Tuesday, March 31, 2009

...OH NO.....

This cup sits pristine (read SAFE), on top of my computer nook, in my Art Room.
It reminds me of the rewards we get from teaching.
The rewards we get from watching children
bloom and grow.
THE PLEASURE AND THE PAIN OF LOVING CUPS!
{{{{{DEEP SIGH}}}}}

We have had a few casualties in the past couple of weeks.
TWO of which were NOT my fault. I sometimes think that hurts a little more.
Because we all know I am the Killer of Crockery in this house!
 
Later Gators
Cheers
Jewelz




PS I have a secret I have a secret I have a secret I have a secret I have a secret I have a secret
and it's pretty cool and NO I'm NOT pregnant!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Maybe this would be better




Just thinking out aloud. I am new at this Bloggin thang... I tried to do something a little new and different. Whilst in essence I think it is an awesome idea, I think I made it more difficult than it needed to be. Hello my LIFE! I have this application on my iPhone. You can turn any shot saved to your phone into a polaroid. Yesterday I thought I'd just snap away using my phone, and create a number of polaroids to share stuff from my Sunday. Things I am particularly liking at the moment and as I was doing it I snapped a few really cool snap shots. It was easy, it was simple and I wasn't lugging aound a large camera or swapping lenses. I was more caught up in capturing the object in the moment. I also happen to love how the application makes the photo a little grainy , I like the vignette..I just like how it looks.  I thought I could post them all together in photoshop...but I think they are too small. So I posted this polaroid I left out yesterday to have a comparison....I think I already know it's gonna look better one polaroid at a time. What do you think?
Thanks for checking in today. Have a great week. I have great plans afoot...some are even a little secret! Ssshhhhhh
I took a few cool shots yesterday. This may have been my favorite.

This one turned out pretty well too...not bad for an iPhone...stingy 2megapixel quality....however I shan't go there!  I like the application and I like the fact you do have some options for a little creativity and I am grateful I have the option at all.

I think I like this WAY more. It was far less time consuming and I think you can see the pics MUCH better. Although if you click on the collages they pop up in a separate screen and they are really easy to see.


Cheers
Jewelz

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Saturday, March 28, 2009

LIFE.............................



This week turned the tables on last week! My aches and pains have subsided. I have a cough that is shaking cobwebs loose though. Juzz is suffering as well. Hack hack hack is all I'm hearing ACK I'm over it! Hurry back good health, you are missed. 

Going with the flow this week opened up some cool moments. I enjoy the fact that my passion for photography is being recognized. I'm pleased to be asked to record events that happen around school. I headed off to the Magic Incursion at school this week, camera in hand. My specific role at the swimming carnival was as event photographer. I had pictures printed and laminated and on display in the office by the time I left work on Thursday afternoon. It was nice to receive a text message from Amanda complimenting me on the photos Friday morning. It is a pleasant boost to have your colleagues sending you kudos. 

This 'chocolate infused coffee love' is a gift I received from Amanda on Thursday morning. When I arrived in the undercover area to take her class for DOTT, she was standing there with this 'little bit of love' for me. YOU ROCK AMANDA. I clicked away at smiling faces, held my sides from laughing so hard, sipped my mocha latte and was grateful that I have such an awesome job. Perhaps I am more grateful that I love my job so much that I rarely feel like I 'go to work'! 



I am also pleased to be sharing a little story from our week. I was all set to share the 'bad news' the other day...but didn't feel up to it. In the mean time bad news turned to good news. 
Belle had apparently 'released' our family's pet rat 'Rodney' . I came into the family room after a visit to the toilet. Rodneys cage was open and Rodney was missing. Belle looked at me forlornly and informed me  that Rodney was gone. After further enquiry I was told she had 'put him on the road and a car had come and he had got eerk squished dead!'(lots of hand gesturing and grim facial expressions accompanied this explanation of Rodney's disappearance.) Everyone in the family interrogated Bella, everyone came to the same conclusion...Rodney had been released. He was no where to be found. I spent days battling with the thought of his possible untimely demise. Night time found my ears straining to listen for any noise that might indicate his location...alas nothing! By Friday I had accepted Rodney's disappearance. Then in the evening I hear squeals of joy. Tess had bent down to investigate a headband that was moving and it turned out to be Rodney! Yay Rodney returns. No Bad News today!!!!.... and all this emotional rollercoaster riding was over a rat! A blooming Rat! Well, when you're loved you're loved in this household!

