New opportunities

A lot can happen in 365 days. A lot can happen in a week, and even more can happen in a day.
For the last 20 years, I have been a lot of things to a lot of people. Wife, mother, friend, student, volunteer.......busy, busy. A lot of the time I have forgotten about me, my needs and my sense of self has fallen by the wayside. I tended to be so busy worrying about everyone else and making sure they were ok, that in the end I WASN'T.
        2012 saw me in need of some professional help, so I took myself off to see an amazing psychologist. Well, she told me some things about myself that I didn't want to hear, stripped me of the guilts I have been carrying, and laid my soul bare in her office.
                                           Time to start again.......
                                            So I have........
         You know the quote 'you only live once', everyone has heard that right? Well I read something recently that put the lot on its ear for me.
         'You only live once..............not true. You only die once, but you get to live everyday'.
Aha moment for me! This had rattled around in my head for a week or two and I have decided that it's time to start afresh and get back to the things that are important to me. Things like......
- being more present in my loved ones lives, really listening instead of glazing over
- sustainable living.....I want that
- buying a drop dead sexy outfit that isn't from the op-shop
- finding my inner child again....haven't seen HER for years
- finding joy in the littlest of things
- returning to my faith......thank goodness God gets me
- board games with my family...love em, but when time is short it doesn't happen
- making the men in my life turn off the stinking tv....enough already!
- having a proper foot massage and facial...heck, full body massage and the works, thanks
- playing in a sprinkler
- spending more time with my husband.....just the two of us
- having the courage to make new friends in my new town
- craft more often...and I don't mean mending
- picking up my camera again just because I love it so much, not because I'm great at photography
- learn proper barista skills and get the bit of paper that says I'm awesome

So, the list goes on and on. I want to make one conscious decision a day to do something for myself, something, I WANT to do. I want to be more present in my own life..........REALLY live it, because you only die once, but get to live every day. What have you done for yourself today?
      Stay beautiful,
K xxx

On a happier note

I have been doing a little craft.....I know *gasp* she does more than write........LOL.

My girlfriends from Tamworth and I have decided to try a card challenge this year. We have called ourselves the Crafty Bitches.

Each month there is a new challenge. Here's this months, and please feel free to play along.

Dates – 16/01/12 – 14/02/12

Theme – Valentines and Pink

Rules – You must incorporate the colour pink into either of the following valentines

1. Card

2. Scrap page

3. Off the page

You can use other colours, you are not restricted to just pink.

You may email your creations and you will see them posted to http://www.craftypaperbitches.blogspot.com.au/

In the mean time, here is my offering.

Stay beautiful,

K xxx

What now?

It would seem that February spells disaster for QLD. One year to the day after cyclone Yasi decimated Cardwell and Tully in North QLD and battered the tropics, the South East corner had it's turn with crippling floods reaching record levels.

My Dad was one in the town of Mitchell to be affected. The whole town was affected in some way large or small. The RSL Club evacuation centre was evacuated to the council depot as the water exceeded the expected peak. Dad got out of his house with his little dog Millie, a few changes of clothing and his mobile phone.........that's it. It would appear at this early stage his home was inundated to ceiling level, but we are quietly praying for much lower.

I think of all Mum and Dad's special things, photographs, family history research and memorabilia of Mum and Dad's life together and I am sad. Not as sad I thought I would be as I realise that the most important things are not in fact things. I am so grateful Dad and his little mate are safe and sound, although a little uncomfortable in a crowded area. I will mourn the loss of the 100+ year old family bible, but we can start another one. Photos and slides of my childhood will be ruined and special things of mine I still had stored at Mum and Dad's place. The more I seem to think about them, the less important they seem. Perhaps I have finally grown up, or perhaps I have moved so much I am becoming less sentimental, I have realised material things are just that......things. I can't replace my father or his little mate Millie and together they will be fine and deal with whatever happens.

The floodwaters are receding a little now and it is Charleville, Roma, St George and Moree's turn to face the challenges of the biggest floods on record.

Spare a thought for the people doing it tough and please support where you can with whatever you can. Every little bit counts......

Stay beautiful,

K xxx

2012.....BRING IT!!!

Hello to you all and welcome to 2012. A little on the late side, but better late than never right?

Our family had a lovely Christmas break with a visit home to the in-laws for Christmas. 17 in a house for a week makes for loads of fun and tons of laughs. Thanks guys, we always have such a great time don't we?

Second leg of the trip was New Year camping with some old and very dear friends as well as a few days with an absolute treasure of a friend-love you Russ an thanks for letting us invade your home. I got to catch up with my fabulous girlfriends as well. We all met through scrapbooking and we all need to stay friends forever because we know way too much about each other!!! It was a riot as always and I think the staff at The Pub wondered what we were 'on'. You girls are awesome and I love every single one of you.

Next a visit to my dear Dad. 82 years young and still going strong. He misses Mum every day, but he still gets himself up and organised and has made a lovely life for himself. He says he's going great anyway.......

Home again-which brings me to my point. What is home? Is it really where you hang your hat? Is it with your husband and children or is it your parents home? I'm not sure where I feel my home is-certainly where my husband and children are, but is it a place or a town? I'm not too sure on that one actually as I have spent most of my married life travelling around Australia with my husbands job. Perhaps home is more a feeling than a place.............in that case, I have strong feelings for certain places.LOL Tamworth......if ever we had cause to move back could I? Of course I could. I always said you can never go back....it's never the same, but after being back, it WAS the same.

All our friends always make it hard to leave, this time especially so but I'm not sure why. It seems like it calls me back stronger each time we go there. Interesting..............

Anyhoo, have dedicated a song (how cheesy) to how I feel about the people and the "Big Sky Country'.

Stay beautiful

K xxxx

Variety Club Youth Choir Flash Mob 'I am Australian'

Mum.( Long post )

HI all. I haven't blogged lately. I wasn't sure where to start, but here goes.

WARNING.

Don't read this if you are on your way out or only have 5 minutes. It's a little LONG.

On Friday the 17th of September, I lost the most influential and wonderful woman in my life-my Mum.

I started this blog just for her to keep up on our lives when we lived so far away.

I wondered whether to continue, but I think I will as I find it helpful to get my thoughts out of my head and onto "something".

Mum was a lovely lady and although she could really frustrate me like all Mother's, I loved her with every fibre of my being.

Mum had a brain tumour that was benign, but large and in a not so great place. It affected balance and memory just to name a few things. Mum was receiving treatment and was looking at an operation to remove it (of which she was terrified). Sadly, the operation wasn't to be and after a fall where she hit her head on the car, the trauma to her head (unbeknown to her ) had started the tumour bleeding, and in the end caused a massive stroke which ended her life.

I spoke to her every 2nd day as she was struggling with her health as a direct result to the tumour, and asked her if she was sure that thing wasn't leaking......... It was.

Early Friday morning at 6.45am, my beautiful Mum left us for her heavenly home. That day-that moment, I felt the gears of my life change.

I am now an adult.

We (I have a brother and a sister) wanted Mum's funeral to be a celebration of her life as she lived a life worth celebrating, so we set to work uncovering "Mum" and the things that made her, 'her'. We have been so richly blessed by what we found, and what we already knew.

Some people go through their lives wondering if they were loved. Mum told us all the time and going through her computer, she had written the "memoirs" of her life. What a huge gift to us.

Mum was much loved by all who met her-she had a way with people. I have never known a person to be such an accurate judge of character and to have the capacity to love everyone.

I miss her immensely, and can't imagine a life without her.

My darling Dad has to start again as well after 57 years of marriage. THAT is the kicker for me. Dad on his own. I can't imagine how you would do that after so many years with the love of your life. He hasn't thrown the towel in by a long shot and is learning to cook and has had lessons in the washing machine previously in the year by Mum. