I’m Back! February 26, 2008

Well, here I am again – back in the land of the blogging. Where have I been I hear you ask????? Buried under the huge rocks of work, family, sickness, etc, etc.

Here’s a the short version of what’s been happening since my last post, which was all the way back at the beginning of October . Actually, the day after I made my last post, I got sick and didn’t fully kick that nasty bug until the end of November. It took 3 different medications, litres of cough medicine, countless throat lozenges, an endless amount of tissues to kick that nasty little sucker but it’s finally gone. Most mortifying moment – getting sick on the train, jumping off at Mitcham station to RUN to the toilets only to find them occupied and throwing up out of the front of the station, in front of EVERYONE arriving. So not fun!

I also got a new job after that long search. It was in North Melbourne. Hours of work: 8.30 am to 5.30 pm. Daily routine: 5.30 am – get up & get both myself & Harry ready to leave house at 6.30 am. Drop Harry at Childcare and catch 7.02 am train to City. Work from 8.30 – 5.30. Catch 5.49 pm train to Spencer St, arrive home between 7.15 and 7.30 pm, just in time to give Harry his bath and spend a bit of time with him before he goes to bed. Have dinner, do dishes and go to bed ready to do it all again the next day.

Notice I say it WAS in North Melbourne. That’s because I resigned! It just got too much. I didn’t realise how much it would affect everything around me. Things that I used to do during the week, like grocery shopping, washing, ironing and other home tasks all got pushed to the weekend because there just wasn’t enough time during the week to fit it in & I was just too tired. I ended up not having any sort of free time at all and it took its toll on myself & my family. Things all came to a head the week before Christmas, where upon I handed in my resignation effective end of December. I was told to take some time to think about over Christmas period. I did that and we compromised and I agreed to work until the end of January or until a replacement was found, thinking said replacement would be found before then! Not so, I’ve been working 3 days per week since February (T, W, T) which has allowed me to catch up on some of the tasks around the house that have been requiring attention since I don’t know when.

I’ve taken a new position, which I start next Monday, March 3, 2008. It’s only 10 minutes from home, hours are 9 – 5. NO MORE 5.30 AM STARTS!

I realise I have neglected many, many things over the past few months. As you can see, I’ve not updated by blog, I haven’t done any stamping since my last workshop (which was in October). I’ve neglected keep you all up to date with the promotions and whatnot that have been happening at Stampin’ Up! I’m sure all of you know that Sale-A-Bration (SAB) finishes this Friday (February 29, 2008), that the Summer Mini finishes March 31, 2008, that the Retired Stamps & Accessories list has been released early (ooops) and that the brand spanking new 2008 Stampin’ Up! Catalogue begins April 1, 2008. I will be posting the Retired Listings here later today and will endeavour to keep you updated on stock levels.

I will also be pre-ordering 2008 catalogues. If you would like to secure your copy, please drop me a line at jo@maximpact.com.au. I sell my pre-order catalogues for the special price of $9.95 + shipping (usually $13.95 + shipping). If you like, you can pick catalogue up from me to save on shipping! However, if you’d like to earn yours free – I’m taking bookings again for workshops. I’m really excited to see what SU! have in store for the 2008 catalogue, my fingers are crossed for the Scalloped Punch, the Star Punch, the new Ribbons just to name a few things! (Stamps set names have completely gone from my head at the moment)

And most importantly, I must apologise to my wonderful downline, who I have neglected terribly. To Anna and my new recruit Christine, who signed up in October, I promise that I will be more diligent in keeping contact with you. Anna, I hope you haven’t felt too abandoned during this time. I know that you have also had a lot going on with the kids being on holidays and Michael starting school this year – I’ve been reading your blog updates during my lunchbreak! This year should be an exciting time for our little team, which is slowly growing – a big hello to my newest recruit Kristine, who signed up on Friday – I know that you will love being a part of the SU! family. This means that at the end of this month, I will FINALLY promote to Supervisor and get to choose a name for our little team. Yay!

Well, that’s it for now. Since I haven’t done anything remotely crafty in the last 5 months, I don’t have anything exciting to show you, but that should change soon.

