Little Thrills ;)

Have you ever sold anything on eBay??  I sort of have - but nothing that sold for a great deal or generated too much interest.  

I like Stampin Up, and in particular I really like 2 stamp sets which have been in the last 2 catalogues, which I have been hanging out to buy if I were suddenly rich, or if they were not appearing in the next catalogue! (Fox & Friends - this is for when I give birth to a boy - I'm going to make totally cute wall art with it!!  And Curvy Verses, which I have just loved since I saw it, but couldn't justify buying!)  Well it happened - I saw the 'outgoing' list and they're both on it! - eek!! So I really wanted to buy them, but they're not the cheapest things in the world, so I decided to sell some of my stamp sets that I don't use so often to pay for them.  5 x second hand sets - 2 new ones?!  I hope so!!  

Anyway, since I listed my 5 sets on ebay a few days ago, I have watched my little list of 'watchers' grow with great satisfaction, and it gives me a little thrill every time I go into it.  Bless craft ladies/bargain shoppers!!! :)  Look! - now my very least cool stamp set even has 3 watchers:

Isn't that exciting?! :)  lol.  The fact that I've listed them for $5 has probably helped - I hope they go up at least a little though!!! And my second least favourite set has the most watchers and the first bid! - What's with that?!  I thought I'd get stuck with that set not selling!! :)  Isn't it exciting?! :)  

James isn't quite as excited as me - so far I've technically only made $5, but I'm pretty sure these lovely crafty ladies are just lying in wait to try to score a $5 stamp set on the day the auctions finish.  I know that's what I would be doing!!  

Fingers crossed!  And in the mean time, little thrills ;)

PS:  You know how they say giving is more exciting than receiving (which is usually true, except that sometimes, you get a gift which rocks so much, it was TOTALLY fun to receive).  Anyway, I have to say that so far, this selling business is much more fun than buying!! lol.

Dream Car

Okay, it's totally only because of this video - and let's be honest, I barely noticed the car, except for the fact that it does seem to be a van, which fulfils my requirements.  James wants a big truck of some kind with 7 seats.  Don't worry - after I show him this he'll realise how cool vans are and totally change his tune.

LOOONG Catch-Up!!!!!

Hey little personal blog/journal!!

It's been a little while since I've written anything remotely interesting on here, and I'm going to unashamedly blame it on being pregnant once again!!! :)  Yay!! :)  I'm just over 16 weeks now though, and have been getting better over the last 4 weeks - I've been pretty great for the last 2, but I'm tired a lot, the usual :)

Since I've been well again though, I've been spending my more awake time having lots of fun and outings with my fabulous girls, who were so patient with me for all those weeks when I lay on the couch uselessly, asking them to be gentle with me and basically being no fun at all!!  I am so GRATEFUL that James took a month off work completely during uni holidays, and got us through the worst of it, and by the time he started back full time (between work and study) I was getting back into it.

It's funny how hard morning sickness hits.  I guess a lot of people never get it, and if you're not grateful for that, you should be.  Because it's awful! - You just feel like you're dying!!! I kept saying to James "This is MUCH worse than the other two times - I'm dying!  This is awful!  I can't do this for 8 more weeks" and so on, but he just said "It's exactly the same sweetie, you've just forgotten!  But you'll get through it and you'll be okay" :) .  He took care of absolutely everything for us - meals, cleaning, looking after the girls, looking after me, running around town trying to satisfy my horrible cravings (I don't have fun cravings.  I've mentioned this before on this blog.  But it's more like "I need a Red Rooster chicken drumstick now or I'll die!" and less like "Hm... I'm craving chocolate.  Please go and buy me 3 blocks and I will eat them and chill out :)).  I was also probably insufferable to be around.  I devoured I don't know how many books, until I ran out, and became bored and more miserable.  I watched a bunch of movies and then got sick of them all.  I watched the entire first 4 seasons of Chuck.  Bless funny, random, light hearted shows you've never seen before for trying to take your mind off things!!  I felt like such a bad mother.  The girls ran riot if James ever went out, and I just felt sooo bad for them! - Bored and cooped up all the time! I'm so glad James was around to take them out and do stuff with them.  And he and Ana developed a wonderful relationship - the kind he's always had with Maggie but Ana's missed out on a little in her early days, because he was home a lot more when Maggie was born and has been a lot busier since Ana.  But they really bonded and it's wonderful to see now :)  She just adores him, and he her.  And Maggie loved having her main man around all the time!

