some party preparations...

as mentioned in my last post - yes - we will be holding a 16th b'day party for our miss goob next weekend - and - yes - there have been just over 40 guests invited.
I know. insane.
one thing though - as goob attends an all girl school - and she has lots of friends - she has decided to only invite girls - and I pray that many can't come!!!!!!!
there have been 3 definite 'no's' - my praying thus far has been working!!

here's a peak of the colour scheme we've chosen for party day.....

and there are plans for a lolly table of grand proportions.....

some call them dessert tables.....or candy buffets.....for now let's call it the lolly table!!
and yes - I'm a brilliant drawer - thank you for noticing!!!

a heap of inspiration has come from the lovely Leanne over at Mrs A in the Cove (and I ordered just a few little things from her lovely online shop Sweet Style). I'll update you on those next week when they arrive.

Leanne also shared her recipe for Cookie Pops on her blog - seen in her wonderful image below - and I'll be trying to make some this weekend so I don't have a disaster trying to make them for the first time on the actual party day!!!

photo from here

don't they look amazing - can't wait to try making and eating these goodies. (ingredients include tim tam biscuits and cream cheese and white chocolate - oooooo yum!!!!)

anyhoo back to me!!
I have been gathering supplies and here's some messy pics of the acquired stash so far.....(mostly from discount stores to keep the costs down).....

 

jars above were great bargain buys from a discount store (similar to '$1 store' or 'crazy clints') - large $13.99/medium $11.99/small $6.50 each. they are the start of my jar collection for the lollies!
(very grotty - and ready for a wash!)

and the below trays were not so bargain - however they are actually made out of melamine - but they look so much like crockery. they are wheel & barrow brand.

the narrow plates were $19.95 each - and the square was $39.95.
(hope you like the artful placement of the crepe paper!!!) ha!!

having a pool and loads of pavers (outside) and tiles (inside) - the option of having platters that won't smash into a million pieces if dropped is a very good thing!! I think these are really lovely. good weight too.


I have started to make some labels - the below will be added onto the lolly bags.....

I downloaded some great free labels (found here) - played around with them a little - printed them out on white cardboard - cut them up - then stuck them onto disks of red cardboard.

a little wonky in places - but I'm pretty happy with them.
I'll be sure to take loads of photos and give you all the details as things move along.

yes - this is all a huge outlay for a party - however all three girls will be having parties this year - and many in the future - so I'm positive all the major items will be used many many times through the coming years.
and besides -there is that mother's guilt thing in play here - they didn't get parties last year - I wasn't working - and we just couldn't afford it.
we're making up for it big time now.

as for activities to keep the teenagers happy - we're hoping the weather plays nice and is warm so the pool can be used. we are also putting together a back-drop and props for a photo-booth of sorts.
other than that - this mob all love to hang out and chill - so I'm sure it will all go well. they're a great bunch of kids.

so that's where we're at with the party plans.

tonight we're off to the first brumbie's game of the 2012 season. (rugby union - our local team - we're members - and the weather is looking great for a lovely evening!)
tomorrow is netball grading for eky early - goob and I are going along to help out.
Sat night - a lovely friend and her baby girl are coming to tea. (her husband has been posted away for 6 weeks)
Sunday - loads of volleyball training for the girls - and loads of homework to fit around in between.

oh - and some huge news - that job I spoke of at the end of the year (here) - well the full-time permanent position (education section) I applied for went on hold - and now it's going ahead again - and I have an interview next Tuesday.  (I'm currently working there now - different section - part-time contracted until the end of April. permanency would be great - and the money is pretty good too!).
fingers crossed for me if you can please!!!


have a wonderful weekend ahead where ever you find yourself!!

loads of hugz from here.
cheryl xox.

crazy busy weekend

greetings from our mad house to yours!!

it's been a super busy weekend - and I think I need another to get over this one.
alas - it's back to work tomorrow. boo!!

saturday saw mr w. and the girls head north to pick up new bikes for eky and goob. no photos sadly - however we will be taking some family rides soon - and I'll be sure to take some snaps along the way and post soon.
early b'day presents for the girls - and they love them. great news.

I stayed home and dabbled with housework and study - procrastinating whenever possible.
I'm good at that!

sunday morning goob and I went for a short bike ride - then both eky and goob had 2 hours of volleyball training each.
hard work - however they are learning so much and getting better with every practice. they are really enjoying this new level of volleyball as they have some fantastic coaches at state level. (fingers crossed the girls both make it onto their age teams)

sunday afternoon - miss eky had 8 peeps over for a pool party.

glasses added by me!

a beginning of the year thing - she had one last year.
they squealed a lot - as girls sometimes do - however they had a great afternoon.
we were super lucky with the weather - it was warm and sunny - phew!!
lately the weather has been mad!
huge storm came through friday night; another on saturday that filled the pool to the brim; then another storm threatened just before everyone was about to go home today.
luckily it blew around us and headed out to the coast.
it's been a terribly non-existant summer down here. green - yes - but not very warm or sunny!

triple j also had a friend over for the fun.

best friends since preschool (age 4) - and still going strong (both turning 10 this year)!!!
it kept triple j busy and out of the big girls hair!

this evening - somehow I got hoodwinked into helping goob make 40 party invitations for her upcoming 16th birthday. (in 2 weeks)

yes - you read that right - 40 invites.
I think I have officially gone mad to allow this to happen.
I'll let you know if we survive this one.
for the invites - goob typed them up online (at invys.com) - we then printed them out on card - did a little hole punching - then added some ribbon for pretties!

oh dear what have I done?!?!?!

the week ahead - we have work, uni, school happenings, more volleyball training for the girls - and the start of netball grading for the year.
oh we're in for another busy week.

hope your weekend and week ahead were/are calmer.

hugz from here.
cheryl xox.

progress in the dining room....

over the last few months we have finally moved forward in the dining room. it's not finished - but we've made huge progress.

today - I reveal that it looks like this....

it used to look like this....(circa 2005)....

