Week 49: Time flies! It definitely does... and it seems like the older I get the quicker the years are passing by. I've noticed it more this year than others and I think it's because my girls are really growing up. This year has marked some real milestones... they're both now in their teens, Krystal has her learners licence, Mikayla has finished intermediate and I know that my time with them living at home is getting less. So, I've made a concious decision to spend one-on-one time with both of my girls regularly. I love it!!! And more importantly, they seem to love it too :) I feel like I'm really getting to know them in a whole new way... not so much as my daughters but as individuals. I'm learning about their goals, dreams and ambitions... the things that make them angry and sad... what they see as important and I'm discovering that I really, really like spending time with them!
Week 50: the greatest gift. I've had a lot of gifts over the years... some you can put a price on but most of the really important ones have no monetary value... my girls and family are right up there! For this card I chose one of my oldest possessions... a beautiful doll that my Nana (great-grandmother) gave me when I was only 2. I loved her straight away and called her Susan and she went everywhere with me. Looking back on it now she's even more precious to me than she was back then. Nana had very little money and she had terrible arthritis in her hands and knees but she scrimped and saved until she had enough and then she WALKED all the way up to the shops to buy her for me! These days Susan sits on my dressing table (that used to be Nana's) and she wears the christening gown and bonnet I made for my girls. 
Week 51: made me think of you. Often when I listen to songs I am reminded about different people and times in my life. Some songs bring tears to my eyes and some have me smiling. There were so many to choose from this week so I've highlighted just a few. 'Amazing Grace' always reminds me of Nana because we played it at her funeral and I remember crying my eyes out... even now when I hear it I often end up with tears in my eyes. God of Nations (New Zealand's national anthem) reminds me of Krystal when she was about 5. She'd been learning the song at school and then she proudly sang it to me at home while I did my best not to laugh... here's the first line of the real version followed by Krystal's version:
God of Nations, at thy feet, in the bonds of love we meet.
God of Nations, at my feet, in the ponds of love we meet.
The song that always reminds me of Mikayla when she was little was called Country Bumpkin by Cal Smith and every time we went in the car she wanted the 'Punkin' song!
So that brings the prompts to an end. I'm looking forward to seeing what Emily comes up with next for everyone! In the mean time I've decided to create just one more card to finish off and then put the whole thing together... I've finally come up with an idea that I HOPE is going to work. Thank you for visiting (and hopefully leaving a comment) and all the best for the new year!!!
Week 45: Self realisation! Oh my goodness... that is a biggie!! I've realised a lot about myself over the past couple of years like: even though I've resented having to have routines they actually help me feel in control of my life... If I write myself a 'to do' list I really do accomplish what I set out to do... I'm pretty good at home improvements... and I'm learning to be really ok with who I am! The biggest realisation lately is that I have a really great life! I have two amazing daughters, a loving family, a great home, a career I enjoy and life really is pretty fantastic!
Week 46: rejuvenation. I love feeling rejuvenated... It makes me feel like I'm full of energy, inspired to create and completely at one with myself :) What I'm learning is that lots of different things create that feeling for me... sometimes it's taking a walk on the beach and being surrounded by nature... sometimes it's chilling out with my girls or playing with my nephew and nieces... sometimes it's reading an inspiring book or watching a really great movie like The Pursuit of Happiness... that movie always makes me feel incredibly grateful for what I have as well as totally moves me to tears! If you haven't seen it I would highly recommend it!!!
I'm going to break with the norm a bit here and share a layout with you... and it fits perfectly between Weeks 46 & 47 because it's about the place where I feel happiest and how it helps me to restore myself. Hope you like it!
Week 47: my happy place! Of course that has to be the beach! I love walking along the beach and collecting all sorts of different 'treasures'. I'm forever looking down at my feet while I'm on the beach in case something beautiful has been washed up by the waves. I love writing words in the sand and I love that it makes me feel calm, centred, and whole!
Week 48: ideas!!! I really enjoyed this prompt... mostly because I love having ideas. I've stopped worrying about whether or not my ideas make sense to other people... and I've stopped being so concerned with whether or not they actually work... these days I'm simply happy to have an idea and see where it leads me. I've learnt the hard way that I get lots of ideas while I'm asleep so now I keep a notebook beside my bed because however much I try I just can't seem to remember those 'unforgetable' ideas in the morning! 
