Operation Organise

Since I returned home from my lovely, relaxing trip away over the Christmas/New Years period I have decided to do some major reorganisation around the house. We have a lot of 'stuff' we just don't need anymore - or never needed to begin with....hahaha. As this house is only small I need all the extra space I can get!

On the first day of 'Operation Organise' I began with the Office/Craft Room.

This room does become a 'dumping ground' for a lot of things unfortunately. Thankfully we have recently added two double door cupboards to the room that has given me a lot more storage and things that were sitting around on shelves and the (ahem...) floor are now nicely stored away. Notice I didn't say neatly - well that's because it is not all that neat at the moment. OK, not really true. It is kind of neat but the arrangement of things could be a little better and I do have a couple of 'gotta sort that out later' boxes in there too. You know, those little things that just don't have a place to go - yet. I'm working on it. I also need to tidy and sort out the things on top of the cupboard but being short I can overlook that for a little while. Some other small things like cleaning out the plastic drawers need to be done too - I'm going to use them to store the kids craft things (e.g.: pencils, paints, paper, etc.) Currently they are full of 'need to file' papers and the like. Over all the room is much better and much more usable too. I'm loving that I can sew when ever I like as 'my craft space' and neat and tidy.

Day two on 'Operation Organise' was a little less productive. I did get some major cleaning done though which I guess will help in the long run. The bathroom/toilet got a good scrub, the entire house got a through vacuum and the wet areas got a through mop. I reorganised the toys in the lounge room a little better too. Other than that I folded and put away clothes, did 3 loads of washing (including the couch covers), did dishes, organised dinner, went for a walk and scrapped - again!

Today is day three of 'Operation Organise'. The Twins have just gone done for a sleep so on today list we have:

* Firstly, go and jump in a shower while I can!!
* Reorganise the hallway linen closet/storage cupboard done this morning :) !!
* Clean and reorganise the kitchen cupboards (next on the list after I'm finished here)
* Fold the washing and put away


If I get time:

* Sort and organise my sewing print outs (patterns etc.) and my loose recipes in the folders I have purchased for this job.

That is probably something I can do tonight while I watch TV I guess.

I better get moving! These things won't do themselves and I need to get as much done while 'my helpers' are sleeping.

I'll leave you with a page I scrapped last night. (I don't know if I am completely finished with this but thought I would show you anyway. I'm also in the process of doing a similar one for Zach.)

Click to enlarge

(Credits to come)

P.S I'll also add, check out Works for me Wednesday over at Rocks In My Dryer! I'm a regular reader of this and there are always some great hints, tips and ideas with Mr Linky. One day I might even be able to participate!

Oh no!

The first thing I saw when I uploaded this was the spelling of surprise! I've spelt it wrong!!! Please over look that for now, I will go back and fix it soon but I have spent long enough scrapping today - yes I have done other things too! Enjoy!

{ Christmas Surprise }

Click to enlarge

Akizo Designs - Xmas alpha2
Trixie Scraps Designs - My Christmas Gift Mini Kit
Small Twill tags from Gunhild-Storeide

Angel Eyes....

Well, well I scrapped again!

The kids have been so good to me this morning and have just been playing quietly and nicely together so I thought I would take the opportunity to scrap a page with a new kit I recently downloaded. Now I'm off to dress children, shower, do dishes, hang washing, as well as fold some and put it away. Then I'm back in the office again today to try and reorganise a few things; like the craft cupboards that are just bursting at the seams! I will be back later with some photos of a few Christmas presents I received this year, spoiled as always. Everything I loved!

See you later!

{ Angel Eyes }

Click to enlarge

The warmth of friends Alpha - recoloured - Enchanted Studio Scraps Collab kit
Love Letters Kit - Oscraps Collab (in Scrap 'N Art Jan/Feb issue)
Template from Youandi (Designs by Fryske)

I'mmmmmm back!

I finally feel like I'm back in the swing of things post Christmas so I am going to participate in this weeks......
Time to get real and fess up to all the things I absolutely positively DID NOT do this week:

Sunday while Brett and Mitchell were down the farm and the Twins were sleeping I totally did not lay on couch for just a few minutes waking up 2 hours later. No way would I do that, there is just so much to do around here! And then I did not proceed to run move quickly around the house to get everything done just so that they didn't know I was sleeping. No, that would be stupid. (No, really it would be stupid!)

