A Piece of Sky

The Day After

I have to say I had a wonderful day yesterday.  Apart from the 40 degree heat (and yes Dad, whilst your computer said it was 36, our news report here said 40 ....) everything was perfect.

And isn't Christmas wonderful with children to celebrate it with!  We awoke in the morning to a shreak from Alyssa bedroom (yep, she slept the WHOLE night in her own bed) ... "Oh, Santa came!" ... Santa had left sacks filled with goodies on the end of their beds and they ran in to our room with delight with their sacks. 

After emptying the sacks we came downstairs and to their surprise Mummy and Daddy had left a present for them at the bottom of the stairs - a water play table thing and some outside toys.  Mummy and Daddy exchanged gifts and the girls donned their swimmers and were outside getting wet in the heat.

On to the cooking - Jason stuffed the turkey and roasted it for a few hours in our bbq.  Within a couple of hours our home was full with family - my Mum, Jason's parents and his grandparents.  It is so nice for my girls to be able to spend Christmas day with their grandparents and great-grandparents.  I never knew my grandparents, on either side, so I love that they get this opportunity.

On to opening more presents, and time for mummy to get the new digi SLR out, except that I then realised it was out of batteries!!  And I couldn't find the battery charger.  I eventually did find it and put the battery on to charge (I don't have a spare) so unfortunately had to take the first lot of photos with my compact camera, which I now have trouble using, it feels so light for a start - like it is a toy or something!!

Anyway here are some non-pro shots with my little compact camera:

So is she not to coolest chic in town?

Olivia got this new car from her Nanna and Grandad, and those oh-so-trendy sunnies from Santa ...

She spent the rest of the day zooming around and mastering her steering abilities ...

And this is Olivia with her great-grandad ... I love this photo.

Got to cut this post short ... nappy issues etc, will be back later with some pics from the dSLR from later that day ...

I don't mean to complain, but ...

... I spent my birthday (yesterday) curled up on the lounge with the dreaded flu.  Was that God's way of saying I needed a rest?  Perhaps, but he could have pointed that out to me on another day.  Anyway, as much as I just felt like crawling under a rock, I got a surprise visit from a good friend, and a visit from my mum and in laws, some lovely presents, a voucher in the mail from my beautiful Dad and Jason looked after me so I didn't have to do anything. 

Feeling much better today and I think as long as I get a good night's sleep I'll be fine for tommorrow's christmas cheer ...

Alyssa went off to bed tonight full of excitement and anticipation.  She heard on the radio that Santa had already left the North Pole and was on his way, so she thought she had better go to bed so that he is free to enter our house.  He has some yummy fruit cake to eat upon his arrival, and some empty Santa Sacks to fill with goodies.  The highlight of this for me is that she believed me when I said he would only come if she slept in her own bed (yep, we are still having that drama) ... and so as I write this Alyssa is fast asleep IN HER OWN BED. 

How long will it last?

So back to my birthday ... a few weeks ago I actually got a new digi SLR camera - the Canon 400D, yep, pretty excited about THAT - so it is really my birthday present, even though  I have been playing with it for a couple of weeks now.  Jason gave me a digi SLR handbook as well, so have been reading up on all the technical stuff.

Have some photos to share but can't do it now because they are saved on my laptop and I am writing this on my desktop and it is all a bit complicated, lol.

And on the subject of photography, there is a new blog you should check out ...

http://thedigichallenge.blogspot.com/

The deal is that there are 12 of us who each week will post photos on our interpretation of a particular subject, sharing tips as we go along as to how to use our SLR's.  Pretty cool idea actually.  We have had a couple of "practice" weeks, so go check out the blog to see some of our first photos.  In a way I feel a little intimidated, since I don't actually know a lot about SLR photography - but hey, got that handbook, so am good to go!!

So I am off now to wrap presents, and get some more sleep (shame I don't like fruitcake, would have been happy to help Santa eat it if it were chocolate Mud ...)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

xxx

Finally another post

I'm not really very good at this blog thing am I.  I just can't seem to find that extra little bit of time each day to update.  Anyway, rather than apologise I shall just share my latest "stuff"

1. The most exciting news could be that I got a new camera.  Yep, photography has always been something I wanted to learn more about, and as my passion for scrapbooking grows, so has my interest in this art.   My compact camera hasn't been working properly for a while now, so I took the plunge and got myself a brand new digital SLR - the Canon EOS 400D.  Pretty exciting hey?  So now I have heaps to learn, but I signed up for an online course and have surprising learnt a bit already. 
2. Exciting piece of news number 2 ... a new laptop.  I spend an awful lot of time on the computer, managing the website, online orders, countless emails, preparing newsletters, surfing the net for new product and not to mention the ridiculous amount of time I spend online ordering stock.  As I am home with two little ones I can't just sit in my office all day and do this stuff ... so I end up staying up till all hours of the night.  Until now ... with my new laptop and mobile broadband, I can sit outside with the kids with my putey while they run around and create havoc around me.  And at night I can sit in the same room as Jason while I work.  It really has made things a lot easier for me ... thumbs up for mobile broadband too.  So that's news item number 2.
3. Grungeboard.  yep - we've been waiting for it, and its here, and it is bloody awesome.  I love this stuff.  I used it this weekend for the first time and created the layout below.  The big X (and that's a kiss, not an "ex", just to clear that up!!) is from the Grungeboard alphabet harlequin pack.  In this pack you get 9 complete sets of the alphabet, in 9 different fonts, for $39.95.  Good value if you ask me!!  I have taken a technqiue off Tim Holtz' blog ... let me explain:
   
   Take an Inksessentials Mini Mister and put one whole dropper full of distress re-inker (I have used walnut stain).  Then add a little scoop of Perfect Pearls (I used gold) and fill three quarters full with water.  Pop the lid back on and shake it all up ... and prepare to be amazed.  The resulting emulsion is nothing short of beautiful.  I simply "misted" my entire grungeboard piece, then heat set with my heat gun.  The result is this grungy looking but shimmery finish - it's just fantastic.  mmm, I love this stuff. 
   
   We put the Christmas tree up today and I certainly now feel much more in the Christmas spirit.  December is a busy time for me ... it is my husband's birthday, my mum's birthday, my birthday ... we are having Christmas lunch at our place plus our Scraptivate staff Christmas party at my place too ... very excited about that!!  Not sure when I will be able to factor in some Christmas shopping, but hey, I've got till the day before, right?

One thing is for sure.  When I suggested we put the Christmas day up today (yep, we are running a little late), Alyssa and Olivia's little faces just lit up.  It was like they had never seen anything like it before!  The couple of hours we spent together, decorating the tree - that's what it is all about, right there.  On their faces.  That's real joy.