By the end of the sickness, I started to feel like I was crazy, and maybe it was all in my head?  Maybe I was just lazy?  So I'd try to do more, and fail miserably, and end up in bed, much worse than before.  I just felt like I wasn't being a very good person.  And I never wanted to go out and do anything!  I would make plans with friends and then cancel cause I wasn't up to it, and I felt like such a bad friend!   But then I started to have days where I was actually well, and then you realise "Oh, I'm not a bad person - I'm not just lazy!  I was actually really, really sick!!!  Oh my word I feel great today!! I am going to clean my house and take the girls to the park!!  And catch up with friends!!  And make dinner!!" and it's just the most incredible feeling ever.  I keep saying to James "I just can't describe it.  It's like you're in this horrible black hole and you can't get better no matter what and then you start to doubt yourself and you don't know if you're lazy or what and then suddenly you're better!  And you realise that health is the most incredible blessing, and you don't ever realise how wonderful it is until you're stuck in that black hole for weeks on end, terrified that this time it won't end at 14 weeks!"  I don't know how the wonderful strong women (like my mother, who had 7 of us!) who are sick for the entire 9 months manage!  I find it extremely difficult to get through the first three months.

But as a result of that time, the last few weeks have been absolutely fabulously blissful.  I'm back!! And the girls and I have been having a lot of fun, and making up for all our time lost.  They are SUCH great girls, and I feel so lucky to get to hang out with them all day long!  They are the funniest ages and they have me in stitches all day, and they're so sweet and kind and funny!!!  And James and I have been leaving the house again - we even went to the temple last Friday night, and we're going to our Stake Ball tomorow night! - I don't know how I'll go fatigue-wise, but I'm super excited.

As usual, I put on WAY too much weight during trimester 1, but I've evened out a little just in the last couple of weeks, and I've come to terms with the fact that to help me feel a little better during that time, I just have to constantly eat, and to me it's a LOT easier to work out and lose the weight afterwards, than to try and stop myself from eating whatever I want during trimester 1!!  But hopefully I can repeat Ana's pregnancy, not the 30+kg's I put on with Maggie!!

And I am starting to get INCREDIBLY excited as I enter trimester 2, realising that I'm really going to be able to have another baby!! I'm always a little too nervous during the first 12 weeks to let myself be really excited, in case anything happens, but yesterday I went to the hospital and heard this little baby's heart beating for the first time, and in a few weeks we'll be able to find out whether it's a boy or girl, and I can't WAIT!!! That is my favourite part of pregnancy.  I love knowing what we're having.  It really helps me bond with baby.  We name it and talk to it, and I buy it pink or blue (pink so far, but it could be blue this time?! :)) and get everything ready for it, and it feels so much more real.  I can't wait!! James is pretty excited too :)  And so are Maggie and Ana.

So basically everything is complete sunshine at the moment, especially compared to being so sick - ugh!

Random bits and pieces:

