Bella's First Chairlift Ride

Sorry still no stamping. But I am up to level 25 on Farmville and level 19 on Castle Age!! lol

Sunset Taranaki

One of the views from our lodge..

Ski Trip Pics

We had a great time up Mt Ruapehu.

Baylee had a few runs of Happy Valley and Bella went up and down the chairlifts a zillion times.

Every year my parents stay in a lodge for a week at Whakapapa. It means sharing the lodge with a bunch of other families, but over the years they've made some really good friends as it's usually the same families most years. This year I managed to get the time off work to take the girls up, Mum stayed home to work and look after the animals so my Dad came with us.

The weather was shocking though.

We managed to get a few hours in on Monday, a couple Tuesday. Wednesday we went to Rotorua and spent the day riding the Luge. Thursday we were confined to the lodge, with laptops playing various movies, scrabble and cards etc and of course finishing off all the food and alcohol - you don't want to be carrying unnecessary items back off the mt!

Then Friday a long drive home and unpacking - I've only just managed to catch up on all the washing!

Although it wasn't quite what we had planned and I never even got to put a pair of skis on, it was still good to get away from things, no TV, no internet, no work. And I even managed to sit down with the girls and do some good old fashioned colouring in.

I'll have some more photos later when blogger isn't on a 'go slow'.

I'm still around

Hi everyone.
Sorry still no cards, it's been ages since I pulled out my inks and punches. I thought having time off work, I'd have time to stamp, but it hasn't worked out that way.

The first week, it seemed I had something on everyday.
The second week we spent up at Mt Ruapehu. I'll post pics later when I'm on the desktop. We had an awesome time despite the gale force wind and lack of skiing. How often can you go on holiday, be with a bunch of people you hardly know and hang out all day in your PJs?
And this week, my last week of my holiday so far I've painted the girls bedrooms and replanted the front garden and am in the process of ripping out the back garden.

On top of it all I've spent way too much time on facebook playing farmville and Castle Age - both totally addictive!!

I hope you are all well, and enjoying the first days of Spring.
Take care.

An Update...

Hey everyone,

So much for the swine flu, everyone has been so focused on that, instead we've been hit by Norovirus!

We've got one ward closed so the ward I work on has been inundated with overflow patients. It's been so busy, the last 3 shifts I've worked I haven't left until close on midnight. Only 4 more shifts and then Yay!! 3 weeks holiday!!

I'm so looking forward to it, there's so much that needs to be done around the house and in the garden. I spent an hour this morning filling the wheelie bin with weeds from the back garden - I want to fill it with poppies. Also I'm taking the girls to Ruapehu for a week of skiing and just getting away from it all - that also means no TV for a week - I guess you have to make some sacrifices if you want to be able to ski from the front door to the ski field!

The actual update I wanted to share is that I had an assessment at the gym yesterday.

I started off with a hiss and a roar in May which lasted about 2 weeks, then the girls got sick, then I got sick, then everyone else got sick and work got busy and stressful. So the gym dropped off the calendar and the weight went back on.

But - this term has started off well, I think it's the fact we're going away and I HAVE to fit into my snow pants! I've managed 4-5 workouts per week and have been watching what I eat and sticking to my points.

So in the last 2 1/2 weeks I've managed to lose 3kg and 19cm and I'm back in my old jeans without having to suck everything in to do them up! Hopefully I can keep things up, maybe I will need to buy new pants, in a smaller size???

I've found that meal planning has helped heaps, I know what we're having in the morning, so no stressing out at 5pm and then I know what to buy when I do the groceries and the added bonus is I've managed to cut $20-$30 off the grocery bill and we're less likely to get takeaways at the end of the day, saving more money.

I hope everyone else is well and managing to keep away from the bugs and flu.

Almost forgot the title...

Another quick post before I head off on the school run...

A huge part of my job is dealing with people being diagnosed and treated for cancer. It's the worst part of the job, especially when it's terminal.

Some people you think, well you smoke a pack a day, drink 4 nights a week, eat takeaways every other day it's no wonder you ended up with a dreaded disease.