Thursday saw another visit to the yacht club, this time we were catching up with Tim, Justin's boss. He was up from Perth to see how the North West Operations are progressing. It was nice to have diner at the Yacht Club to chat with Tim. 

Friday evening was spent supervising Josh and his Mates. He is 15 next weekend. He chose to have a sleep over this weekend. Loud music, food and drink. Bouncing, more bouncing...more music, more bouncing. Snoozing under the stars. Camping out with the boys. We have a HUGE new trampoline and they took their bedding out onto the trampoline to sleep. They all headed off this morning to start their day with a fine breakfast from Maccas, then to spend a bit of time practicing for a skate competition that was being held early this evening at the local skate-park. There's that independence thing again! Josh returned rather cranky his plans for another sleep over or sleep out at someone else's house this evening were quashed, because of Rock Eisteddfod training tomorrow. No sleep overs on the nights before training! Apparently now I am a sucky mother AND he's not doing Rock Eisteddfod ANYMORE. He was so cranky he wouldn't share with me his win at the skatepark. He came in with a bag of goodies after coming third in the competition. Not too bad if you consider how big a night they all had last night! I shall have to sneak a peak in the bag a little later. I'm thinking a t-shirt, a cap, a heap of stickers and product information. Wicked that he has a win every now and then. Go Josh



Hope Everyone has a great weekend.

Cheers All
Jewelz

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Just going with the ebb & flow of it all

A week has almost passed me by. It has been a busy week. Much has happened but it has happened seamlessly. If something didn't happen, I didn't stress. I just meandered through the events of the week. I have been less frantic. I have done as much as I could do with the time I have had. If I couldn't do something, I didn't do it. My body was not very co-operative. The cold/flu bug that came to visit has outstayed it's welcome. It can go anytime from right NOW!
Lots of cool shots this week. I played 'Faction Carnival Photographer' on Tuesday. Lots of cool shots, many smiling faces and a day full of happy well behaved (for the best part of it) kids. Wednesday plodded past, I was feeling quite poorly and was just happy for bedtime to come around again. We had a sad event unfold but I don't feel like going into it tonight. I'll share it a little later. An incursion at school this morning, an old 'Carnie' passed through town. A Magician, the son of Carnival people. Slight of Hand tricks. White doves. Card and coin tricks. A scary looking ventriloquist doll stuffed in a battered old suitcase and a sort of 'state of the art', remote controlled Toucan. Yes a very large Toucan. It got a few oooh's and a couple of Ahhh's as well. Again I got to play event photographer. Man some of those kids had us rolling in the isle with their random comments. Like the little darling who was most concerned about the guinea pig being put in the same cage as the three white doves, he was sure something was gonna be eaten by something else. "Mrs B...there's gonna be feathers eveeeeerywheeeeeere!" Absolutely precious. Damn I laughed so hard. Just goin' with the flow.
Goodness the weekend is nearly here again.
Hope the sun is shining in your hearts my friends

Cheers
Jewelz

Monday, March 23, 2009

....EASY.....


So easy in fact, that it is Monday. Blogger was NOT co-operating yesterday. No matter how many times I tried, it did not want to load my 'Easy Like Sunday Morning' photo. Though this morning it worked find and dandy. Much like my Sunday morning. The weather was warm, though for my friends in Canada...your idea of warm {with tiny patches of grass poking through the melting snow} and my idea of warm {as in NOT lung scorchingly hot} are two different warms. It is actually nice to go and sit under the verandah on the swing chair and sip my morning coffee at the moment, instead of breaking out into a high humidity sweat eeerrrrm 'glow' before by butt has hit the seat! 
Sunday morning was Easy...unlike my Thursday. Thursday was a day riding high on BLAH. One of those days that would have been better spent in bed with the covers firmly pulled up over my head. A cold came knock knock knocking at my body, and some silly sod let it in! My throat was raw, my head was thumping, my nose blocked and my muscles ached. The 'He' and 'She-Devils' {spotting my weakness} invaded my home, then swarmed and turned on each other. Only one prisoner taken..the younger 'She-devil' banished to her lair for the afternoon for back chatting and speaking disrespectfully! The others escaped... only just!
I couldn't find a shoe to go on Bella's feet...not a one! Which made me thing back to the lovely afternoon I had spent at Maccas with Amanda, I couldn't remember picking up her new pair of Havaianas when we'd left! SIGH! {{Shoulders droop}} I phoned Maccas...I wasn't sure the staff member was even sure WHAT I had rung for! 'Haviwhats?'.... 'Thongs-Havaianas-, with little ladybirds on them! Childrens size!' ... 'UUmmmm Noooo,' said the staff member somewhat unconvincingly! I even dropped into McDonalds, it's not that I didn't trust the staff member MUCH, Sadly, still no Havaianas! {bigger SIGH!}
Then the single most stressful event of the day. One external hard-drive bites the dust after a small child tangles their foot in the USB cord, after venturing into a space they had NO PLACE BEING!!!! {{{{{MAJOR SIGH}}}}  The one that is my Back-up. My 'take everywhere because I don't trust those flimsy a$$ thumbdrives' back-up! 320GB of Back-up that isn't totally backed-up itself! 

