Ouch, Ouch, Ouch - Plus Other Stuff

Ouch. I'm here, but I'm not here. Apparently, someone snuck into my bedroom last night and stuffed my head full of bricks.

The dreaded lurgies have hit Lizzie's Home this week. My mercifully-free-from-sickness hubby has come down with a cold, but not your average tissue-and-cough variety. Oh no, not my Hubs. He's had to take two days off work and he's looking really sorry for himself. Clearly, I spoke too soon.

Master J also has a cold/cough. The child whom we laughingly refer to as The Child Who Never Gets Sick because, of course, he has his own Health Care Card (giving him access to heavily discounted prescriptions medications, amongst other things) and we all know once you have access to cheap health care, you never get sick. The child whom our family doctor last saw before he started school at age five. I'm not joking. He's not had more than a bit of lethargy in YEARS. I still don't think its really serious but we're keeping a close eye on him.

Miss Moo had a bit of an 'episode' during the school drop off this morning - apparently she ended up with the wrong-coloured pencil pot. When another young lad asked for it back (presumably, it belonged to his table), she cried (yes, this is unusual for her). Never mind the fact that these pencils are not the property of individual children but part of the classroom stash. Really, is there anything more frustrating than 5 year old logic? She looked at the purple pots everyday therefore they belonged to her. End of story. Auugh!

My break from blogging over the weekend did wonders for my study to-do list. I just have loose ends to tie up on that niggly assignment (honestly, I should be doing that right now...) and I've already begun the next. Now I just have to keep the momentum going.

I'm still diligently tracking my finances as part of September's Financial Spring Clean. One word - eek! Big spanner in the works on the horizon - scrapbooking. I think I might have possibly been bitten by the bug. The bug remains small, LOL, but it definitely bit. I did my first page ever last night and I don't know if this phenomenon has a name, but I think I've probably made a classic mistake. I 'finished' a page, basked in my creative genius for a few minutes (okay, hours) and then decided I needed to add '....something'. So I grabbed the nearest black felt tip pen and outlined some letters on the page. First problem - the marker was not labelled photo safe. The ink doesn't touch any of the photo, but it can't be good regardless. My bad. Also, the paper I'd used as a border/backing was a 'linen look' thingamajig, and the ink from the marker bled. Not horribly, but enough that it will bother me forever. And ever. I will take a photo for you all and I already know you'll look and think 'I can't see anything wrong!' but trust me. The mistake is there.

Gosh, scrapbooking is E X P E N S I V E. I've sort of been a bit naughty (not just during September I might add) and have grabbed the odd sheet of stickers and papers and whatnot when I've seen them really cheap. I've got some moderately good sources for the less expensive stuff but even that adds up. Being that I didn't really know what I wanted to do or what I needed (seriously, I had no idea), I just kind of grabbed whatever was cheap and cute at the time. I think in the future I'll plan things out a little better. So, to recap, I now have the following 'personal craft projects' on the wish-list:

* Scrapbooking
* Redwork
* Making fleece snuggle rugs (the no-sew type) for, well, whoever. Just because they look cute. I've made one before but Barb over at A Chelsea Morning gives some great instructions for a no-sew blanket and I really like her way of tying the knots)
* Developing my Hubs photographs into cards to sell (they may be available through Lizzie's Home eventually - and they are good!)
* Whatever Christmas craft strikes my fancy at the time...

Oh, I am so my mother's daughter!

I'm off to catch up on a little housework. Oh, and on the 'healthy eating plan' is off to a slow, but steady start. I had a minor victory yesterday - sort of - when I got a Subway salad instead of McDonald's (those salads are HUGE by the way, so much better than the McD's salads...I couldn't finish mine. I opted for double meat since I had no carbs (Chicken Teriyaki) and decided against the sauce. My 'sandwich artist' did drown the whole thing in salt and pepper though, blech). Also, if anyone in Australia is familiar with Charlesworth Nuts, you'll understand this next bit. Charlesworth makes these little balls of chocolatey heaven called Chocolate Raspberries. It is used to be common practice for me to get a $5 bag's worth (around 300g, or 10 ½ oz) and walk around the shopping centre munching on those and then going to get lunch. That's like a bazillion calories folks. And I'm barely even joking. And I so badly wanted to go get me some Choc Raspberries yesterday. To the point of having to force myself to walk across the court and into the fruit and vegetable shop lest I smell the choc nutty goodness coming from Charlesworth. Auugh. I even bought a banana. And then, I found myself a little cafe, ordered a pot of tea for one (I was the youngest patron in there by a good forty years, and I even detected a raised eyebrow from the girl at the counter when I ordered my tea - perhaps because they hadn't had anyone under the age of thirty order tea and not a double choc mochalatte (or whatever) before?) And I ate my banana and drank my tea and did my course work. And rocked at all three.

Then when I got home later that night I promptly ate a Snickers bar. Sigh. Progress people, progress.

Today I've done okay - but we're getting into the danger zone (lunchtime through to dinnertime). It takes concentration not to reach for the Doritos. Or the sackfuls of candy the children got from the Royal Show last week. Or the massive bag of chocolate we made up for Daddy for Father's Day.

Now, that housework...

Cheers,
Lizzie