I most certainly did not lay in bed last night thinking about things that I should of added to my last post, and I wasn't up at 3:30am this morning feeding Zach and have an over whelming desire to catch up on blogs. Not at 3:30am! I didn't give in to that desire and finally get back to bed at 5:30am only to have the Twins up at 6am.

I down right didn't let Mitch have a muesli bar before bed because he wouldn't eat his dinner and was really complaining that he was hungry! I would not give in like that - no way!

And lastly.......I mostly definitely, most certainly, really didn't pack away all the MCN's today because keeping up with them, the house, the kids, Zachary's therapy and appointments and just 'me time' in general is just to much (that and they have grown out of 99% of them and I don't have the time or money to replace them right now). NO WAY! I didn't fill up the shelves formally known as the 'nappy shelves' with Christmas toys either. My kids didn't get spoiled so much that they don't have room for it all - never! I didn't shed a small tear over it either...... (Modern Cloth Nappies for sale everyone!)

So there you have it - Head on over to MckMama's blog to play along!

See you all again soon!

OPERATION ORGANISE BEGINS!

This New Year I have made the resolution to GET THE HOUSE MORE ORGANISED. So, I have decided to start 'Operation Organise'. You can join in with me if you want!

Below I will list what needs to be done and cross it off as I do it (or add to it if I feel like it too!).

Kitchen:

Empty, Clean, Sort, Cull and Re-organise the Kitchen cupboards
Clear off, Clean, Sort, Cull and Re-organise the top of the Fridge
Clear off, Clean, Sort, Cull and Re-organise the top of the Pantry

Bathroom:

Empty, Clean, Sort, Cull and Re-organise the bathroom cupboards


Laundry:

Not to much to do in here other than a really good clean - like under the washing machine.....

Office/Craft Room:

Re-organise Craft cupboard
Re-organise Storage cupboard
Put away filing and empty plastic drawers
Sort and pack away into (above) plastic drawers kids craft things
Re-distribute things to the rest of the house that does belong in this room
Organise photo and files on the external hard drive - started

Hallway:

Empty, Clean, Sort and Re-organise the Linen Cupboard
Clean and organise the top of the Piano

Lounge Room:

Re-Organise Toys
Tidy and Re-organise the TV Unit

Our Bedroom:

Sort through Clothes and cull anything not worn or that does fit - my cupboard
Sort through Brett's Clothes and cull anything not worn or that does fit Would you believe he had about the double the clothes that I have in my cupboard! About 85% of these clothes I have never seen him wear in the 7 years we have been together! We were able to donate 3 large garbage bags of clothes to the Op Shop and a completely pack shopping bag of coat hangers that we just don't need anymore as well as getting a small bag of older clothes for rags!
Sort out the boxes of clothes under the bed - started

M, Z & A's Room:

Sort through Clothes and cull anything not worn or that does fit
Re-organise books on bookshelves
Tidy and re-organise the top of the wardrobe
Sort out 'daycare clothes' from other clothes

Ashlee's Room:

Hmmmmm.....where do I start?!
Edited: Ashlee has been doing a brillant job on this herself! I'll keep you updated.

Oh My Goodness!

I'm actually blogging! Who would have thought.....a lot has been going on around here, some of which I won't go into. Blogging hasn't been top priority but now here I am at 9pm blogging when in all honesty I should be cleaning up and getting ready to hop off to bed!

I'll start by saying.....

I hope you had a lovely evening and a great time bringing in 2009!

I have been home since the 1st. Still trying to get everything unpacked and put away from our time away - what fun! Ashlee stayed with Nan in Canberra for a few more days which was good because we had the car absolutely jammed packed full coming home (plus we had to leave a couple of things there until next time) and I know we wouldn't have had any more room for Ashlee let alone all her stuff! HAHA. Ok, its getting later so I'll try and keep this short.

Here is a small look into some of the favoured Christmas presents the kids received....


I also got some crafting in while I was away. Here are the finished pencil cases Ashlee sent off to her friends for a (belated) Christmas present. (I printed out some birdies, ironed them on, stitched around the bodies and stitched on the legs.) They don't look to bad.

These are some little bags that I made up for Mum to store all her leads, cables, etc from her DSLR, external hard drive, camcorder, etc. I made the boxy ones using this tutorial from Three Bears.


And some how I was actually able to sew up this bag on my very last day night in Canberra. (That's what I was doing at 12 midnight!) I used a combination of this tutorial from Ric Rac and ideas from this post over at Twelve22. Its not the most wonderful bag (making wise) but its great for a very first try and I actually REALLY love it! (Don't look to close!)

