Emancipation ...

So, tell me, how have you spent International Women's Day? Actually, before I go any further, is it actually International Women's Day in your part of the world? Last year, in the UK, I found out they had World Book Night, we must have been forgotten or left off as part of the 'world' as there was no event down here. Anyway, I am digressing, this is how I spent my day.

~ I woke when the first numeral was a 6
~ Unloaded the washing machine and reloaded
~ Hung out the washing
~ Made school lunches
~ Made a cooked breakfast
~ Barked a few orders relating to getting ready for school and making beds
~Tidied the kitchen
~ Picked up a few things
~ Listened to The Engineer complain that he couldn't find things
~ Rolled my eyes at The Engineer
~ Humpfed under my breath as this is the third five day sailing trip since January The Engineer has taken
~ Made sure faces were clean and hair was appropriately slicked back to avoid head lice for The Five Year Old, I am paranoid - we have not had that experience yet, I am waiting
~  Asked if book diaries, lunches and drink bottles were packed
~ Turned off the lights and locked the front door
~ Drove to school
~ Got stuck in traffic
~ Deposited children to their learning environment
~ Realised I had forgotten something for dinner, dropped into the local milk bar
~ Headed home and thought it was quiet
~ Hung out another load of washing
~ Exercised for the mandatory 30 minutes
~ It is now 9.20am

~ Checked email and blogs
~ Realised I was procrastinating
~ Cleaned the shower
~ Washed hair
~ Wrote a blog post
~ Headed out to buy specific coloured ribbon for upcoming sports day
~ Shopped for shoes for The Eight Year Old for the fastly approaching wedding, didn't find any
~ He needed new trousers too, the smart casual sort
~ Shouted myself lunch, sushi, it's not much fun as a solo expedition so got it to take away
~ Drove home

~ Sat down in front of the computer
~ Emailed
~ Read more blogs
~ Wrote more of this post
~ Looked at the time
~ Listened to the radio
~ Thought about starting dinner
~ Edited some photos
~ Headed out to pick up children from school
~ Waited in the pick up line
~ Took a deep breath and wondered how 'tired' the children would be when they got in the car
~ Tried to find shoes again, with children in tow - why do I do that?
~ Barked orders as to what was expected when we arrived home, unpacking school bags and getting changed is our current challenge.
~ Sorted through reams of paper from school, signed forms and binned the rest
~ It's 5pm
~ Start on dinner
~ Supervised homework, read the reader and placated sibling rivalry

~ Dinner
~ Nightly encouraging ensued, The Five Year Old likes to take her time, it's a bit of a mind game, I'm not playing
~ Clean up
~ Stack the dishwasher
~ Wipe benches
~ Make sure dog is fed and watered
~ Fold washing
~ Write grocery list for tomorrow
~ Make sure The Eight Year Old has cleaned his teeth properly, he skimps
~ Read aloud to the children
~ Get school clothes ready
~ Tuck children into their beds
~ It's 7.30pm

~ Anticipate which child will come downstairs first, they rotate
~ Both come down separately
~ Send children on their way and declare enough is enough
~ Turn on the television and lament at the poor quality of broadcasting, Grey's is on later though
~ Continue writing this blog post
~ Rotate between television, computer and telephone
~ Wonder if The Engineer has arrived safely
~ Check weather forecast, heavy rain is expected in the sailing zone
~ Give up on it all, turn off lights and head to bed early

This is how I spent International Women's Day, and it was my day off work, ha!

Now, before things get any further out of hand, the winners of the notebooks are ...

Karen, from Tales from the Scrapheap and Lynn, from Crafty Pin Pin's Corner. Ladies, when you have a chance could you please email me with your postal details at overatourplace [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks.

I'm not leaving you empty handed after this marathon, a Haiku to soothe oneself in preparation for a long weekend of solo parenting.

See you next week!

I Was Wondering ...

You may remember last year, December in fact, I made a December Daily/Journal Your Christmas album. I decided to make a digital photobook, my first one. True to the delivery instructions, it has taken eight weeks to arrive. Yesterday, as we were leaving the house, the Postie arrived and there it was, finally in my hot little hands.

I seem to be showing a ridiculous amount of pride in this book, I can't quite believe that I actually made it, it looks really good. The quality of the print seems to be true to life and the photos printed are as good as I submitted ... translate that to mean, some are great and some are less than stellar. Here's a peek.

I love photobooks.

I used Viovio and had a 12x12 book made in an image wrap hardcover. After uploading these photos it seems I only have the large images as an example, I did also have a four square template of photos on some pages.
I am so pleased I have decided to give photobooks a try this year, remember, I am fully digital and will get all my pages printed in a photobook - I still haven't decided if I will print a whole year in one album, I may split them up ... we will see. I will print books in either 12x12 or 8x10.

Really, I don't know why I have waited so long to do this. If you are not a technique based scrapper and are stuck for time, this is the answer.

Now .... what's next?!

Oh, before I go, if you are intrested in the chance of receiving a lovely notebook and pen, don't forget to comment on this post. Okay, over and out!

My Cup Of Tea ...

Last week I was at a large factory outlet shopping centre, we are lucky to have two relatively close to home, though, I never find those places all that lucky, especially if you have a specific item in mind. Fortunately, I knew that what I wanted would be in stock.
What I didn't know, was that a particular large clothing brand here in Australia would be filming a television commercial that morning. From a distant observation, I don't think it is an enviable life to be an actor in television commercials, demeaning and brain dead may have been my initial impression.
Of course, the sight of a particular male contestant from a recent modelling show may have caused a little titillation throughout the immediate surrounds; me, on the other hand, well, I was not to be distracted from what was in my hot little hand.

