My prima ballerina

So this is just a quick post to share some photos with you guys.

For anyone who knows our family, you would know that my baby sister owned a dance school until the middle of last year. As a result of her own 16 years of dance lessons and then owning a dance school, our house has been filled with bags and boxes and crates of old dancing costumes for years now. So today mum finally got tired of looking at the bags and boxes and crates and put all of the school's costumes in a vacuum seal bag so that they could be stored more efficiently. Well Miss K was in seventh heaven with all these pretty dresses sitting around just waiting to be touched and explored. In among all of the lycra and tulle was my baby sisters old tutu, which was one of Miss K's personal favourites. So just because I am the best mum in the world and I love making my baby smile, I helped her to pop the dress on so she could be a ballerina just like her aunty. Thankfully my sister had her phone ready because otherwise these photos wouldn't have happened. (Stupid camera batteries dying last night)

So without further ado, let me introduce you to my little ballerina.

Now ballet is not my favorite thing in the world, and up until before Miss K was born I was adamant that my little girl would not be taking dance lessons like her two auntys and one uncle did as kids. However I have been told by all of my sisters and my mum, and my little sister's former dance teacher that I have no choice, and Miss K MUST take dance lessons when she's older. I would fight this, but the sheer delight on her face in these photos is enough proof that Miss K might want this just as much as everyone else does. Luckily for us, as little as this area does have in the way of entertainment, it is absolutely filled with dance schools, so we are definitely spoilt for choice. Just as well because it looks like I've got no say in the matter.

Belated birthday revenge...

Whoops a daisy, I almost forgot the special birthday post for my little sister. I knew last night that there was something I was meant to be doing on here, but do you think I could remember what it was? Well it's probably for the best that I left it for today because I am fresh as a daisy and ready to pay back my little sister for hacking my Facebook.

But it isn't just about revenge, it's also about wishing her a happy birthday. And because she didn't have very many humiliating photos on her photo board at her 21st birthday party last year, I figured now was the time to rectify that oversight and flood my blog with as many cringe-worthy pictures as I could find.

So I guess a little bit of a back story is needed so that you guys can understand the content of the following photos. Well once upon a time many years ago (ok four years ago) Nat and I were drinking buddies. Given that by the time Natty was old enough to drink I'd been out of the pub scene for about 3 years we tended to meet up at my place to hold our shenanigans, as I preferred being able to enjoy my alcohol without the hoards of sweaty, sloppy teenagers that you tend to find in pubs and nightclubs. Now the one drawback of drinking at home is you don't have to behave yourself quite as much as you would in public, so we would get a bit messy ourselves. And for some reason we always decided to capture the messiness for future generations to admire. (I don't understand the logic there either.) But terrible photography aside, I always had fun with my drinking buddy, and we would spend lots of time laughing (and crying once the alcohol started wearing off.) It was a sad day for both of us when I realized that our days of drunken shenanigans were over now that I was going to be a mum and had to start acting like a responsible person. So in a way I'm glad that these photos exist because they are all that's left of my wild and misspent youth. Although I'm not quite sure that Nat will feel the same way about them as I do.

Careful, I think she's about to burst!

Now where did I put my cigarette then?

I said love, I said pet, I said love...

Now that is one happy camper...

Like I said, messy.

So happy birthday Fat Kat. Even though this is a day late the sentiment is still the same, I have horrible photos of you and I'm not afraid to use them. 

*Editors note, I know I promised the next blog post would be about a Christmas planning book, and the post is still coming, however the batteries in my camera died so I have to wait till they recharge to take some photos of the finished product. 

It's all over red rover

Well it is now 13 hours since I sat my exam and I am glad to be able to say I survived. At the end of the day, after the countless hours spent studying, taking notes, marking relevant sections and pulling out my hair, not to mention the sleepless nights spent worrying that I wasn't going to be ready, I got into the exam today to find exactly 21 of the most basic questions on payroll I could have asked for all staring me at the face. And the first thing I thought was "what was I so scared of?" I should have known it wouldn't be a difficult day, especially as it was an open book exam, but to find that I could have skipped the majority of the work I have spent the past month doing and spent that time eating ice cream instead was actually a relief. It meant that obviously I had done enough and that everything would be ok.

But I didn't know that this morning as I watched the clock crawl closer and closer to 12, signalling my cue to get in the car and drive to the exam. So I did what any normal person would do and distracted myself with all kinds of useless tasks. What do the rest of you do when getting ready for something important?? Well below is a list of everything I managed to fill my morning with to keep from worrying.