 ...and for a little while it looked like this....(much of 2010!)....

 

...yes - a very scrappy mess - piled high with the contents of our study while that room was being painted and upgraded....and no - the study is still not complete either!!!....yes - that's how we roll!!!

we painted - the same as the lounge room (as these rooms are connected) - removing the blue feature wall (yay!) - and we pulled up the carpet (it's currently raw concrete - this will be painted - possibly white) and lay down a rug.

nice change - yes?!?!

I love to walk past this room now (which happens a zillion times a day as it's the main access way between the front door/main bedroom/study to the rest of the house.

the white dots around the edges are putty patches where we pulled up the nail bits that held down the carpet. there was also a lot of glue bits to sand back from the undelay. we'd love to keep it raw concrete - but it's not in great shape - and finishing it by sanding and sealing is just too expenisve and dusty - so we'll paint. (we'd ultimatley love a wood floor - but as finances don't allow for such now - we'll get by how we can - at least the blue carpet has gone - yay!!! - well in half the room at least - you'll see what I mean in the following photos.....!)

here's some more pics.....

and here's the view back to the loungeroom......

and here's the loungeroom today.....(yes I've been playing around with the layout once more - it's an unusual room and difficult to fit it all in with a baby-grand piano - peeking at the left)....

....see - the blue carpet still exists on that side of the room!!!!!

ah - this home reno stuff is mighty slow when you have 3 children, work, uni, sport - life!!!!!

but today - I'm feeling really good at the progress we've made so far.....

hopes and dreams.......white linen slip covers for the dining chairs, new window coverings (perhaps a roman shade), some art and pictures, some kind of pendant light over the table, some larger base boards (they're tiny in the entire house) and of course the painted floor.

love this painted wood floor I found this morning on houzz (and I now have it pinned on pinterest!!)....

we'll see how adventurous I get. perhaps we'll start with white and see how we go from there!!!

will post photos when we tackle some more.

hope all is well in your world.
loads of hugz from here.
cheryl xox.

trying to get back into the swing of things...

me = slack blogger.

yep - I know - but life gets busy - and if the blog has to go into a holding pattern - so be it!

however - I am starting to get back into the swing of the new year - and hopefully this wee blog will get some more loving!!

huge thanks to anyone still following out there. I check in on many other blogs often - just haven't had the blogging mojo to actually write a post myself!!

a wrap up of the biggest news items around house-o-nefotlak - just to get you up to speed!......

1. the girls are now all back at school.....

triple j is now in year 4, eky heads into year 8 and goob is now a senior in year 11 (and over 6 feet tall!!).
eeek - how does time fly by so quickly?!?!

2. I'm back at uni - and this is my final year - yayayayayayay!!! it's going to be a big one - especially with all the other goings-on this year - but I am so so so so determined to finish this thing. (primary teaching). feeling good about reaching this point.

3. have bought a bike...

love it!!
(it's a 'hybrid bike' - a cross between a road bike and a mountain bike - brand = trek - super large wheels - I really really love it!!)
we have also ordered new bikes for the girls - and we are embarking on  a new exercising adventure.
so far it's been loads of fun. 

4. I've lost 8 kilos since xmas!! super happy about this achievement!!!
it's a combination of diet, discipline and exercise. (not too much exercise just yet - but I'm getting there!!)
I have started on the dukan diet - recommended by a friend - and so far it's been working really well.  (have probably dropped 1-2 dress sizes - feeling great!)
will keep you posted as I go.

5. my contract (work) has been extended until the end of april - but now I'm down to 3 days per week so that I can still attend uni lectures and tutorials and study. super happy about this - as the need for extra money has been something that we really struggled with last year. for now it's working well - I love the people and the work - and the money is great. we'll see what develops over the coming months.

6. sport is going to be yet another huge chunk of our lives this year. both eky and goob trialled for the u15's and u17's state volleyball teams on the weekend. both went really well - and now have 3-4 weeks of training (twice a week) until the final teams are picked. they will also have club and association rep netball commitments - so we're in for a busy sporting time. triple j will again play netball at club level this year as she increases her skills. I envisage loads of car trips around to games and training ahead of us!!

7. goob turn's 16 in march - and is very excited about getting her L's for driving. eeeeekkkk!!

image from here

I can't believe we've reached this point in this parenting adventure!!
pray for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8. we have bought a new camera - finally!!

photo from here.

 now I just have to work out how to use the bugger!!!

hope this day finds you well.
oh - and happy valentine's day to you as well. 
see you again soon - well - that's the plan....
loads of hugz from here.
cheryl xox.