Cheers

Jo

A Bit of Fun – It’s going to be a long one September 18, 2007

When visiting Simone’s blog the other day, she had a post re a Album of Me challenge she’s participating in. One of the challenges was to put together a listing of what would be on your ‘Ultimate Mix Tape’. Now, apart from stamping and my horse (and now my child), one of my other obsessions is music. A couple of Christmases ago, we decided to splurge and get the biggest & bestest IPOD we could to put all our, well OK, all my music on, LOL. I still haven’t loaded everything yet – it doesn’t take that long but it’s time consuming, IYKWIM, it’s on my ever growing list of things to do.
So to cut a long story shorter, I’ve decided to start of book of me too! My SU order will be going in tomorrow to get my Art Journal – hey, I may as well promote my business at the same time. My IPOD (yes, I’ve claimed it) has nearly 3,000 songs & counting, so I decided to limit my ultimate mix to 10% of that. I figured that my handwriting would look absolutely crap after writing all of them out, so I exported them out of ITunes and I’m going to print and cut them up, ransom note style for my page. I love reading about other people’s favourite songs so I thought I’d share mine with you! Now I give you fair warning before going any further, Jarrod thinks I have questionable taste when it comes to music and also thinks that I have songs on the IPOD that no one else has ever heard of.

Here’s my list, I tried to pick just my favourite song from each artist, but in some cases it was just too hard. I also grew up in the disco era, hence the disco songs and I also used to hit the clubs pretty hard in my early – mid 20’s (I so miss this), which accounts for the dance floor anthems. I’d love to hear your comments – BE NICE. Oh, by the way, there’s a story behind why I’ve selected each and every one of these songs too – I will elaborate if anyone’s interested in any in particular