1. Sort my sock drawer (I couldn't find a single pair of clean socks to put on this morning so it was a logical step)
2. Trim my fringe (I actually did this two days ago but I am terrible at cutting hair so I always have to go back and re-trim spots)
3. Play hairdressers with Miss K (I actually got her hair into a really sweet hairstyle and I'm kicking myself that I didn't take photos.)
4. Drink coffee with the 5 visitors we had over the course of the morning (There are days when this place feels like the main meeting place of my family)
5. Play Farmville (of course)
6. Tidy up the lounge room.

Finally about half an hour before I was due to leave I figured I'd better mark some of the pages of my textbooks with sticky notes so that I could find the relevant information without doing that horrible loud flipping of pages you do when you're nervous, and that killed the rest of the time till I had to leave. When I finally got out the door and went to the car Miss K followed me out, and when she realized she was being left behind the look of betrayal on her face was so heart breaking I almost got back out of the car and stayed home. Luckily for me she had both mum and Natty staying with her so the minute my car was out of sight she cheered up and spent the rest of the afternoon playing. And the welcome home I got from her when I finally returned showed that she had well and truly forgiven me for abandoning her yet again.

I won't bore you with the details of the actual exam, because really there is no way even I can make an exam on payroll sound exciting, and really the most memorable part of the whole experience was the gentleman sitting right next to me who spent the whole time talking to himself. But I do know already that I got two of the questions wrong, but I also know that I'm not the only one who answered them incorrectly so I don't feel so bad. I don't know when I'll get the rest of my results, but the next time I will hear from the TAFE is in the middle of next month when I am invited to re-enroll for the rest of my subjects. But until then I am thankfully on holidays, and gearing up to start a few new projects, as well as finish a few old ones that I have been putting off for way too long now. Stay tuned to hear more shortly, as my first big project will hopefully be a Christmas organizing binder, so I'll be sharing that with you guys soon.

Well given that it is now 3:00 in the morning I should probably go to bed, I will admit I did sneak a nap in this evening once Miss K was in bed so I'm not really very tired, but given that she will probably be up again in about 4 hours I should try to get some extra sleep while I can. Stay awesome my wonderful readers and I'll be back again soon with some awesome new projects for you to admire, and even try if you're brave enough.

Let the countdown begin...

So I currently have 15 hours to go before my big exam. I thought I would be more frantic or terrified right now, but I am surprisingly calm. And what's more I have been calm all day. I actually had a lovely day today. I spent the morning dodging revision shopping with mum and Miss K, and this afternoon after Miss K's nap we avoided doing homework went and visited one of my oldest friends, who coincidentally is also an ex boyfriend of mine. It was a very relaxed afternoon, if you ignore the amount of times I had to jump out of my seat to rescue various electrical appliances or musical instruments from Miss K's grubby fingers (my friend has a collection of guitars that I am quite envious of.) And once Miss K was fed and bathed and tucked up in bed I went and laid on my bed and fell asleep did some crossword puzzles.

I guess my reasoning behind not panicking right now and spending my last few hours re-reading all of my text books is probably the fact that this is in fact an open book exam, so even if I walk in not 100% sure of an answer I'll be able to look it up in a jiffy. Which kind of defeats the purpose of an exam if you ask me. But I'm not about to protest this by refusing to bring my books and calculator into the exam, I'm not a complete idiot you know.

I think the thing I am looking forward to the most once the semester is finished is being able to spend more time with Miss K without feeling guilty that I am neglecting my studies while playing with her. Even after spending the past 6 months juggling full time parenting with part time study I haven't managed to find the balance between the two, and something is always being left to the last minute. I have a horrible feeling that next years studies will require even more effort because we will start covering serious subjects like GST, which already does my head in. So it will take a lot of careful planning to make sure nothing and no one gets left behind.

But the next time you see me I will officially be on holidays, even though it doesn't really count around here, but I'm thinking of holding my own version of schoolies in my back yard. Now all I need to do is find a group of teenagers willing to get drunk and make total fools of themselves for my own entertainment. If any of you know someone, do let me know.

Well that's all from me for now, I really should get to bed if I expect to be coherent enough tomorrow afternoon to be able to put pen to paper. Wish me luck my lovely readers and I'll be back and ready to party soon.

I am a winner!!!

So this is just a quick hello and howdy doo for all of you my lovely readers, I know that it has again been too long between posts, and I know I promised to you all in my last post here that I would hopefully be able to explain what payroll consolidation means, but when I got to reading my last chapter, I realised it was just revision of everything I was meant to have learned through the rest of the book, and either the chapter title was the most misleading title ever, or I was missing the point somehow. I was also horrified to discover I must have been asleep through most of my last fortnight of studying because as I sat there staring at the words on the pages, I still had no idea what I was meant to be doing. Luckily I tend to be better able to concentrate on things when I'm thrown in the deep end, so I learned more in that last chapter than I had while supposedly reading the rest of the book.

Ben and Tristan popped in for a quick visit this afternoon on their way to an information session for a musical that a local theatre group is doing next year, so they got to visit with Miss K, and mum and I got to give Ben some birthday money because as the title birthday money would suggest, it was Ben's birthday last week. I actually meant to write a special blog just for Ben on his birthday, but yet again it got to blogging time and I was just too tired to come up with anything so instead I'll just wish him a happy belated birthday today. (I did actually speak to him on his birthday so don't think I really did leave it a week to wish him happy birthday). Now the next birthday on my calendar is my little sister's this Friday and I promise to have a blog post dedicated to her on the day, mainly because several weeks ago she changed my birth date on Facebook and I had to explain to about twenty well meaning friends that their birthday greetings were 5 months too early and that they needed to try again in May, and now it is time for my revenge. Be afraid Natty, be very afraid.

Now on to the title of my blog today. I'm sure you're all thinking I'm just trying to be positive and think good things about myself, but today I truly am a winner. Several days ago I liked a page on Facebook called Little Birdies, which is a small business owned by an old friend of mine from my high school years. She has a daughter about one month older than Miss K and she makes gorgeous head bands and hair clips for little girls. Now I was invited by my friend to like the page, so I didn't realise it at the time, but she was holding a competition for all of her new page likers to win some of her head bands and hair clips. So imagine my surprise this evening when I got a message from her saying that my name had been picked as the winner and I had my choice of two of her lovely hair pieces. So I have chosen my prizes and they are being mailed off tomorrow from WA. Now all I have to do is wait for the mail to come and I can share pictures of them with you guys. With Miss K as the model of course.

It is ridiculous how giddy with excitement I got when I read her message, as the last time I won something it was blank video cassettes so this is so much better. And the timing is perfect as well as Miss K has suddenly become quite interested in her appearance and looking pretty. She loves wearing jewelry and hair accessories, and we can't go out until she's put perfume on. She has even started trying to put make up on, and loves watching my baby sister put her face on before going out to parties. So this prize is a welcome gift for Miss K.

Well that's me done for another day, I'm off to bed to no doubt dream about payroll tax and salary sacrificing. So until next time my wonderful readers stay awesome.

Panic stations everyone

SHHHH I'm not here. I'm sitting very quietly doing my homework and not procrastinating by writing to you guys.

I know that again I have been very quiet since my last post which was days ago, but you see I have an exam next Wednesday, and just between you, me and that creepy guy standing behind you reading over your shoulder I am quietly pooping bricks right now. As of three days ago I didn't even know if I would be able to take my exam because when I logged onto my TAFE profile for the first time in almost a month, I found a message from Monday last week advising all students that if their first assignments weren't submitted by midnight that night, then they would automatically be unenrolled from the current unit and unable to sit the exam. I also found out that I had forgotten to advise my tutor which day I wanted to sit the exam and the first one was happening at 4:00 the next day. Whoopsie. Well all I could do was shoot off a quick email to the tutor explaining that I had been unable to get online in over a week thanks to the spate of medical emergencies that had been running through our house and ask for some leniency and a chance to submit my assignments before the next exam (which was coincidentally when they were actually due according to my calendar). Luckily for me I have the nicest teacher in the world because I was given the extension and booked in for the last exam which is happening in 5 days. AARGH!!!!!!

So the past few days have been madly spent finishing off the last of the book work that I hadn't gotten around to, typing up my assignments on my sisters computer (because mine chooses now to start acting up of course) and panicking because I still don't feel ready to be taking an exam. I have even managed to strain my left wrist with all of my frantic lifting of heavy books and holding calculators I have done over the past few days. That's how hardcore I am right now, I have damaged myself.

But as my final count down begins and with less than a week to go before I have finished school for the year, I have finished almost everything I need to do in order to pass this subject. I have one more chapter to read on payroll consolidation (I have no idea what that means so don't even ask) and that's all I can do for now. Of course that doesn't mean that I won't spend the rest of the time re-reading absolutely everything I've read before Wednesday afternoon, but what else am I going to spend my time doing, cleaning?? Please.

Luckily for me I have the absolute best family in the world, because they have all come to my assistance over the past few days in order to help make sure I am ready for my final curtain. Mum has again picked up the slack of the housework for me and made sure Miss K doesn't get ignored completely while I have my head stuck in my books, my big sister watched Miss K for me today so that I could get all of my assignments typed up and pretty looking for grading, and my little sister will be helping to keep an eye on Miss K on Wednesday while I drive to the exam which will be held 3 towns away from home. Even Miss K has started having slightly longer naps in the afternoon, meaning that I have had a little extra time every day to try and squeeze more work into. I will definitely be buying chocolates for each and every one of them once all of this is finished. And then I will spend Thursday getting all kinds of drunk and messed up because I WILL HAVE FINISHED SCHOOL FOR THE WHOLE YEAR!!!! Even the year 11 students will be finishing their exams after me!

Well that's enough procrastinating for now, the next time I come back, hopefully I'll be able to tell all of you just exactly what payroll consolidation means.

Until next time my wonderful readers, stay awesome.

Turning a coat hanger into a ribbon organiser

Ok guys so as you've probably noticed, I've been a bit absent lately. Part of it is trying to keep on top of the various bugs that Miss K keeps picking up (she has a cold at the moment which is just so much fun), part of it is that exam season is coming up quickly and I am madly trying to make sure I'm ready for my one and only exam for the year, and part of it is that I am starting to feel stuck in a rut as far as this blog goes. While I am sure you guys all love hearing my various anecdotes about Miss K and the cute things she does, I get the feeling I'm becoming one of those annoying people who has nothing to talk about except for their children.

So with that in mind, I have decided to try something a bit different for the blog today. Instead of just blabbing on and on about my day (which was just so boring to live through I don't feel mean enough to make all of you go through it too) I have decided to do a quick tutorial instead. Now for anyone here who doesn't care about crafty things, I do apologize for you might find this all a bit dull. But if that is the case, feel free to skip down to the bottom of the page and drop me a line in the comments saying so. I can only guess what you guys like about my blog since you are all such a quiet bunch, so today's guess is that you want to learn how to turn an every day item like a coat hanger into a nifty way to organize your ribbons. I'm starting really simple because I am new to this whole telling people what to do thingy, and I wanted to make sure this first tutorial would be both easy to write and easy to read. So here goes.

Ooh it even comes with it's own intro picture, how exciting...

Now for any of you lovely people out there who are crafty and like scrapbooking, or card making or anything else where you use lots of ribbons, you will know how annoying it can be trying to find an effective way to store your ribbons so that they don't become tangled and messy. I know that before I stumbled on this idea I had tried several different methods. There are professionally made boxes complete with dowels and holes for you to hang and thread your ribbons through, but they usually come with a price tag that is way outside of my budget of free or cheaper, so I have always had to get creative with ways to sort and store my lovely ribbons. My first ribbon holder was a plastic bag. That was terrible. On a scale of one to ten for ease of use and neatness, a plastic bag gets a zero. So I swapped to a plastic container which was slightly better, at least now I could see all of my ribbons at a glance, but they still got tangled too much. 

See? terrible.

So when I stumbled on a picture somewhere of someone using a trouser hanger as a ribbon organiser I got super excited. Until I realised how very little the people in my town must use coat hangers because I couldn't find a multi rack coat hanger for love or money. Luckily I eventually found one at Kmart and forked out a whole $5 for it. 

Now the first thing you want to do is gather all of your supplies. (I've always wanted to start a sentence like that. It sounds so tutorial-y)And now here is the obligatory picture of all of my supplies gathered into the one space for ease of use.

Ta-daa! Look at all that gathered-ness

Now if you are super OCD like I am, you can take this time to sort your ribbons into categories. I know, who knew ribbons could have categories! 

There is a sight that just makes my compulsive side sing.

And then it is just as simple as threading the ribbon spools onto the coat hanger in any way that you please. 

It couldn't be easier if it was thought up by a one year old...

And before you know it you will have a lovely coat hanger covered in spools of ribbon that you can now hang up anywhere that you like.

See? No more tangled ribbons and it even looks pretty. 

I even have heaps of room left over just in case I decide to go out and buy more ribbons. Not bad for $5 and ten minutes of work. (It would have been quicker but I had to keep stopping to take pictures of it for you guys.) And now just to make it really look like a professional tutorial, here is a before and after shot of my ribbons. 

So there you have it, a tutorial on how to turn an ordinary every day boring coat hanger into something awesome for your crafting area. I hope that this was as enjoyable for you guys to read as it was for me to write, if it wasn't please, please, please let me know. Also feel free to tell me what you guys do want to see on here, because I can't entertain you if I don't know what you like. 

*update, this blog post has now been linked to A Bowl Full of Lemon's One project at a time link party, check it out for other awesome bloggers with even bigger and better things to share.