So my little tip of the week 'DON'T BE SLACK BACK-UP, BACK-UP, BACK-UP, BACK-UP!'

Because my slackness made for a VERY uncomfortable 24hours, BUT this was the beginning of the end of the Thursday Blah's and Hello the weekend! After dropping the Hard-drive and discovering the tiny little USB port on the unit had broken off inside the unit!(The Hard-drive was parked up at the time it was dropped, so I was quietly confident the data was safe!NOW how to retrieve it?) Western Digital techs put me onto their Data recovery people. The people that give you a 10% discount off of the total cost of recovering any data. Which I find out the next day is going to be between $700 or $800 {{eyes bug outta my head when I hear this}}

In the back of my mind I was thinking about the possibility of transferring the hard-drive into another case! Could it be done? Would my data REALLY still be there? How much would that set me back? Roll on Friday.
Thursday night fall into bed, after taking Cold and Flu tablets, aching  but a little less jaded ...I spent a moment watching Belle sleeping and took time to count my blessings. Thank you Audrey for reminding me that sometimes, when you're not feeling too happy, that Happiness could be staring you right in the face! You were right. From that moment on things got better!

Friday morning, my mind wanders to a voucher sitting in the middle console of the car! A voucher that I won as part of the P&C raffle prize. Yes I won the first prize, remembering that win made me smile. Remembering it was for $100 made me smile widely. Checking the voucher I  am reminded that the prize had a use by date...and I still had 9 days left before it expired, add whistled cheerfully to the smiling widely bit! Hope started to infuse the situation. I drop the hard-drive and the voucher into the guys {John in particular} at PBE and go off to meet a gent Juzz is considering for a job with the company. His partner is a teacher and wanted a little inside  information about teaching in Hedland! Whist out at the yard I get a phone call regarding the hard-drive {holds breath} FIXED, transfered from one case to the other and the data is there! Whoot whoot, double arm pump! 
The case was $85 so I was trying to calculate how much extra it might cost me to pay for the service. I arrive to be told it wasn't costing me anything extra! {happy dance kicks in here, although I am still feeling poorly as far as the cold invading my body so I don't boogie in my normal effervescent manner but I do boogie! }. They just took the $100 voucher as a clean swap for the case AND fitting it! 

Off to collect grounded She-Devil from school. Older She and He-devils are being independent and are catching the bus home {smile creeps back onto face} Young She-Devil enters car with a smile and a bounce, waving some third and fourth place ribbons she has won at the swimming carnival at me. {Happy she is happy being active, Happy she has a few ribbons to display on the fridge}

Home and meet Older She and He-Devil on the way back from the bus-stop. Pick them up and drive them the last 150 meters home. They are happy and jovial and teasing each other in a fun kind of a way! {Mood further improving!Issue a few instructions about cleaning up the kitchen and unpacking the dishwasher. Stumble on the lost Havaianas {Skip appears in my step} Head back to the Yard. Enjoy a Corona with Juzz and the Boys! Head home to find kitchen somewhat better that before I left. Asked for a few more things to be done..He-Devil is amenable to instructions and packs another load of dishes! {The weekend is looking better already!}
 