Voulez-Vous – ABBA
Tears Are Not Enough- ABC
Antmusic (Album Version) – Adam & The Ants
Killer – Adamski
Warning! – Adeva
Dirty Cash (Todd Terry Radio Mix) – Adventures Of Stevie V Featuring Nazlyn
If I Ain’t Got You – Alicia Keys
Mr Damage – The Angels
Wish I Didn’t Miss You – Angie Stone
Obsession – Animotion
Paranomia (Max Headroom) – Art of Noise
Found A Cure – Ashford & Simpson
Bang Bang (Shot You Down) – Audio Bullys
Lakeside – Australian Crawl
Since I Left You – The Avalanches
Give Me Back My Man – The B-52’s
Private Idaho – The B-52’s
Summer Of Love – The B-52’s
Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland – The B-52’s
Isn’t It Time – The Babys
Yes Sir, I Can Boogie – Baccara
Robert De Niro’s Waiting – Bananarama
Romeo – Basement Jaxx
Rok Da House – The Beatmasters
You Should Be Dancing – Bee Gees
Sex (I’m a…) – Extended Version – Berlin
Crazy In Love – Beyonce
The Globe – Big Audio Dynamite
Breakaway – Big Pig
Sweet Sixteen – Billy Idol
Playing With Knives – Bizarre Inc.
Ride on Time – Black Box
Shut Up – The Black Eyed Peas
Rapture – Blondie
Atomic – Blondie
Jackie – Blue Zone
Ebony Eyes – Bob Welch
Daddy Cool – Boney M
More Than A Feeling – Boston
Smalltown Boy – Bronski Beat
Such A Good Feeling (Inspirational Delight Mix) – Brothers In Rhythm
Stomp – Brothers Johnson
The Bomb Kenny Dope Gonalez Presents… – The Bucketheads
Video Killed The Radio Star – Buggles
Jesse – Carly Simon
I Feel For You – Chaka Chan
Out Of Control – The Chemical Brothers
Le Freak – Chic
He’s My Number One – Christie Allen
Almost With You – The Church
Rock The Casbah – The Clash
Doctorin’ The House (Feat Yazz And The Plastic Population) – Coldcut
Fascinated – Company B
Round Here – Counting Crows
Time To Party – Craig David
She Sells Sanctuary -The Cult
Miss Me Blind – Culture Club
Why Can’t I Be You? – The Cure
Baby, Do You Feel Me? – Danny Tenaglia
Turn Me On – Danny Tenaglia
Golden Years – David Bowie
China Girl – David Bowie
Needin U – David Morales
My Heart Goes Bang – Dead Or Alive
Deeper Water – Deadstar
Get The Balance Right – Depeche Mode
Behind The Wheel – Depeche Mode
Nasty Girl – Destiny’s Child
Beautiful World – Devo
Hunter – Dido
Boys in Town -Divinyls
Bad Girls – Donna Summer
No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) – Donna Summer
Planet Earth – Duran Duran
I Can’t Tell You Why – The Eagles
Boogie Wonderland – Earth Wind & Fire
Tender Years – Eddie & The Cruisers
Getting Away With It – Electronic
Watching The Detectives – Elvis Costello
What’s It Gonna Be – En Vogue
Who Needs Love (Like That) – Erasure
Saving Myself – Eria Fachin
I Can’t Stand The Rain – Eruption
Don’t Ask Me Why – Eurythmics
Kiss You All Over – Exile
Insomnia – Faithless
One Step Too Far feat.Dido – Faithless
Chinese Eyes – Fancy
Slice Me Nice – Fancy
Love Can’t Turn Around (Featuring Darryl Pandy) – Farley Jackmaster Funk & Darryl Pandy
Johnny Come Home – Fine Young Cannibals
So Long – Fischer Z
One Thing Leads To Another – The Fixx
Tusk – Fleetwood Mac
I Ran (So Far Away) – A Flock Of Seagulls
Everlong – Foo Fighters
Breakout – Foo Fighters
Aurora – Foo Fighters
Urgent – Foreigner
S-S-S-Single Bed – Fox
Rich In Paradise -FPI Project
Baby Wants To Ride – Frankie Knuckles
IOU (Original) – Freez
Sounds of Then (This is Australia) – GANGgajang
Vow – Garbage
Outside – George Michael
Salsoul Nugget (If U Wanna) – Girl Next Door
I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor
We Got The Beat (Single Mix) – Go-Go’s
Pull Up To The Bumper – Grace Jones
The Message – Grand Master Flash
White Lines – Grandmaster Flash
Superstylin’ – Groove Armada
Ain’t Nothing Going On But The Rent – Gwen Guthrie
Hollaback Girl – Gwen Stefani
Love Plus One – Haircut 100
Out Of Touch – Hall & Oates
Searchin’ – Hazell Dean
Magic Man – Heart
Temptation (Original Version) – Heaven 17
Malibu – Hole
Love Action (I Believe In Love) – The Human League
Walls – Icehouse
Candy – Iggy Pop
Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (12″ Mix) – Indeep
Good Life – Inner City
Big Fun (Original 12” Mix) – Inner City
To Look At You – INXS
Fame – Irene Cara
Town Called Malice – The Jam
Soul Education – Jamiroquai
What Have You Done For Me Lately – Janet Jackson
When I Think Of You – Janet Jackson
Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
Real Thing – Jellybean
Somebody Else’s Guy – Jocelyn Brown
Looking For A New Love – Jody Watley
The Floor – Johnny Gill