So that's my update... thanks for visiting and I'd love to hear your comments :) Until next time, happy creating :)
Week 37: draw something. I've always loved 'creating' stuff. At school the best part of doing projects for me was doing the title pages and borders. I learnt to colour in quickly and I've always been a 'doodler' while on the phone BUT I've never been a drawer! It wasn't until I was at teachers college that I finally found the ability to draw something that mildly looked the way it was supposed to. Over the last few months I've been loving butterflies so I thought I'd give it a go and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I used watercolour pencils a zig pen and finished it off with a little bit of bling for the body :)
Week 38: I wonder. I think/wonder about a lot of things... what my life will be like in 5 years time... what if I won LOTTO (I like wondering about that one LOL)... what life would be like without kids (mostly think that one on a bad day!)... what if I'd never gotten divorced (can't imagine still being married to the ex!)... but mostly I think what the girls will do career wise once they leave school... will they be able to look after themselves out in the 'real world'?... have I done a good enough job raising them for them to be able to stand on their own two feet?... will they be happy?? I definitely hope so!
Week 39: someone special. I've been really lucky in my life to have a lot of people that have been very special to me. My great grandmother (Nana) was the first person I thought the sun shone out of :) I'm related to a few wonderful people... I'm related to a few nutcases as well!! And I've had some really special friends over the years! This time I thought I'd dedicate a card to my relationship with Dave. We've known each other our whole lives (I'm only a few weeks older than him), we've loved each other, tried living together, gone our separate ways for 10 years, gotten back together and tried living together again but it just never seems to work out the way we hope it will. In some ways we're really alike and at our best we are best friends... we sit up and talk to each other until sunrise regularly and we enjoy lots of the same things. At our worst we can't stand each other... nobody else can make me as annoyed as Dave! He really knows how to push my buttons!!! But in spite of all that there is an invisible link between us that has lasted for 37 years. I don't know what the future holds but I do know that he will always be important to me.
Week 40: Not anymore. Not anymore will I wear glasses in public... not anymore will I be pregnant... not anymore will I eat food I don't like just to be polite! But more than anything... not anymore will I live my life based on what others think!!! This has been a hard one for me and something I've been working on a lot over the past 18 months. I'm learning to stand up for what I want and need. I'm learning that I don't have to be liked by everyone. I'm learning to follow my dreams and I'm learning to live my life based on MY beliefs. I'm getting there... I'm making progress... I'm learning a lot about myself and I'm really beginning to understand WHO I really am. It's a journey... it's hard work at times but it's really, really worth it!
Week 41: Magic carpet. If I had a magic carpet where would I go??? ITALY!! I've never had the desire to travel... I was quite happy to get married at 19 and settle down. Lately though when I think of the girls leaving home (luckily it's still a few years off yet!) I think about what I would like to do... and I'm thinking that I'd live to explore some places that interest me. I'd like to go to Europe and see some of the amazing things I've only seen via TV and the internet. Mostly I'd love to go to Italy! I'd like to eat fresh pasta made the traditional Italian way... I'd like to visit the wineries and drink some of the local wines... I'd like to explore the art world and visit local markets. Maybe I should go and learn to speak Italian!
Week 42: a grateful week! I've made it a routine now that when I go to bed I think of at least 3 things that I feel grateful for. Some days I barely get me 3 and other days I get to 30 in the blink of an eye... it all seems to depend on what's happened that day and how I'm feeling. Having an 'attitude of gratitude' really does work for me! 
So that's my update... I'm feeling really good again now :) It's amazing how just a few hours to yourself can make such a big difference! Thanks again Marjolein!! 
Week 33: 10 minutes! Talk about challenging!!! I think I'm a relatively quick scrapbooker but I've never timed myself... I just work on a layout and when it's finished I'm quite happy... I just didn't realise how quickly time flies when I'm being creative. I stuck to the 10 minutes fairly well... 40 seconds over time... but it was a lot of fun to create a little bit of art simply for the sake of creating. I think I might set myself more 'play time' to just give things a go and see what I end up with.
Week 34: funny ha ha! I love to laugh! Sometimes it's just a quiet little laugh, sometimes a giggle and sometimes it's a full.on.tears.running.down.my.face kind of laugh! Had one of those moments today. My sister sent me a photo of my niece... Miss 18 months has just discovered tomato sauce and OMG she had it everywhere!!! Trac even had to wipe it off her eyebrows!!! How the heck do you get tomato sauce in your eye brows??? I'll definitely be scrapping those photos very soon!
