Some spring goodness...

I've been home with a head cold for the last couple of days (it was at it's worst on the weekend which saw me in bed at 6.30 on Saturday night lol), but am well on the road to recovery and will be back at work tomorrow. Teaching isn't a job you can go to and take it easy if your not well - it's all or nothing. Nor is it a good idea to be going and spreading germs either...So with me being home, I toddled out to the letterbox this afternoon and decided my camera needed some fresh air too (especially if the wild weather that's predicted hits us) and captured these shots of spring heralding it's arrival on our fruit trees.

I finished these two layouts over the weekend - the one of me is using one of Neen's latest offerings (see the kit link in my sidebar) and I'm bummed that I used a pen with a wide nib to journal, but oh well what's done is done and I don't have the energy or the inclination to do anything different lol. The other one is an out and out scraplift from the front of 'Get Creative with type' book - it was sitting there in full view so that made for an easy lift - again little energy expended lol. Can you tell I was sick???

Danny is off having a little operation today so that he can't be a Daddy...so I thought I'd capture some photos of my girl sleeping. She's been enjoying our warmer temperatures (the weather station said it was 28 degrees outside about an hour ago) and has been finding comfy spots in the sun to sleep after hunting for insects outside - she's a bit lost with no 'brother' to play with today. On that note, part of our family is off on a big adventure at the end of the year and we are going to be taking on their dog - a wee maltese x bichon - but they have a few acres so he's used to sheep, pigs, cats etc. They are hoping that whoever rents their property will take on their farm animals and two cats as they don't really want to uproot them.

Right, back to my spot on the couch lol...

And these as well...

Update...

So am I behind the times or have orange flavoured M & M's been out for a while? I got to try some today and they are the most sickly delcious pieces of candy that I've tasted in a while lol.

Congrat's to my twinnie, Vicki, for getting herself into the BG gallery and somewhere else...but you have to go visit her blog to find out. Actually you've probably already been there!

On the work front I've been busy as a long term reliever - this basically means I'm relieving in the same kindergarten for more than six weeks. There are three relievers working together, so we're kind of muddling through - however two of us have heaps of experience so that helps and the kids and families are just great.

As most of you know, the Swannanoa Retreat was held at my house last weekend - it was fully booked out (ya know, me, Heid, and Vicki lol!). We had great tutors (Vicki brought mags with her you see!), great catering (in the form of natural lollies, chocolate bars, fizzy drinks - thanks Heidi - a smidgen of home cooking and Jo Seagars for brekky!. The spa was on and used. Oh and yep that's right we did a bit of scrapping too. Hence the layouts above. Some were for SP challenges which I've left too long to enter, one was the 'Gaye' challenge (Gaye, Vicki, Heid and I all went shopping a couple of weeks ago and ended up with the same paper - hence Gaye set us a challenge lol) a couple were scraplifts and a couple were just for the hell of it. I still have one sitting on my desk which needs a title and journalling.

We've been off buying a few plants today, so assuming the weather stays as gorgeous as it is right now, tomorrow will see me out in the garden (probably telling Lyall where to plant them rather than actually picking up a spade myself lol!)

What's been happening?

No scrapping been happening here over the last week or so, but lots of lovely visitors.

Friday night saw the arrival of Donna's friend Helen and our nephew Russ with his girlfriend Lavinia. I picked them up from the airport Friday afternoon and headed off to a mall so that Lavinia could get a shopping fix lol. Saturday all of us headed to Pukeko Junction for breakfast followed by a visit to Pegasus Bay and then into town for a wander around - followed a few hours later by an ice cream out at Brighton pier.

Sunday we headed off to Arthurs Pass for a play in the snow - and the kids were rapt as it snowed...snowing up there and then we drive home and into more sunny stunning weather - freaky when our house and Arthurs Pass are only two hours apart. Sunday night saw the arrival of Lavinia's Mum, Jo, who came and stayed the night after spending the weekend catching up with girlfriends in Christchurch - Donna and Jo went to school together so there was many a memory shared.

On Monday the kids, Jo and I had breakfast out at Seagars followed by the afternoon at Orana Wildlife Park - it was a great way to spend the day. While at the park we got chatting to one of the volunteers who kindly offered to take us through the new and yet unopened Kea enclousure - they want to get the kea's used to having people walk through - and I got a little friend there - he kept landing on my shoulder - only to be growled as that's not something they want to encourage these cheeky birds to do! Awesome experience for me though! Also got to feed and pat the giraffes.

When my brother was down a few weeks ago I got him to take my old video's of Russ back to Auckland with him and put them onto DVD - this was duly done and Russ brought them back down with him - boy we had some giggles watching them together!

I'm hoping for a weekend home this weekend so that I can hava a play with some paper etc...and then Tuesday I'm looking forward to catching up with Heidi, Vicki and Gaye and a trip out to Scrappin Patch!