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
Rock Your Body – Justin Timberlake
I’m Your Boogie Man – K.C. & The Sunshine Band
Constant Craving – k.d. lang
Too Shy – Kajagoogoo
Gold Digger – Kanye West & Jamie Foxx
Let Me Love You For Tonight – Kariya
Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush
Babooshka – Kate Bush
Strings Of Life (Stronger On My Own) (Full Length Vocal) – Kathy Brown, Soul Central
Hey Hey Guy (Extended Mix) – Ken Lazlo
All These Things That I’ve Done – The Killers
View From A Bridge – Kim Wilde
My Sharona – The Knack
She’s Fresh – Kool & The Gang
Hungry – Kosheen
The Breaks – Kurtis Blow
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head – Kylie Minogue
Better The Devil You Know – Kylie Minogue
Confide In Me – Kylie Minogue
Lady Marmalade – Labelle
Fantastic Voyage – Lakeside
French Kiss – Lil’Louis & The World
Running With the Night – Lionel Richie
Stay (I Missed You) – Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
People Hold On (feat. Coldcut) – Lisa Stansfield
All Around The World – Lisa Stansfield
Never Too Much – Luther Vandross
Popmuzik – M
Don’t Call Me Baby (Original Mix – Edit) – Madison Avenue
Our House – Madness
Deeper And Deeper – Madonna
Rescue Me – Madonna
Causing A Commotion – Madonna
Buffalo Gals – Malcolm Mclaren
Double Dutch – Malcolm Mclaren
Madam Butterfly – Malcolm McLaren
If You Tolerate This – Manic Street Preachers
Got To Have Your Love – Mantronix
Echo Beach – Martha And The Muffins
Unfinished Sympathy – Massive Attack
Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson
Read About It – Midnight Oil
US Forces – Midnight Oil
Midas Touch – Midnight Star
Go – Moby
I’ll Melt With You – Modern English
Total Control (Single Version) – The Motels
60 Miles An Hour – New Order
Temptation – New Order
Thieves Like Us – New Order
The Perfect Kiss – New Order
Sub-Culture – New Order
World In Motion – New Order
Enola Gay – OMD
Forget Me Nots – Patrice Rushen
Born To Be Alive (Extended Version) – Patrick Hernandez
Because The Night – Patty Smyth
Love Comes Quickly – Pet Shop Boys
Heart – Pet Shop Boys
My Happiness – Powderfinger
Talk Of The Town – The Pretenders
Controversy – Prince
Erotic City – Prince
Baby, I’m A Star – Prince
Baby It’s You – Promises
Dr. Mabuse – Propaganda
Love My Way – Psychadelic Furs
Creep – Radiohead
Break 4 Love – Raze
Strings Of Life [Piano Mix] – Rhythim Is Rhythim
You Used To Salsa [12″] – Richie Rich’s Salsa House Feat. Ralphi Rosario
Superfreak – Rick James
I’m Too Sexy – Right Said Fred
Johnny & Mary – Robert Palmer
Uprock – Rock Steady Crew
Maggie May – Rod Stewart
Everybody’s Free – Rozalla
Theme From S Express (Overture) – S’Express
Stop – Sam Brown
Emotion – Samantha Sang
Comfortably Numb – Scissor Sisters
Stay – Shakespears Sister
He’s A Dream – Shandi (from Flashdance soundtrack)
Let The Music Play – Shannon
Barbarism Begins At Home – The Smiths
This Charming Man – The Smiths
How Soon Is Now? – The Smiths
Panic – The Smiths
Ask – The Smiths
You Got The Love – Source Feat. Candi Staton (played on the closing credits for the final episode of Sex In The City)
Chant No. 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On) – Spandau Ballet
Cool for Cats – Squeeze
Edge Of Seventeen – Stevie Nicks
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around – Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
Promised Land – The Style Council
Rapper’s Delight (Old School Mix) – Sugarhill Gang
Alone With You Tonight – Sunny Boys
Perfect Motion – Sunscreem
You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) – Sylvester
It’s My Life – Talk Talk
Girlfriend Is Better – Talking Heads
Do you want it right now – Taylor Dayne
Change – Tears For Fears
Pump Up The Jam – Technotronic
Lovergirl – Teena Marie
Dance Little Lady Dance – Tina Charles
Weekend – Todd Terry Project
Genius of Love – Tom Tom Club
Mickey – Toni Basil
Cornflake Girl – Tori Amos
Living on Video – Trans X
Two Hearts Beat As One – U2
Sister Havanna – Urge Overkill
Seether – Veruca Salt
Macho Man – Village People
Gone Daddy Gone – Violent Femmes
Fade To Grey – Visage
Here Comes September – Waikiki
It’s Raining Men – Weather Girls
Wham Rap – Wham!
If I Told You That – Whitney Houston & George Michael
Teardrops – Womack & Womack
Senses Working Overtime – XTC
If I Can’t Have You – Yvonne Elliman
Hey Mr DJ – Zhane
Touch Me – 49ers
Pacific 707 – 808 State