I was enjoying a quiet browse, picking up things here and there, oohing and ahhing and then I came to a decision. I need to share.

From my enjoyable browsing, I picked up two notebooks and pens. Logically I thought that perhaps, two of you, would like to have one. Would you? One says Brain Storming on the front and the other Dreaming and Scheming, the inside pages are small grids and the books are about 6x8 inches in size.
If you would like one, leave a comment and I'll draw a random winner by the end of the week.

How cool is my new mug?!

Storytelling Sunday ...

When you have your first experience with school photos, all sorts of things must run through your mind ... apart from your mother's voice echoing that you need to smile nicely.

We have the option to purchase a photobook, inclusive of current facts, a whole school photo, a lovely class photo and a crazy funny class photo. It always surprises me how the teachers react in these crazy class photos and some of the children are never quite sure what to do.

In her second week of school the class photos were taken.
When quizzed, by her perplexed mother who could not see her in the funny class photo, she replied ...

"Oh, I bobbed down when they asked us to do something funny. I bobbed down and they couldn't see me! That's funny Mum!"

So, I have one shot with her missing and a grimace for her individual photo. Luckily I seem to compensate for what the school photographer could not manage!

Stories, stories - there is always a story! If you fancy reading more stories, head on over as there are plenty, High in the Sky.

The Short And Sweet One ...

The Five Year Old is sailing along marvellously at school, as of next week she attends five full days a week. We had a little celebration on Wednesday.

I am not sure about the ethics of taking photos in a pet shop? These days people take photos of anything, anytime; so I imagine it's not so bad I got the camera out to get fuzzy little shots of the turtles feeding. The Five Year Old thought it was wonderful.

I'm back again on the weekend for Storytelling Sunday, I have options this month and it is just a matter of working out how to best convey to you some funny little goings on.

See you soon!

The Three Legged Chihuahua ...

Blogging ideas strike me at the most unusual times. I was heading out the door to the Post Office on Monday, it was a rainy and sultry afternoon. The radio was filled with the contrast of political overhaul and the Oscars ceremony, one could say there were trumped up preening roosters everywhere.
On the footpath there was an elderly couple out walking their dog, a limping, but determined, three legged chihuahua. The answer to your questions about how my first week at work went sprung to mind, you see, I am a bit like that little chihuahua.

I've had a rather inglorious return to work. After one day I was bedridden for the next three and only just upright for the other two. I've had Rota virus, a suped up version of gastroenteritis with high temperatures and dreadful headaches.

How embarrassing.
I was mortified.
I couldn't move; well, apart from the quick dash variety of moving!

So, as of today, when I would, theoretically be starting my seventh day at work, I am in fact, only starting my fourth. However, like the limping chihuahua, I am enthusiastically embracing my walk on the outside.
Grade Four is a lot of fun, verbs and adverbs are currently the hot topic. The children are fresh and enthusiastic and more than willing to take this limping newcomer under their wing. So, setbacks aside, all is good!

Crazy Stuff ...

To say that we have political turmoil in Australia is a bit of an understatement, of course, it is relative, I can't imagine we will have problems anything like what has been happening in other places around the world. However, we are currently the witness to some ridiculous shenanigans, which despite an internal ballot, is unlikely to be resolved today.

Our Prime Minister and the former Prime Minister are currently battling for the top job while the Opposition sits back waiting for the disaster to unfold. It doesn't make for a dynamic Parliament with robust debate, currently I find both sides to be frustrating. Politics seems to have become grubbier down here lately, I hate being a fence sitter, but we are not being given too many inspiring options.

Somehow, I don't think we are alone down here!

Frivolous Friday ...

It's the end of the week and time for a little light hearted look at some of the things that make my life happy.

Have you got a list full of frivolous favourites?

Have a great weekend.

More Of My Own ...

Recently I have been trying to make more of my own templates. Once you understand a couple of basics in PS or PSE, making a template is quite easy. However, just like making a regular scrap page, being faced with a blank canvas is both exhilarating and threatening, there are so many options and making sure to remember the basics needs to be at the forefront of my mind.

I am not sure if my style is changing a little bit, or if it is just a creative phase I'm going through, but, I am liking rounded corners, 12x12 pages and lines.

I've made several pages about all the changes going on over here, this is probably the first time I have consciously thought about scrap pages as a form of a journal for my own reflection. In a way that sounds a bit crazy, but I mostly see myself telling everyone else's story through my own voice, these are stories that are specific to me.

Anyway, while this page is a template I made, it is based on the latest sketch Emma designed over at SAG. I'm linking my page over there today.

From Class ...

Over the past two weeks I have taken a class with Cathy Zielske at Big Picture Classes, it was about Type and how to use it effectively on your layouts.
The class was a great refresher as it covered content from Cathy's previous DYL class with some added extras. I learn a lot from Cathy's classes, she is well informed and conveys information effectively. I am not sure if I get more out of the classes because I really admire her scrapping style and embrace similar concepts myself? Perhaps someone with a contrasting style may be able to comment better on that one, I know I get a lot out of classes run by Shimelle Laine and our styles could not be further apart! I ended up making four layouts over the duration of the class, they were all designs using my own templates and two have already been up on the SAG blog, I thought I'd share one here today and another one again over at SAG.

This looks like a regular layout, but it involved paying a lot of attention to font choices, margins, leading and kerning, all things we learnt about during the class. I feel I have a reasonable grasp on the concepts covered and look forward to a more advanced class which will hopefully deal with titles - they are the hardest part of any page for me, they take the most time and require the most thought.