Storytelling Sunday - June

It is that time of the month again when we grab our favourite beverage and sit down to read stories written by people all over the world.  It is a wonderful idea by the lovely Sian over at From High In The Sky.  If you like a story or three (or 50!!!) why not pop over and have a read and perhaps join in with a tale of your own :-)

With the Jubilee celebrations in the UK I have tried to think of a story that might go with that theme.  If we were still living in Ireland we would have flown over to the UK for the weekend and spent time with The LOML's family in Hexham and enjoyed the celebrations.  I hope that all of you living in the UK are embracing the fun and that the weather is bright and cheerful!  However, nothing suitable springs to mind so I will instead share with you a story about The Princess as she celebrated her 11th birthday this past month.

I Am Getting Bigger - a story about The Princess

The Princess is at a funny age, not a little kid anymore but not yet a teenager.   It is a strange age to be and this is enhanced by the fact that she is the oldest in her class.  Education curriculums differ widely in the early years from country to country, and when we moved back to Australia it was decided that it would be best if The Princess was slotted in a year below her age.  In some ways this has been a blessing as we still have 'a little girl' most of the time, even at almost 11.  But, she was still almost 11, and interesting situations have begun to  arise ...

This photo was taken close to the time of the story.

Most days the children are collected at school by the dad.  He gets the benefit of hearing all the school day stories immediately and full of excitement each day as he drives them to the shop.  By the time they arrive I only get the watered down 'highlight' version.  (Although the kids have realised that it is more fun to share the best news when we are all together and so they wait.  Yay!!!)  On this afternoon both boys were playing sport after school and it was only The Princess and the dad.  She was particularly quiet this day and was probably sitting there thinking about her brothers, as this was the first day that she was on her own in the car this school year.

When out of nowhere she pipes up and says "Dad, did you know I am getting bigger?"

"Mmmm" the dad replied as he wasn't really listening but concentrating on surviving school traffic.

"Soon I will need those things too."

The dad nearly crashed the car!  Thoughts about what 'those things' were flew through his head at one hundred miles an hour, while also thinking that this wasn't his domain and where was the mom when he needed her!

"Ok then" was his tentative reply.  Hoping that it would deflect any further questions.

"You know dad," The Princess said while lifting up her arm and pretending to spray underneath it, "The spray like the boys have."

I am sure you can imagine the huge sigh of relief from the dad that day when he realised that she was talking about deodorant.  He spent the rest of the journey trying to keep a straight face until he reached the store.  We laughed together as he repeated the story to me later that afternoon, while The Princess was occupied with her homework.  This will be a great tale for her 21st :-)

Happy 11th Birthday to our Princess!  She is definitely growing up as this year her birthday list included boots, clothes, jeans and jewelry.  And for the first time there wasn't a doll accessory in sight.

Chipper

Update ...

So much has gone through my mind in the past month that it has been best to keep my mouth shut :-)  Memories of my mom telling me "If you don't have anything nice to say than don't say anything at all!" kept popping to mind.  You will remember that we had put the business up for sale with the decision to close if it didn't sell.  Lots of offers came in and people entered discussions.  My mind boggles at the thought of everything that happened in only a few weeks and we have been left in limbo ever since.  I even went on a job interview and we considered all sorts of options!

But the offer that we accepted was finalised only yesterday (Monday).  It was a long drawn out affair which required that we set a firm cut off point of Monday morning.  But the result is what The LOML wanted, but to which I am still slightly sitting on the fence about.  Only time will tell exactly how it will all go.  As of Monday we have a new business partner.  This was not an option which we had even thought of so it took us a bit by surprise too.  It solves many problems and will in time give me more time with my kids, which is my primary motive for our decision.  I am still very hurt by some of the local happenings but through all of this I have discovered that we do have tons of wonderful customers who popped in just to tell me to keep my chin up when things were still up in the air.  And they didn't even know what was going on as confidentiality agreements kept me from saying anything.

The stock in the shop was just about wiped out after we made the announcement and it wasn't even on sale!  So I have lots of ordering (or SHOPPING!!!) to do and that always makes me happy :-)  The next few weeks are going to be chaos but that now seems to be the norm around here LOL

I started Shimelle's latest class today and am really hoping to try and keep up so you may see a bit more of me :-)  I do seem to get more done when I have a firm direction as time is so short.  Well I had better get back to my "shopping" but I just wanted to quickly share.  I have spent so much time thinking and praying and although I am not sure about this decision, I felt that this was a time in which I needed to follow The LOML's lead.  Not something in which I always excel so maybe it will be an important lesson!  I can most definitely be extremely stubborn and opinionated!

Chipper :-)

Storytelling Sunday May

Welcome one and all to this months Storytelling Sunday (errrr) Monday post.  I decided yesterday to have an internet free day (gasp, horror! YEP, it is possible!) and as I hadn't actually found the time to sit and type this post it is now a day late :-)  A quick update for those of you who are regular readers ... everything is still in limbo BUT we have put a deadline on all offers as today so we will finally know which direction we are headed soon!!!!  Either way life is going to be a bit tumultuous for the next few months.

Now onto the story ...  Wake Up!

I have always thought it funny when other people have talked about the changes that take place in teenage boys ... surely some of these things can't happen to my boys?????  Both my boys have always been early risers.  We have taught all our children that it is important that they are able to get themselves ready for the day each morning on their own.  Although we will often have family breakfasts, on school mornings each child is responsible for getting themselves up at the right time and ensuring that they are ready to walk out the door with everything they need on time.  They each have their own alarm now and this has worked very well so far.  This sounds idyllic, but believe me some mornings are a madhouse around here!