Congratulations if you made it all the way to the end! I’ll try and publish this on ITunes as an IMix so you can have a listen for your self. Failing that, I can always burn you an Ultimate Mix CD of your very own.

Will have some crafty projects to post in the next few days – just need to get photos taken

Also, a big thank you for all the lovely, supporting comments I received about my last post – it’s greatly appreaciated. THANK YOU ALL!

I Know, It’s Been Ages September 11, 2007

since I’ve last posted. I’ve got to tell you, blogging has been the last thing on my mind. I apologise for my general lack of enthusiasm.

So what have I got to show you tonight I bet you’re wondering. Well, nothing creative AT ALL. I’ve decided to share my frustrations about searching for work with you. I thought I’d give you a bit of warning before I got started so you can ‘turn off’ cause it’s not going to be a warm and fuzzy post.

Some of you may be aware that I recently lost my job that I had been in for 10 years. I had been on unpaid maternity leave since August last year and in June, when I rang to say ‘Hey, I’m ready to come back to work’ I was told ‘Sorry, got no work for you’. Since then, I have been looking for a new full time job. We did the sums and going back full time is really the only way that we’d get enough money to make it worthwile. Anyway, I’m hoping that by venting some of the frustrations I’m experiencing, it will help me with this process, cause quite frankly, it’s taking its toll on me. I’m finding it to be the most soul destroying, confidence shattering experience I have had to date.

Here’s the most recent one. Applied for a position that sounded really good – in the CBD so a bit of travelling, nothing in the role that I haven’t done in the past. Get an interview – I think it goes pretty well. As I’m getting ready to leave, the HR lady I’d met with says, ‘We’ll be in touch if we want to go any further in the process with you’. Cool. Well less than 15 minutes later, I get a phone call, ‘We’d like you to come back to do some psych testing next week and if that goes well then meet with CEO as she likes to meet all prospective employees.’ No problem, can do. Do the testing, obviously goes well cause next day get phone call to make appointment to meet with CEO. Very excited at this point. HR lady that I’d been speaking to had really pumped up the job and my confidence, was told the job had a lot of flexibility, could work from home if kids were sick etc, etc. Really good to hear considering some other responses I’ve gotten due to the fact I have a young child. Ah, discrimination – good to know it’s still out there! Anyway, meet with CEO, I think it all goes well. Apparently it’s between myself and another girl who wasn’t meeting with CEO until the Monday (my interview was on the Friday). Was told that they would be in touch on Monday.

Well, Monday comes & goes – no phone call. I’ve since decided that NO NEWS IS DEFINATELY NOT GOOD NEWS. Wait till the mail arrives Tuesday to see if the ‘rejection letter’ is in mail – it’s not, so I give them a call. Total change in demeanour with HR lady. SO NOT GOOD. Apparently CEO was concerned with my ‘limited experience in one field’. I was SO SHOCKED that I couldn’t even get a reply out to ask her to elaborate! They obviously weren’t happy with either of us because I then was told that they were interviewing a 3rd (and possibily a 4th – I couldn’t take it all in at that stage) candidate and that they would get back to me. Well, it’s been a week since I made that phone call, and still nothing.

Then on the other had you get this. Apply for a position that is about 10 mins from home and really good money. Job is advertised as Bookkeeper to learn all about importing. This position is being advertised by an agency that had advertised another job that I’d applied for (that fell through), so my resume got sent directly down to the client. After about a week, I still hadn’t got an interview, so made some enquiries. Apparently, client wants to go with someone who has importing experience. HELLO, nearly everything we sold at my last job was imported from either the US (most), UK, Europe or Taiwan. Have got a little bit of experience with this. However, still can’t get interview. See the position advertised again and again and decide enough is enough. I emailed the agency, explaining my frustrations about seeing job advertised again & again and not being able to even get an interview! Well, it turns out the client who had seen my resume thought that I would think that the job would be beneath me and that I would get bored and look for something else. ALL WITHOUT EVEN MEETING OR TALKING TO ME! Let me tell you, after all this, the LAST thing I’d want to be doing is looking for another job. It’s one of the reasons I stayed in my last job for so long. It’s just too hard to start again with a new employer.

So, sorry if this has brought you down, I’ve still got some more to tell you about, but this has got really long.

Hope you all have a good day/night, and hopefully we’ll return to the scheduled programming soon!

