Organising

The lead up to Christmas was so busy I didn't have any time to scrap and therefore my "Scrap Table" ended up being a dumping ground for anything and everything so I couldn't scrap even if I wanted to as there was no room!.
For the past couple of weekends I have been sorting out my scrapbook room and table and trying to find a place for everything.  Here is the before and after photos of my table! 
I was actually able to start a layout the other day!!
I have since added another set of drawers in the bottom section so it looks even neater now!
P.S.  Who can spot Agro?
Love Nic x

Before

After

Things To Do!

Dean and I constantly talk about "The List" which is a list of jobs and things that need to be done around the house.  "The List", until now, has only existed in our minds so after a chat the other day (and the gutters overflowing, which reminded us that they needed to be cleaned!!), I decided to buy a white board that we could hang in the kitchen to jot down anything that needs to be done like general maintenance etc.
So, here is my white board which I decided to "pretty up" a bit.

Love Nic x

Before and after photos.

Home Again!

Dean and I have just arrived back in Kalgoorlie after a few lovely days in Perth.  I had a great time as I got to spend 6 days with my lovely Mum and I feel really relaxed and ready to take on the world!!  I start back at work tomorrow and Dean has his RDO so he doesn't have to start work until Wednesday, lucky thing. 

I am now 2 days into "Project 366" and have managed to take 2 photos so I am on track :-) 

I also received an email from Blue Bazaar advising that they are running a "Bootcamp" again from 01/01/12 - 31/01/12 with a total of 15 sketches so I think I will try and complete that as well!  If Kristy and Jenny are reading this, I think you two should join me!!!

I also really need to get my scrap room back in order ASAP as it is a crazy mess so that will be number one on the to do list before I start any scrapping!!

Take care

Nic xx

Welcome 2012!

Well 2011 is over and it is the start of a brand New Year.

I have not posted a blog for over 3 months due to various reasons and due to having a lot going on in my life but one of my goals in 2012 is to blog on a regular basis.

Please note that the next part of my blog may be upsetting for some readers, especially my family.

On 28th October 2011 my Nanna's partner, John, passed away after a six month battle with Cancer.  John wanted to die at home so he was nursed by my Mum and my Nanna for approx. 9 days and passed away peacefully with Nanna, Mum, my Sister and I all by his side.

The days that Mum and Nanna were nursing John were extremely hard for them as there were several complications for them to deal with.  Jock and Fiona also needed to help out with caring for John at times to provide some much needed relief to Mum and Nanna.  I found these days so very hard to deal with as being 600kms away from everyone makes you feel so very useless and helpless.  I was due to fly to Perth at the end of October and I did not expect John to be alive when I arrived but he was. On the first night I stayed at Fiona's house and the next day she took me up to Nanna's house.  Within one hour of us being there, John had died.  Even though I knew John was dying, I didn't expect it to happen so suddenly....I know this sounds really stupid and even as I am typing it, I know how stupid it sounds but I really didn't expect it to happen when I was there. 

My Nanna knew the time was very near so she tried to protect all of us and Fiona also told me that John was close to passing so she told me to go outside if I wanted to but on my way outside I passed John in his bed and something made me stop.  I knew I had two options, I could go outside and wait, or I could be brave and comfort someone in their final moments.  I chose to stay and I held John's hand as he took his final breath.  Standing with my Sister, Mother and Grandmother as someone we loved passed away was a moment in time that will be forever etched in my memory. 

                    *                       *                     *                    *                    *

2012

I love the start of a New Year as it is a great time to reflect and focus on what is important in your life.

Like many people I have a few resolutions and one of the things I am wanting to do this year in conjunction with my scrappy friends Kristy, Jenny, Sharyn (and anyone else we can rope in) is "Project 366" which is based on a concept that has been around the scrapping world for quite a while now.  The idea is to take a photo of your life every day for a year and then scrap the photos.  I very rarely scrap any photos of myself so with this project I will have no choice but to do so.

I have also resigned from my job and am looking forward to having lots of "me time" to do the things I enjoy most in life like spending time with my family and friends, scrapping, looking after my wonderful husband and being a "Domestic Goddess!".

Take care.

Love Nic xx

What a Weekend!

"Race Round" is over for another year in Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the 3 major race meetings have been blessed with the most glorious weather (much to the delight of all the ladies and their hats, fascinators etc.). 
Yesterday was the final day of race round and this is celebrated by "Coolgardie Day" which is basically a fun day which has markets, stalls a parade etc.
We had the AGM and a club run at the gokarts so we went there for the day.
Again, the day started off perfectly, the sun was shining, the birds were singing etc. but then a bit of wind started to blow....and it got stronger and we could see big black clouds descending on us at a rapid rate.  There was also thick dust and it was getting worse.  Chairs started blowing away, 44 gallon drums started to blow over and I was getting a bit concerned.  We were at the pit bays which is a fancy name for a concrete floor and a tin roof!!  As the wind got stronger and the dust got thicker I said to Dean "Should we go and shelter behind the sea container", to which he replied "No, I don't want to leave the gokart on its own"    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
So, realising my status in life, I suggested that we take the gokart with us and seek shelter behind the sea container.  Dean thought this was a good idea so he carefully wheeled the kart to safety.
Once the gokart was safely protected by the sea container we decided to put a few things in the boot of the car and as we were doing this we heard a horrendous roaring, cracking sound and saw people running.  I looked up and saw that the timing tower was completely gone and all that was left was the uprights at the bottom of the building.  I will never forget the feeling that I had when I saw this as, like just about everyone else there, I thought that there were people in the timing tower and I knew that there would be death or serious injury due to the fact that there was nothing left of the building. 
Thankfully, the ladies that were in the building had decided to evacuate it 5 minutes before it was destroyed and no one was hurt.
The building and everything in it that was lost can be replaced but precious lives can't be.
Here are some pics for you.
Nic xxx