The minute The Extrovert turned 14 he changed overnight.  A non-morning child took his place.  Instead of being up as sunrise he would now sleep until 11am if you let him.  We had to get a louder alarm and a few mornings I EVEN HAD TO GO IN AND WAKE HIM UP!  He has found a new routine (after I threatened to throw a cold bucket of water on him!) and each morning he hears his brother's alarm with his set to go off two minutes later.  He has time for one hit of the snooze button and then he makes an appearance in the kitchen.  He is still only half awake at this point and proceeds to make his porridge without even opening more than one eye.  I don't think he actually wakes up until we are in the car and on the way to school.  The Thinker and The Princess are still both already awake when their alarms go off and the alarm is only to remind them that they need to put their iPods down and start to get ready.

One morning this past week The Extrovert heard his brother's alarm go off through his sleepy fog.  He ignored it and waited for his own alarm.  But the noise kept penetrating his dreams and he started hitting his snooze button trying to turn it off.  His thoughts muddled, he sat up trying to work out what was wrong with his iPod and why wouldn't it turn off!  Even after removing it from the dock he could still hear the alarm.  In his hazy state he remembered his brother and grumbling about him under his breathe he stumbled down the hallway to his brother's room.  He could hear the alarm getting louder and he was annoyed now ... he could have still had 5 more precious minutes of sleep.

He knocked on the door "Thinker turn your alarm off, it is time to get up!"  But no sound came from the room.  He pounded harder and harder, sleep confusing his brain.  "Thinker!!!!!  TURN OFF YOUR ALARM!!!"  In frustration he flung open the door, marched into the room and stopped dead in his tracks.  The bed was made, the room vacant and the alarm was now screeching.  Within moments all sorts of thoughts passed through his addled mind until finally, as he began to wake up, realisation dawned.  The Thinker was on school camp and wasn't home at all! Feeling very foolish he turned off the alarm and sheepishly snuck back to his room.  On the way he passed The Princess' empty room and was suddenly thankful that she was spending the night with Grandma.  He had forgotten all about that too!

Not being one to keep things to himself he told us the story once his brother returned. We laughed until we cried.  I thought it would make a great story for this week and he is looking forward to reading about himself :-)  If you wish to join in with a story (or read more) head on over to Sian's.  Storytelling Sunday is held on the first Sunday of every month and don't worry if you are late like me, no one minds in the least :-)

Chipper

Online Crop with Shimelle - Challenge 4

After I spent so long on challenge 3, I decided to keep challenge 4 simple :-)  I had the Teresa Collins collection pack that I won recently (Thank you Teresa!) and blue is my most favourite of colours.  So the obvious answer to the question of "What I would mix with yellow and grey?" is going to have to be BLUE!

I cut the yellow flowers out of one of the papers and layered them up with some of the die-cuts from the collection.  Added a few bits and pieces like the navy silk ribbon and I was done.  Another Disney photo scrapped - YEAH!!!!  (only about 900 to go! LOL)  This one didn't photograph so nicely this morning, as the background is Bazzill Thunder - a dark grey & the Thickers are silver foil.  Quick, easy and effective!

Have a magical day!

Chipper

Online Crop with Shimelle - Challenge 3

Last night I found the energy to scrap and managed to complete TWO more challenges from over at Shimelle's.  It has been an exhausting week but I have been aching to do this challenge ever since it was posted.  Challenge 3 was all about mixing styles.

I knew right away which style I admire and would like to try to incorporate in my own :-)  I just love Amy from Sparkling Gnome Studios.  If you are reading this Amy please don't be embarrassed by what I am about to say :-)  I find Amy's work to be unique and refreshing, where every page carries with it a little piece of her heart.  I know there are others out there who do pages that have similar elements, but in my opinion they often lack soul ... they are designed just for designs sake.  I am inspired when I read Amy's blog.  I have copied a few of her latest layouts so that you can get a feel for what I mean and if I have done it right, clicking on each photo will take you to the full post.

  

Do you see what I am talking about?????  Now I don't presume to say that I can copy or imitate Amy's style but there are elements that I can try to incorporate into my own layout for the challenge. (On a side note if you ever teach a class Amy and I am nearby - I will be there!  With bells on!!!!)  So I grabbed a few supplies that were laying around and got started.

Lets start with this and see how we go ...

I love the layering and the paints and sprays, but my favourite part has to be all the bits and bobs that end up on the page.  That is where I struggled to come up with ideas, but as I was working on my page I reached a point where I looked at it and liked what I saw ... so I stopped!  No sense adding more if I am happy with what it looks like even though it wasn't where I had intended to finish!  So there are bits of Amy and lots of me in the layout below and I love the way it turned out.  I would have loved 'more' but that is not to be.  In real life the page has a bit of sparkle as I sprayed some Mr Huey's 'Shine' in parts (I love that stuff!!!).  I also had a chance to play with my new Tim Holtz markers.  I used them to stamp the starfish onto the canvas and then softened it with some water.  They stamp beautifully! (P.S. the canvas tag was the back of a store tag on a pair of jeans!)

This has been my favourite challenge all the way down to the silly whimsical clouds!  I bought that paper with the intention of cutting out the clouds and I am glad I did :-)

Chipper