It’s Been A While – Life’s Been Interrupting June 10, 2007

Yowzers, it’s been ages since I last posted something. It’s that long ago, I can’t even remember if it was something creative or not. Oh, hang on a minute, it’s coming back to me….it was a birthday card for my partner’s little brother’s birthday!

I have managed to do something creative in the meantime, however pictures are still to be downloaded from the camera……it’s on the ‘TO DO’ list, along with a million other things.

So what would be on that very long list:
*download photos taken of project I have made
*upload here
*make & send out invitations for Harrison’s Christening, to be held next month
*find a new job!!!

I guess most of you know that I’m currently on maternity leave. I was planning to go back to work in July, starting back a couple of days a week and slowly getting back into full time work. I had it all worked out in my head – was going to all slot back into place really well – as it does when it’s in your head, LOL. Unfortunately, it looks like I don’t actually have a job to go back to! Business has been a bit slow in the Machine Tool industry and there’s no work for me (insert sad face). There is the possibility of part time but definitely no full time work.

It’s a bit of a bummer. I’ve gotten myself all psyched up to go back to work, cause I’d much rather be a S.A.H.M. but the equation goes like this:
another baby = bigger house (actually we need a bigger house regardless)
bigger house = way more money than we have now
way more money = me going back to work so my SU! is really thick icing on the cake!

So tonight I’ve attempted to re-do my resume. I’ve been at my current job since ’97 and boy is it hard to remember what it was I did before then! How exciting is my Saturday night!

Well, it’s almost midnight, so I’m going to say ‘So long, farewell, auf weidersen, goodnight’ and I promise to upload something purty in the next few days.

A Bit of Housekeeping (only not in our house) May 10, 2007

You may have noticed that I have updated my list of Blogs I Like. This is a listing of all those on my Google Reader. This is THE best thing since sliced bread and there’s no way I could possibly read all of these blogs without it!

My partner was looking over my shoulder the other night whilst I was posting and asked how I came up with the name M.I.S.S. InkyFingers. I thought I’d explain it whilst I’m here. The M.I.S.S. is the name of my company that I established when becoming a SU demonstrator. It stands for Maximum Impact Stamping Supplies. At the time, I didn’t realise the first letter of each word spelt MISS until my boss at my ‘day job’ pointed it out (I was pregnant, LOL). It was inspired by our dog Max, who does everything at maximum pace, speed and enthusiasm and I had come up with the corny line ‘Create Maximum Impact with Stampin’ Up! (I know, it’s bad). The InkyFingers part, well that’s kind of self explanatory – without fail – everytime I stamp, that what I end up with!

Anyway, that’s it for tonight – The Amazing Race has started – can’t wait to see who gets eliminated this week (I’m cheering for Oswald & Danny since Jill & her partner (forgot his name) got elminated almost the first week in)

I’m Falling Apart At The Seams March 28, 2007

I can’t believe my luck (or lack there of) with injuries over the last two weeks. Not Sunday just gone, but the Sunday before whilst I was rushing around to get ready for brunch for my Mum’s birthday, I hurt my neck. How – who knows, all I know is that I moved, and not all that suddenly, and I felt a definite pinch. The pain from moving, even just the slightest movement, got progressively worse during the day, until it became unbearable. At this point, we made a trip to the hospital – mainly because I figured it would be the only place with a physio working on a Sunday and for some advice on meds because I’m still breastfeeding. Turns out, not suprisingly, not much available in the way of medication. A physio eventually saw me, however, she was not able to treat me, only refer me for treatment the next day. Luckily I have a fantastic physio and he was able to fit me bright & early the next morning. A bit of a massage and a few ‘adjustments’ later I was able to move almost pain free. Another adjustment on Wednesday and Friday (fixing up lots of pregnancy related aches & pains) and I was feeling as good as new. Until Sunday.

This Sunday, I moved my pony, Herry, to a new temporary paddock. Unfortunately, the other horses that were in the paddock didn’t take too kindly to my little guy and proceeded to chase him to the bottom corner of the paddock, where he stayed – too afraid to move. When attempting to move him into a smaller paddock to feed him, the big ones (3 of them) decided he was too close and chased him again. This time I was on the other end of the lead rope and as a result of him going one way and my arm going the other, my shoulder ended up getting dislocated. Straight away I knew I was in trouble – it was such a strange feeling – my arm was SO loose, limp and floppy. Luckily it found it’s way back in, but my physio was none too pleased when I rocked up today. I figured that since my arm had popped back in without any trouble, and that I was pretty much pain free, I was OK. Apparently you can do major damage with a dislocation – and he was very angry that I hadn’t got it checked out before today. So now, I’m sitting here, trying to type, trussed up like a Christmas Turkey. It turns out that my joints are quite flexible, so hopefully, I should be able to start some strengthening exercises next week.

As for Herry, he is OK (I was eventually able to get him away from the others), but will be going to a new, permanent, private paddock on Sunday. Here is a picture of us, taken quite a few years ago now. It’s one of my favourites – I’d gotten the giggles because the photographer’s assistant was throwing a toy in the air to get him to prick his ears foward and everytime she did it, he’d shy (move quickly to one direction, often in the opposite direction to you, thereby dumping you on the ground, LOL)

Photo Credit: Copyright – Julie Wilson Equine Photography

If You’re A Blog Reader…….. March 7, 2007

Then you NEED this. After seeing Sarah recommending it on her blog, I set up Google Reader today and I’ve gotta tell you this is THE best thing since sliced bread. It is a MAJOR time saver as it shows which blogs have been updated since your last visit, eliminating the need to check each one individually. It also updates straight away!!!! I was previously getting updates from either FeedBlitz or Feedburner (depending on whose blog it was), and I don’t know if it was because of the time zone difference or what, but the update notifications I was getting were like a day later than when the actual post was. This ended up getting pretty frustating because 9 times out of 10 I had already seen the new post before I was notified!!! It also shows the complete post instead of just an excerpt, which is really cool too!

So if you start noticing people unsubscribing from your blog, don’t worry, they’re probably just viewing through Google Reader

What’s Been Happening?????? January 28, 2007

Well, not all that much here, what about you? Once again, I can’t believe how quickly the days are flying by……next week my little boy will be 5 months old. Watching him today, he started to move his legs in the crawling motion……time to start baby proofing the house. The big question is -what do I do with all my stamping & crafting supplies – they are currently stacked in clear plastic boxes beside our dining table as what was going to be my craft room is now Harrison’s room (we only have 2 bedrooms). I also have lots of things in draw units too. Now I know the boxes will be too hard for him to open, but the drawers – I think they’ll be easy picking. Any ideas?

I’ve been meaning to get some samples done for some upcoming workshops but I haven’t been sitting down until late & the light is SO bad that it has really put me off. I need to go out and get a new globe for my light TODAY so I can get going. I did get a scrapbook page started – only my 2nd one EVER – I say started because now I’m stuck. I just don’t know where to go from here?!? Scrapbooking is WAY HARD. I’ll post what I’ve done so far & hopefully someone can give me some tips on what to do next (please….)

This week I have been inspired in other ways – actually, by Triple J’s Annual Hottest 100 countdown that was broadcast on Australia Day (Jan 26), so yesterday we ventured out to JB Hi-Fi to spend a gift voucher Jarrod got for his birthday LAST YEAR before it expires (we are so bad at using these by the due date). We picked up the Foo Fighters – ‘Skin & Bone’ and the very first volume of Triple J’s Hottest 100 that is full of really cool songs from way back in 93. So last night I decided to get busy ‘updating’ my itunes library on the home computer. It now ‘looks’ very pretty. lol. I also downloaded a few songs that I seem to be missing from ‘The Smiths’ – bits & pieces from the album ‘Meat Is Murder’. Much to Jarrod’s dismay, I am still pretty much stuck in the ’80’s when it comes to my music. He calls me the ‘Queen of Crap Music’ and reckons that we have music on our iPod that no one else has never heard of! Well, he might be right, LOL!

OK, you’re lucky! December 28, 2006

You’ve got a 2nd chance blogger. It looks like I just didn’t save the changes. Lucky for you. Let’s try something else now.

It’s not looking good for you!

I thought I’d made changes but guess what, it doesn’t appear that they have worked. One more try blogger. You’re on thin ice lol.