A quiet evening was spent in front of the TV with everyone...I cooked a rather delicious dinner that involved marinated chicken thighs done on the open flame of the BBQ, and a yummy 'creamy cheesy cholesterol bomb potato/mixed vegie bake'  There were at LEAST 5 different serves of vegetables in it! So it must have been a little healthy! I Knock back a few cold and flu tablets choc full of things meant to help you recover faster and fall into bed {which by the way is STILL in our lounge-room because the A/C guy has taken SO long to work out the unit needs replacing, that it can't in fact be fixed...sigh...another week sleeping in the lounge-room!}
Saturday comes and I'm sort of glad the bedroom IS the lounge-room because I can monitor what is going on around the house and NOT have to get out of bed...Cold has kicked in grandly...muscles achey, throat raw, cough starting. 
Not feeling like joining friends at the Yacht Club for a little dinner and 'Happy Thirteenth Birthdaying To Jacob!' in the evening. More cold and flu tablets plus paracetamol. Slide back into bed. Late afternoon, much sleeping done, awake feeling somewhat better. 
A quick trip to the shops with Juzz to gather supplies for Sunday breakfast then home to rally the troops for trip To Port for dinner. Showers completed, everyone dressed, the WHOLE family gathered to head out together plus an extra teenager or two which happens so regularly I often forget EXACTLY how many children I have...was it four or Five...I count Six but I'm sure SOME of those don't belong to me!!!  Either way they are all present and accounted for up to four and any extras are a bonus because it means we are still ALL together. Teenagers don't often want to hang out with 'the whole family' and I miss them...I don't know if I really DO like this independent thang!
So off we head to the Yacht Club. We enjoy good company {Thanks Carla and Steve AND crew, teehee they equal us in the child/adult ratio} We take up a large amount of space and create a lot of noise. Others were there as well so it was a relatively large number of children in a great play space where adults could have a nip or two for medicinal purposes of course whilst supervising their relevant crew!

Happy Thirteenth Jacob....look this is what your cake MIGHT have looked like if your Mum had remembered the candles... LMAO @ Carla. Carla a lovely friend of mine...another mother who beats herself up when she thinks she's failed her children. Look at this awesome cake...and it IS awesome for Hedland. Ya you for remembering Carla, Ya you for going to Progressive supplies and getting this great cake. Ya you and Steve for being vigilant about the thawing process (Thank goodness it wasn't still frozen~winks@Carla~). Ya you for organising dinner at the Yacht Club. Ya you for inviting us. Double YA you for having a Cold Corona WITH a slice of lemon waiting for me when I herded my troops to the table! So you forgot a few candles!{{{hugs Carla}}}Jacob didn't looked too fussed about the absence of candles my friend!
!!YA YOU!! 


We reward older He and She Devil and friends, by dropping them at an 'invitation only' Sixteenth party for a few hours at the end of the evening. Juzz went back to collect them and they bounded in the door at half past midnight, dancing and singing 'we had the best night ever, we had the best night ever!' {which was a pleasant change from the 'take one step closer and I'll Kiiiill you!!' they were shouting at each other two nights previously!} My head slid back onto the pillow and I drifted into sweet slumber!

I woke Sunday morning feeling less achy. I made my coffee in my coffee plunger. I pored it into my favorite 'gekko' cup and went out into the lovely sunshine {{Look Lynny it's the only cup I haven't killed, smiles widely and raises her cup to show Lyn!}}  Hello Sunday!
Blogger did not want me to share this yesterday SO I just went with it...here's to a Sunday kinda Monday and more coffee in my favorite cup! I HEART not working on Mondays!

Have an awesome week
Cheers all
Jewelz

Thursday, March 19, 2009

..........WHO INVITED YOU ANYWAY?.......

That's about it from me today...to tired and too blah to even write tonight.
I'm going to bed to chase the Blah's away. Tomorrow will be sunny
and full to over-brimming with newness, with no room for the Blah Blah's.
Bring on tomorrow PAHLEEEEEEEZE!
Cheers All
Jewelz