• The fabulous Stacey came over the other week, and introduced us to 'Monopoly Deal', the card version of Monopoly.  Games only take maybe 15 minutes max. each, and it's a lot of fun.  I bought it for James for D.A.D (Daddy Appreciation Day) recently, and we've played it so many times he's sick of it, but I'm totally addicted!! :)
• My friend Estelle came over this afternoon to have some stamping fun with me, and she brought us dinner - uncooked.  I'm always saying I wish I were more confident cooking fish cause I love it, so she brought me the uncooked ingredients, and helped me prepare the fish for cooking, and all I have to do is chuck it in the oven half an hour before we want to eat!! Isn't that sweet?!  Dinner and a cooking lesson!! :)
• My Dad got broken into at his office again the other day.  It's happened a lot in the last year, and caused him a lot of grief and business loss, and it's really upsetting for our whole family I think.  Dad is just such a good person, and he works SOOOOO HARD and has my whole life, to support his family, and to have people just break in and take so much from him, is so hard to see.  They've been installing all sorts of security measures over the last year, and they just keep coming back.  This time, they actually like, dug a hole and broke through the bottom of a wall, and like, climbed in underground?! - Who does that?!!!  Anyway, they've had builders reinforce it all and I think they're putting in a new alarm system this time.  We are all praying that they stay away and that this break-in doesn't cause too much more grief than replacing all the valuable things in the office.
• I had to quit netball when I was only a little bit pregnant :(  I really, really wanted to keep playing, and stay fit during this pregnancy, but even though I switched out from Center and started playing on the wings, I was sick and fainting after games, and then you know, spent a really long time in bed doing nothing but being sick, and now I can't go back during this pregnancy.  I guess I'll save the organised sport for between pregnancies!
• James is in his last 6 months of uni.  Can you tell I'm grinning like a cheshire cat while I write this?!  Who knows where he'll be working this time next year?!!!! He has certainly worked hard for this degree, I'm so happy and excited for him, and for our whole family!!!  He will be so relieved to have a break from assignments hanging over his head all the time - I still seem to remember that feeling with perfect clarity!!
• This baby is due, 4 days before Maggie's 3rd birthday.  I'm guessing we won't be throwing her too big a party this year - I might miss it!!!
• Mum is currently designing her and Dad's new house.  I can't wait to see what it ends up looking like!! I couldn't do all the planning she is.  Well, at least, I really wouldn't want to.  Fortunately James will be just as keen as she is in that department - I'll just give him a list of what I want and let him do what he thinks with the rest of it when it comes our time!  Mum always makes things so beautiful though, so I can see why she'd want to do it herself!!  Meanwhile they're in a cute rental, and our childhood house is long sold to a young couple who are just starting a family.  I haven't driven past since they sold it.  I was so sick I didn't even take photos in every room and do any sort of 'goodbye wonderful house I lived in for 17 years!!' tour - which I SO would have done otherwise!!
• Elders Ben and Oliver have been on their missions for a year and 4 months now.  Isn't that crazy?!  They'll be home apparently before I know it, but it seems to be going awfully slowly!! We all miss them like crazy, but we're so proud of them.  They are working so hard and being so faithful and good!!  They make us smile whenever we think of them.  I still can't believe they haven't met Ana!!
• James is working with Dad at the moment. I like to think of them working together - My two favourite guys!!  :)  He's also coaching 3 teams at JPC and helping out with some of the PE classes there.  He's loving what he's doing, but it's certainly keeping him busy!!
• I lost some of my all time, FAVOURITE maternity clothes, and I'm devastated!! James thinks I must've accidentally taken them to Vinnies, and I just want to cry when I think about it!  Went maternity shopping the other weekend and found nothing.  I wish I had my pretty clothes back, sigh!!! 
• The J's live down the road now!  First I was sick, and since we've all had sick babies, but we're going over tomorow for a fun play (Jessima's put together a 'safari' which sounds fun!) and are happy that they're in our ward and we see them more often!! :)
• Baby Hallie = SO CUTE!! :)  And Beth = earth mother!! : ) We're planning on a visit next week - even though she's a lot closer now, the Gold Coast seems so far away at the moment! - But they do live pretty far south.  Hopefully more catch ups soon :)
• Ana and Maggie are so cute.  Did I say that already?!  They're best friends, they are both chatting (Ana only says a few intelligible words, but she's expanding her vocab rapidly(!) and Maggie will talk your ear off, all day, about everything :))  I'm in parenting heaven.  I'm so grateful for them and can't wait to find out what this baby is and then meet it in a few months!!! :)

Okay, My fish is going in the oven, so I'm going to go and watch it.  Hopefully I'll update more regularly soon, but I'm happy to say our little family blog is going strong, and I've been posting weekly on our new creative blog, so I'm sure enough of our little family history is being recorded - maybe just not giant posts about how awful morning sickness is, and how great life is afterwards :)  

Have a fabulous Thursday!!! :)  (Don't you love Thursdays?!  They're definitely one of my favourite days - so much hope on a Thursday I think!! :))

xoxox

Our Fun New Blog

Some girls and I (okay, 2 of my sisters and Mum :)) started a new blog, where we each write one day a week about things creative or fun or homemakey or girly, or kind of anything we feel like sharing that's happy :)

It's at http://patchesofheaven.blogspot.com.au, so go and check it out! :)

Tammy wrote a cute post today about glass jar lights lol - we're pretty deep, us girl ;)

PS:  If there is anything fabulous that you've done, you can come and 'guest post', on my day ;)  Talita you really are going to have to come and do one sometime, and Stacey I want your quiet book on it when you're done!! ;)  (then we'll do one with our travel books ;))

Carrie, Tammy & Me!

On Saturday night, Tammy took me (for my early birthday!) with her to go and see Carrie Underwood in concert!!  To be honest, I've been a little under the weather, and although I definitely like a few of Carrie Underwood's songs I don't know all of them, and I wouldn't say I'm a diehard fan or anything.  I saw a bunch of film clips of hers recently and she seemed a little stiff, so I wasn't super sure I'd like her overly in concert.  Tammy wasn't 100% either, but we both do like her enough to be interested in going, and we're SO GLAD we did!!!

She had a LOT of fun up on stage - she just seemed to love love love singing, and she has an incredible set of lungs!!!  It seemed like she was too little to be making such a big sound!!!  She sings some crazy fun songs, and had a lot of fun with them on stage - and she was totally NOT stiff or scripted, which can sometimes get a little boring.  Her backup singer had the most incredible voice also!!!  She was just amazing!!  She looked a little out of place though - we think someone should do more with her hair and makeup, because you're looking for who the heck the awesome backup person is, and she just seemed a little awkward on stage and looked a little...not bad! - just not ready to be onstage singing the way she was singing!!  Which was awesome.  And of course, being a country singer there was an awesome fiddler also - I do love a good strings musician!! And the rest of her band were great too.