But we still get lots of people who exercise, eat healthy, have never touched a cigarette and yet they're having major surgery to have a tumour removed.

I think part of it isn't just diet and exercise but the chemicals we expose ourselves to everyday - not just pollution from cars and industry etc but from the chemicals in our cleaning products, our lotions and potions that we slather ourselves in and our make up. They may be minute, but we and our children are constantly coming into contact with them.

So over the last couple of years I've made a conscious effort to purchase natural and organic products. One of my favourite brands is Sukin an Aussie organic range of shampoo, conditioner, body wash etc... The reason I've gone for an Aussie brand is because it's about 1/4 the price of NZ brands and it's still a really good product.

And today I made my own cleaning spray.

1 cup water

1 cup white vinegar

and no my house doesn't smell like vinegar (although now I've got a craving for Salt & Vinegar Chips)

Anyway the whole point of me posting was actually to let you all know about a really helpful website I came across while getting my cleaning spray recipe OrganizedHome

It's got heaps of tips and lots of printouts like meal planners, cleaning checklistss and a whole heap of stuff for helping stay organised at home.

BTW - Even though I buy Sukin from Australia, I'm now buying Whittakers made in NZ

Better go, now I'm running late, so much for being organised!! lol

Before the chaos starts..

Another quick post before I head off to school to pick Baylee up. It's been a lovely sunny day here in the Naki and it's been nice having a day off work.

This card I made for a friends son, he'll be turning three this weekend. It's the first time I've used this set - when I mounted it I cut the words off and mounted them on the side of the block. That way I can stamp the words only if I want and where I want.

Firstly I tried water colouring the image but it wasn't as bright as I wanted. So I stamped the image on a few scrap pieces and then paper pieced the image - heaps happier with the result - and just a little dab of crystal effects on the porthole.

Recipe

Stamps - Pun Fun

Ink - Basic Black

Cardstock - Riding Hood Red, Basic Black , Whisper White, Bali Breeze, More Mustard

Accessories - Hodgepodge Styled Silver, Dimensionals, Circle Punch, Scallop Punch, Cuttle Bug and some random star brads I had lying around.

Old and New...

Just a really quick post cause I want to get some more stamping done.

Here's a quick card that I've cased from Dorothy Gates from Splitcoast. It uses the brand new Great Friend stamp set that will be available in the Spring Mini Catalogue and will be available next month. I loved heaps of stuff in the catalogue and was really glad to see a range of stamp sets in a range of prices. And there's heaps of great accessories and papers to co-ordinate everything.

Recipe

Stamp Set - Great Friend (Spring Mini Catalogue)

Ink - Craft White, Purely Pomegranate (retired)

Cardstock - Craft, Purely Pomegranate (retired)

Accessories - Purely Pomengranate Double Stitched Ribbon (retired)

Potato Nuggets

We had these the other night and the girls loved them so I wanted to share the recipe. Not so good for the health concious though.

Potatos cubed approx 1cm

2 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp butter

2 cloves garlic crushed or 1 tsp of the pre crushed stuff.

Chuck it all in a baking dish and into the oven at 190 Celsius for approx 45 mins or until golden brown. After 15-20 mins stir so nothing sticks and to make sure the potatoes are evenly coated.

Drain off the oil and serve.

These are really crunchy and yummy - and at least the garlic is good for you!

The Wild Westcoast

Have I been slack at blogging or what??

I finally got a card made - so far - 1 card, that's pretty slack as well.

So here's the card it's a case of Nichole Heady's. I kept the colours similar and the layout and just changed the stampset to an SU one. I've been hanging out for Fifth Ave Floral for ages, so it was great to finally be able to ink it up today - it's definitely going to be a favourite.

Recipe -

Stamps - Fifth Avenue Floral, Natural Beauty

Ink - Craft White

Cardstock - Craft, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze

Accessories - Rub Ons, Paper Piercer, White Pen, Dimensionals

We've had a quiet school holidays - I'm hanging out for my Annual Leave coming up in a few weeks. Baylee spent a week up north and on the way home from picking her up we stopped at Mokau beach, I managed to get a few photos, and Baylee managed to get wet.