril - long story and I am not elaborating............

3. I love Japanese food - teppan, sushi, sashimi, maybe I am half Japanese?????

4. I am not really an animal person, which is weird considering I grew up on a farm full of deer,
goat, sheep, hens etc etc.

5. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE shoes - last count 35 pairs............

6. I really want to go to the Octoberfest in Germany one year, only regret of my OE is not
doing that, I really think the Oompa Loompa bands that play in the Hofrahaus would benefit
from my chemically inbalanced (hey it's a beerfest) input..... or not!!!

7. I love to talk - and this love intensifys with a few wines.......

So who to tag, well all the blogs I lurk around have pretty much been tagged so will leave it open to anyone who feels up to the challenge, let me know if you do so I can sneaky peek!!!

Right so on with the rambling and a little shameless self promotion!!!! The May kit is up on the Scrapbook Essentials site and it is GORGEOUS!!!!! There are only a few left so if you have been umming and aahing, then quick, go here and hit the BUY NOW button, you will be very pleased you did!!! And this month we have the uber talented Design Team girls Megan Renfree and Janenne Sloan designing 2 gorgeous projects, of which the instructions will be in the kit, I have seen the odd sneak peek and what they have come up with is simply stunning!!!!!

Also we are running a mothers day competition over on the message board so go and check it out - fantastic prize of a voucher to spend instore and with all the yummy new products, will not be hard to spend!!!

So we have had a mad few weeks with the business, children being sick, Aaron working crazy hours and generally life, I always feel guilty about neglecting my blog and so have set myself a challenge - to blog once a day, even if it is a simple hi for 30 days - so wish me luck! The fantastic thing about a blog is that is a permanent way to record stuff, big and little that you can refer to, so tomorrow is day one of the 30 day challenge!!!

Some photos of the kids

Max has just started crawling (fast I might add!!) and I ahd to snap him fascinated by the TV - this fascination lasted about 30 secs and then he was off on a misson again!!

Amelia in action at her school sports day for years 1 & 2 in the All Saints zone, was more like a games day, they apparently don't do the whole athletics thing until year 3!

Right - so more tomorrow then, what will I blog about....... perhaps a RAK????