But to me, she sounded better than she does on any of her CD's - I just loved her voice live, it was awesome.

My favourite, favourite, FAVOURITE part of the night was when she sung 'Jesus Take the Wheel'.  Sometimes mainstream songs about the Saviour feel a little blasphemous and make me feel uncomfortable, but when she sings this, she has a beautiful spirit about her and you can't help feeling all goose-bumpy and tingly happy.  It's really gorgeous, and then she did something it turns out she does all the time, but I've never heard before, so it completely shocked me, she suddenly broke into 'How Great Thou Art' - and finished the song with the ending of that.  It was amazing, and had us both a little bit teary I think!  I YouTubed it and there are a lot of videos of her singing that live, but none of them do it justice, so I didn't link any but if you're especially keen go look it up - or better yet see her live sometime!!! :)

And another cool thing Carrie did in concert, was sing a 'tribute to Australia' song.  She was saying that Australia has some great artists and songs, and she wanted to sing a tribute to them, and then she sang Aussie rock group INXS's 'Never Tear Us Apart' - which is a pretty famous Aussie song.  I thought it was fun and nice that she put that in - only for the Aussie leg of her world tour! :)

It was actually the first concert I've ever gone to, to see a female singer - strangely when I look back I've only seen guys in concert! - But she was incredible.  I'd definitely see her again, I LOVED it!!  THANKYOU TAMMY!!!!! :)

And here's a couple of pics off Tamster's iPhone! - We were 11 rows from the front - but she's kind of tiny in these pics! :)

It was an awesome night :)  And fun cause I got to hang out with Tammy all afternoon too!! - Thanks Tamster! :) xoxox

Do-Over

Do you ever have a really bad day, and be a little comforted knowing that the sun'll go down on today and tomorow's a new day, a clean slate, a fresh start, and all that jazz? :)

This morning I had to have a mid-morning fresh slate!  And it totally works :)  My fabulous 2 year old woke us up before 5am, screaming and coming into our bed.  She said she had a sore tummy, so she went to the toilet, and seemed a lot better.  So she 'snuggled' restlessly in bed with us for about an hour, giggling and pulling on our faces and talking loudly, during which nobody slept.  Then James went to work early and I dragged myself out of bed with Maggie.  It was a crazy morning.  Obviously overtired but in no way ready to go back to sleep, Maggie seemed to be finding it difficult to behave nicely.  Then Ana woke up, and I let Maggie go into her room to say 'good morning' to her before I joined her and took Ana out - Maggie LOVES to do this.  5 seconds later Maggie yelled that she had done 'big wees' in Ana's bed!  URGH!  Maggie, Ana, their clothes, all of the fabulous dress ups Maggie owns, some of her favourite battery-operated and no longer ever going to be played with toys, the mattress, everything, saturated.  I find cleaning up after toilet training accidents one of the most yucky and unenjoyable jobs as a mother, and I find it especially hard now, because Maggie CAN go for ever without having an accident, and I'm pretty sure she just does it every now and then just for kicks or something!!!  Bath running, toys in bin, clothes and bed things in washing machine, Ana with nowhere to go down for a morning nap, mattress cleaned and drying in the sun, my tired and irritated levels through the roof.  Once everything was finished, we definitely needed a do-over, so we started our day again, ol' Maggie and I.  I gave her a hug and we both said sorry (me for my shortness of temper!!) and 'started again' :)  I think Maggie totally got it :)

And we are having a much happier day today (take 2) :)  What a lovely little girl Maggie is, and how eager children always are to forgive and forget and just love!!! :)

AAAaaaahhhh!!!

They're my new dream purchase.  Frye Veronica Slouch boots in dark brown.  Size 6.5 (that's for my own personal future reference lol :))  Here's where you can buy them and gloat, because I will never have that much money to spend on a pair of shoes.  Then again, I spent almost (!!) that much on my fabulous nappy bag, and I will NEVER regret that purchase.  Plus, they're obviously (like my fabulous nappy bag, which is looking EVEN BETTER with age!!) going to last me for years, right?  So if I bought 7 pairs in the mean time for $50 apiece, that would totally add up, right?!!  haha...no wait! - real leather boots are always going to be more like $100, aren't they??!  So it's like buying 3 and a half other pairs!!  :)  Or only 2 other pairs if they're $175 each?!! :)

Maybe just another dream post :)  What do you think??!

I just got an email with this pair on sale less than half the price :P  Like these better? - They totally match that nappy bag I'll be carrying around for the next 10 years... lol

Obviously I'm coveting brown boots this season.  Maybe I should go do my folding and think about all the things that are more important than wearing cute boots!  Sigh... :)