The storm moving across the track

Image provided by Lee-Anne Martin


What the timing tower used to look like

Image from http://www.speedcafe.com/2011/09/18/karting-officials-escape-death-in-wind-storm/

What the timing tower looks like now!

Images provided by Lee-Anne Martin

Sketchabilities

I found another challenge blog the other day called Sketchabilities.....I am so addicted to these blogs!! If only I didn't have to work I would have more time to scrap!!!
Here is my layout for the sketch provided.

Nic xxx

Sunday Drive

Every weekend lately seems to be a blur of housework, gardening and maintenance so about the middle of last week I asked Dean if we could go for a drive out to Lake Douglas and have a picnic lunch on Sunday.
I woke up yesterday and made up some rolls and a fruit platter for us and we set off to Lake Douglas which is a man made lake about 10kms out of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. 
After turning off the main highway onto a gravel road with a convoy of other cars in front and behind us (of which every one seemed to have a dirt bike or 4 wheeler in tow), I could feel Dean tensing up and he started complaining about the off road bikes, the noise, the dust etc. so when he said "We should go to Coolgardie and have a look around", I agreed and we turned around and promptly left Lake Douglas and all the bikes.
We ended up doing a 220km "Sunday Drive" to Coolgardie, Rowles Lagoon (which sounds like a lovely place but due to no water is just flat brown dirt), Ora Banda, Broad Arrow and finally back to Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
I took my camera with us but after taking 3 pictures realised that my battery was about to go flat so I could probably only get one more shot in.  I wanted a photo of both of us so I quickly threw the camera on the bonnet of ute, set the self timer and ran like the wind to get back on the picnic table (looking relaxed and at ease) before our picture was taken.
Here it is (please note that the angle of the photo is due to the bonnet not being flat!!).

After a bit of a rough start, we had the most wonderful time and Dean was so enthused by the time we got home he went straight down the shed and made up a tripod to hold a billy over a campfire so I can have a cuppa next time we go out bush......I wonder if he could whip up a tripod for my camera.........
Love Nic xxx

A Bit of a CATastrophe!

My friend Jenny left Kalgoorlie today with her Mum and two of their friends to go on a 3 night cruise off Fremantle so I volunteered to dogsit her fur baby "Lucy".
Jenny dropped Lucy off last night to our house and we settled down to watch TV for the night with Lucy lying at the back sliding door looking in. 
Our youngest cat "Agro" noticed Lucy and the next thing we knew, his hackles were up, his tail had doubled in size and he was spitting and trying to get at Lucy through the glass door.  I told Dean to grab Agro while I went outside and showed Lucy where her bed was. 
The next thing I have Dean holding the side of his face and yelling at me to "HELP" him.  I get to the back door and say in an aggitated voice "WHAT??" and he tells me that Agro has scratched him and he needs me to help him.  So I promptly tell him, "You'll be OK, your not gonna die!" and that I will be there in a minute.  I am just getting inside and the next thing I know, Dean is chasing after Agro, lunges at him, misses and ends up on the floor!!!
So after telling Dean to get up, I finally have a look at his face which he has tissues held up against and see that Agro did a good job on him!  There were 4 large, deep scratches across the side of his face and there was quite a bit of blood.  So after rummaging through the first aid kit, Dean had one side of his face covered in large wound dressings (not so much because the wounds were bad, but because I didn't want the blood or betadine ointment leaking onto my white sheets and pillowcases).  Anyway, this morning, after ripping out half the whiskers from Dean's face when taking the dressings off, the wounds don't look too bad and a couple of butterfly stitches are now doing the job nicely.   Dean is still not talking to Agro.  Agro is oblivious to any wrong doing.
PLEASE NOTE:  No cats or dogs were harmed in the above incident, (only 1 human).

Nic xx

P.S.  Mugshot below of the culprit!

Black with 2

I stumbled across a new challenge blog site the other day, purely by accident, so I thought I would have a crack at it.
The challenge site is called Black With Two and the criteria for August's challenge is;

ON A BLACK CARDSTOCK BACKGROUND, GREEN WITH NO FLOWERS
So here is my entry.

Nic x

Kraft It Up!

I had a lovely night on Friday, Jenny and Dee came over for a scrap night and it was great to catch up with them.  Unfortunately, I was feeling really exhausted and only managed to get one layout done :-(

So here is my Kraft It Up! entry for August.
This month's challenge is a sketch.

Nic x