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Deliciously Different


A new take on an old favorite. Infusing my cooking with a little artistry. Yesterday was a kind of BLAH  day, made a little less blah  by people's reactions to my cupcakes. Curiosity was roused wondering how? How did I bake cupcakes IN icecream cones? No big secret, I just poured the mixture into the cones and popped them in the oven. Quite simple really. Not my finest effort as far as quality of the cake went, I made two batches, one lot I think I overcooked a little and the other lot were a little underdone. No complaints from anyone though...I think they were too busy getting over the wonderment of it all teehee. I sent a small batch off to some of the teachers in the Arts Department at the High School. A small thank you to a few people who have made an effort to help Josh chase a few of his demons away, or at least to focus of what he is very good at! Dylan's (drama teacher and Facebook friend~don't cull me Dylan LOL) comment was...'Those cupcakes were INSANE!'. I also think that as our kids move on to High School we have less to do with the teachers that our kids have contact with. I'm sure they also get a whole lot less in the way of  'Thank You's'  from parents and I aim to rectify that! Yes there will be more...it's always nice to have a few extra guinea-pigs to sample my new creations as well!
My day wound up in a far less BLAH and more Woohoo after a gossip session and play date at Maccas with Amanda and Paige....well, Paige did far less playing than Belle and much more texting, as is a budding teenagers way. Amanda and I popped into see Peter, the gent who owns Pilbara Photographics. He also spends much of his time framing things that need framing. I did a  small piece last year that was 'Ode to Amanda', Ode to Amanda and her thoughtful manner (Yes Amanda can be thoughtful at times, I see eyebrows raising...she just doesn't show that side of herself to many people, I know that showing her soft side to people ISN'T what Amanda does too often because showing your soft side shows your vulnerable side and she does NOT like opening up her vunerable bits to many people at all{{that SO doesn't sound right LMAO}}, it is her protective behaviour!) Jewelz raises her finger to her Effen Sister in their loving salute to the Sisterhood.  I provide Amanda with some of her D.O.T.T time...Duties Other Than Teaching, by taking her class for Art. On the odd occassion Amanda pops in after having collected a coffee for me {{though I don't think I've had one delivered to me this year!!}}. NOT just any coffee, but coffee a la Jewelz. A Latte with a splash of chocolate sauce in the bottom of it before the hot milk is added mmmmm chocolate infused coffee love. YOU ROCK AMANDA. Anyhoooo when Amanda saw the painting she wanted it, BUT...she can't have it :0) It was a piece for me, inspired by her...so we took it off to Peter who sent it away to get a  giclee print done. I was a little apprehensive about the kind of reproduction that could be done...I didn't think it would be possible to reproduce it in anyway that would do the original any justice. I was SO wrong. Now we are just waiting for it to be framed. As the artist I was really REALLY pleased with the print, now to wait for the whole framed thang to see what sort of WOW value it holds. It boosts my own self esteem to think people actually want my work. It's the second piece that Amanda will have of mine. I did a very special piece for her last year and she tells me she love, LOVE, LOVES it and you know what...I actually believe her :0)
Finally...why do I constantly refer to Amanda as my Effen Friend...because we belong to a VERY EXCLUSIVE club. We even have our own salute. It flies in the face of what is acceptable and raises more than a few eyebrows. We don't often elaborate and I am sure people take our salute the wrong way HOWEVER it couldn't be farther from the truth. We are friends, we are Sista's because we both share vulnerabilities that we cover with bluff and bluster. We shared an awesome weekend drinking Effen Vodka (Yes it IS actually a brand of Vodka)! We got silly and laughed like giggly little girls, we played childish jokes on unsuspecting victims...and laughed a whole heap more and in the midst of it all our salute was born. With the flick of a finger we let each other know, that even on the crappiest days...there IS someone else who really does understand!
For you my Effen Sister.

With Love
xXxJewelz

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Not Brave Enough To Shave....Then Colour For A Cause


THANK YOU     THANK YOU     THANK YOU

A BIG Thank you to the people of Hedland

This past week saw the Leukemia Foundations Annual fundraising event.
The funds raised help the Leukaemia Foundation to continue providing practical care and support to patients and families living with leukaemias, lymphomas, myeloma and related blood disorders. 
It also funds research into better treatments and hopefully cures.
Our beautiful daughter Tessa-Joy was NOT brave enough to shave...don't know if I would be either, however she was caring enough to colour for the cause (you have that option)!



On behalf of Tess, I would like to thank the Management and Staff of 
The Health and Beauty Shed.
They donated their time, expertise and products to help Tess 'Colour For A Cause'.

Thanks Girls :0)

We are gathering the pledges and monies donated, by many Hedland residents, and  we will give you the grand total when all of the monies are in our hot little hands.
I will tell you this much, Tess has raised an awesome sum of money.
I expect that the grand total will be between 
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$Five and Six hundred dollars$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

If you are reading this and have not donated to the cause, but would like to,
leave me a message, or flick me an email and I will tell you how you can.
They have made it so easy to deposit money...and it's tax deductable.
You can even add to Tess's total if you'd like...I know WE'D LIKE IT :0)

That's all from me today.
I thought this FANTASTIC effort and DESERVING cause was worthy of a post all of it's own.

I'll be back with a catch-up post tomorrow!

Whoot Whoot Whoot
Triple Arm Pump for our girl's effort.
You Rock Tender Hearted Tess!
SO proud of you.
I Heart You VERY, VERY much
xXxMUM