Week 35: Strength. Over the past couple of years I've noticed how much stronger I feel as a person. Sometimes when life is really tough you wonder how you're ever going to get through it but you do. I remember watching 'Castaway' and Tom Hanks' character said... "you just get up every morning and you breathe... and you keep on breathing and you do it all again tomorrow". And sometimes life is like that... I had a brain aneurysm in January 2000 and it didn’t look good at the time but I survived. I got stronger and I went on with my life. Sometimes people say “that’s amazing, I’d never have known”. To me that’s the whole point! I survived, I got strong and I’m not going to let circumstances define who I am!
So that's my update. As always, thank you for your comments!!! Have a happy week :)
Week 31: no regrets. Are there things I wish I hadn't done in my life? Definitely!!! Do I regret them? A few. But mostly I think that the things I've done (good and bad) have helped me to be the person I am today. I'm stronger than I was at 20... I think I'm wiser!... and I'm definitely happier!!! I remember reading Johnathan Livingstone Seagull a few years ago and it was a really powerful book for me at that time. My favourite quote from the book is: "I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can't, that's all. I just want to know!" I feel like that in my life too... I just want to know what I can do and what I can't... and I love discovering the answers!!!
Well that's my update! Just so you know.... I kept my Week 29 prompt (goal of the week) on my desk last week while I was getting ready for SENZ and it really did help me to get myself organised! Have a great week everyone :)
Week 24: remember when... Lots of things popped into my head for this one: Remember when I didn't have kids? Remember when I was a teenager? Remember when I was learning to drive? (Miss 15 has just got her Learners Licence!) In the end I chose... Remember when we lived on the farm. We had a pretty good lifestyle growing up... lots of fresh air, space to play and huge amounts of imagination! We used to make huts in the hay barn and build tunnels which never failed to annoy our father! We had a huge amount of freedom and it was a completely different life to what my own girls have had. One funny story (at least for me and Trac!) was when we had our horse Laddie... he wasn't a big horse but he was a lot of fun. This particular day we were out in the paddock annoying him and he had enough and chased us. It wasn't so bad for me and Trac... we took off and got through the fence... BUT Kate was only little and her legs couldn't move as far as ours... she got her top half through the fence and then Laddie bit her on the bum! She howled and cried and we made sure she didn't tell Mum cause we knew we'd be in trouble but that night she just couldn't sit down so Mum checked it out and one butt cheek was completely bruised!!! It's funny now but it sure wasn't at the time!
Week 25: a photo that means something to you. It's true that most of the photos I have tell a story. When I look at them I can remember how I felt, or what was going on... a million memories come to mind with most of my photos. Then I came across the photos of my graduation from Teachers College. I remember feeling really proud for finally finishing something and sticking with it even though it was hard at times. I'm pretty sure I was talking to Trac (my sister) on the phone and telling her how it had all gone because she couldn't be there to see it... and I wasn't letting that Diploma out of my hands!
Week 26: Celebrating daughters. Loved this prompt!!! The first photo was taken when they were 5 & 3 and they were being flower girls for their Grandma's wedding... the second photo was taken when they were 12 & 10 and they were junior bridesmaids for their Auntie's wedding. I can't believe how quickly they've grown up! A few years ago I wrote a poem for a layout I did about my girls and thought I'd share it with you:
Hope you are all enjoying the prompts as much as me! I'm finding them really awesome for journaling about things I wouldn't normally write about and I'm sure when I look back at them in the future they will give a real insight into what was going on in my life right now... actually it's almost like a time capsule! Happy crafting everyone :)
Week 21: your redeeming qualities/qualities you aspire towards. This prompt really got me thinking! I asked Miss 15 what she saw as my strengths and was quite blown away with her response (have to say it was a real boost to my self esteem!)... and then I thought about what qualities I would like to have... that was a bit easier... my step-dad used to say: Most people show you what not to do and only a few show you what you want to be like. He's quite right too! My sister (Trac) is a really good role model of what I want to be like and I think I've become more like her in the last few years... with some mixed reactions from other people! But I'm definitely becoming more the person that I want to be!
Week 22: what would you like to learn? Another thought provoking prompt... there are so many things I'd like to try... just to see if I like them but more than anything I want to learn to take one day at a time... to relax and enjoy the special moments that happen every day and to fully appreciate how wonderful life really is!
So that's my update... I've still got a little way to go before I catch up but I'm happy with how it's all going and I'm really enjoying hearing what you all think of my cards. Thank you for your comments because they really do mean a lot to me :)