Its even lined!

This idea I took from a bag my Mum has that I really love. Its a little zippered side pocket that holds my purse, keys and phone. I no longer have to go searching for things in the bottom of the bag.


And inside there is another pocket that holds dummies and things and I add some slots for a couple of pens because I'm always looking for one.

I also made a lovely little pillowcase dress for Anna too. I think it is so pretty and she really loves it too!



I did some shopping at Spotlight and was able to pick up a Knitting Loom similar to this. I have wanted one for a while and now I'm blissfully happy knitting away with this. And nearly finished my top that I have been working on for months.

Ummm, a bit more went on but my mind is blank so I will come back for that. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break.

Until next time I will leave you with a page I scrapped today (yes! I scrapped - Its been a while)...

{Sweet Precious Baby Girl}

Credits: Hugs 'n' Stuff Kit by SJTowers - Random musings of a Scrapaholic

(Oh and I changed internet providers too! Good Bye Forever BigPond!! Hello super fast and super cheap TPG!)

........we wish you a......

Its 6:35am, the house is quiet and I'm the only one up! Think I might go back to bed......

Some progress made!

Firstly I finally got some pencil cases (kinda) finished as presents for Ashlee's school friends. I still need to embroider some birdies on the front but other then that they are ready to go.


Mum - don't read from here on...........





































I was able to complete a zippered travel pouch for Mum. These pouches only take about 10 minutes and are super easy!


Lastly, nearly completed some appliquéd t-shirts for Zach and Anna. I might get around to making matching shorts/skirt but I doubt it, we will see.

Ok, kids call better go......Merry Christmas

I'm sooo ready for bed!

Up at 4am to feed Zach then back up again at 6:20am to be ready to go to the hospital. Zach was extremely hungry on rising so it was almost impossible to get anything done (while still holding him) and I ended up going to the hospital without brushing my teeth - yuck! Self conscious all day about it. Anyway, we got there about 7:30am and waited, played, got hospital tags on, blood pressure taken, temp taken, talked with the anaesthetist (sp?), played some more, got into some super trendy hospital jammies and waited some more. Went into the MRI about 9:30am. Zach didn't like the idea of laying on the MRI bed so I cuddled him while they gave him some laughing gas and he drifted off. Out I went to get something to eat as I hadn't eaten breakfast yet. Just wouldn't do it to the poor boy. I was also able to pickup my very first copy of Frankie Magazine! In the hospital store! More on that later.....

Lovely food, some time sitting in the sun and at 10:45am Zach is done and heading to recovery. Poor little man looked so small laying on that big hospital bed, oxygen mask on, fast asleep. He took a bit to wake up but when he finally came around he was fine. Had a breastfeed and was a little unhappy but after we headed up to the ward he had some juice, biscuits and a sandwich and was laughing and smiling like the old Zachary again. Bruised hands from the half dozen tries they had at finding a vein for the drip. (Apparently he has what's known as NICU veins - his veins are well prodded from his time in NICU at birth.) They ended up finding a vein in his foot so he has a little bruised foot too. All the staff were lovely but I'm glad that is over. Watching him go off to sleep against his will was a little hard. We will have to wait for the results now until after christmas and probably new years. Bad timing I guess but at least its done.
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This afternoon was spent at DFO. Went there to buy christmas presents and came away with heaps of stuff but unfortunately not much of it was for christmas. By the time we got home I was ready to curl up on the couch and sleep. My back was killing me and my feet hurt. I spent most of the time carrying Zach - boy he gets heavy! Mum pushed the pram and I ended up strapping Mitch in bedside Anna just to keep him still. Didn't come away with anything for me now I think of it - out of all the 'stuff' we got! Tomorrow will be spent braving the shops again to pick up some more things for christmas. Kids in toe - maybe. Man I'm a brave woman!!!
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On to other stuff. Thanks to Claire over at Loobylu & MixTape Zine I have discovered Frankie Magazine and I'm in love!

Photos originally uploaded by Loobylu

I spent an hour reading it while sitting in the sun outside the hospital and I must say I am hooked! Brilliant articles and bright cheery photos. Very addictive, so much so that I am even considering a subscription to this awesome mag (scrap that - I just did). Its the only way I would be able to access it - living in a VERY small town. See you all tomorrow folks!

No witty title right now

Things are a bit slow here at the moment - sorry. We are heading off to Canberra on Thursday (via Cooma for Zach's Physio appointment. We are also picking up his standing frame and a few other items) because he has his MRI on Friday (please keep us in your prayers). We - or should I say I need to be packed and ready to leave the house by 12:30pm at the latest on Thursday - I feel sooo rushed even though I started packing yesterday! I need to pick Ashlee up from school in Bombala on the way and be in Cooma by 2pm. Thankfully its only another hour or so to Canberra from there. We will be staying until about December 28th too! Looking forward to spending some time with my Mum and family without being rushed and needing to head home. Also if anyone is in Canberra and would like to catch up while we are there please feel free to drop me a line! FYI - this will be the first year we will be celebrating with Daddy......he is staying home this year.

I will have plenty of time to play some bloggy catch up, sew, craft and even get some digi scrapping done while I am away so watch out!
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In other news.....I have recently discovered this...

Graco Quattro Tour Duo Stroller

And quite frankly I {love} it! - It is only marginly longer then our current model, which is this one....

Steelcraft Enigma Twin 3 Wheeler Pram

And as you can probably guess is definitely narrower! I hate (with a passion!) pushing a twin pram around a shopping centre - you would not believe how many inconsiderate people there are out there! I don't really need it but it doesn't make me want it any less! I would have to sell my Steelcraft first before I would even consider buying it though.
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I am currently preparing for a 150th post give away too! Not long to go now!

Signing off at 11:13pm - tired, looking forward to preschool tomorrow and also doing a HUGE suck up for yelling at my dear sweet little boy tonight (feeling so guilty!). He did wake Zach up and then proceeded to make things worse - my yelling how ever woke up Anna and Daddy too! Things were settled down with in half an hour and Mitchell is now sleeping soundly snuggled up with.....Daddy.
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Oh and before I forget - Nicole - just wanted to let you know that I did get your message through facebook. Thank you for your kind words and great advice. I will get back to you very soon - things are a bit hectic. But again thank you.

Night!

Oh and ......

You can pass over this post if you want

I just wanted to put a few of my feelings down in writing and what better place then this?!

As you know we have now had our appointments with Dr Rosier (Our Paed) , Dr Lowe (Our Rehab Specialist) and most recently (On Monday) Hilary (Our new Physio from DADHC). These have all happened quite fast in the scheme of things, people usually wait 4 - 6 months plus to see these people . We have been very fortunate in that respect. Today I got the phone call from The Canberra Hospital that Zachary will now have his MRI on Friday December 19th. I guess with everything moving along and with Christmas etc I haven't really taken much time to sit and ponder but after the call today I think things started to sink in and really hit home.

'My gorgeous little boy has Cerebral Palsy'

Things started going through my mind.....'Why him?!' 'How will this effect our life?' 'How will this effect his life?' 'What would have things been like if.......'. You know those questions that we all ask ourselves at times. I know no one really has any answers to any of these at this time. Being only 18 months old it is still quite hard to predict how life is going to go and how things will pan out. After seeing Dr Lowe the feeling is that he may be 3 or more before he can walk on his own and he will have life long problems with co-ordination. This makes me sad and if I sit and think about it for to long it makes me very sad. I am now adding to the stress by thinking about the MRI. Zachary has to go under a general for the MRI because he stay very still - try asking an 18 month old to 'stay very still' at any time! I really don't like the thought of him 'going under' even for the short time it will be - what if he has a reaction? Silly I know but the thoughts are still there. What if they don't find anything? Then what? At least if they find anything then we will sort of have a concrete answer and more of an idea of the severity of things (or mildness I hope!). I have to wake him up at 4:30am and feed him because he can only have breast milk after 2am and nothing after 5am. We have to be at the hospital by 7am for admission and hopefully they get the MRI done soon after as I can imagine he is going to be very hungry! Ashlee, Mitchell and Anna will stay at my mum's as I'm not sure how long we will be there. This will be the first time Anna has gone anywhere without Zach too. How will she go?

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. On Thursday December 18th Zach has an appointment with Hilary again to do some more physio and we will also pick up some equipment that will make things a bit easier around here. A standing frame (so he isn't hanging off my legs constantly), a bath seat (because he is now to big for the baby ones and tips it over) and we are also looking into getting a weighted trolley for him to practice some walking. We will be seeing the OT (Occupational Therapist) soon too.

All these has just been on my mind and I needed to get it out so if you have read this far 'Thank You'......

Bear with me please

I'm trying to make things a little more festive around here but I've run out time right time and, well, it doesn't look right. I will be back soon to fix it up but in the mean time I hope you can still read my blog.....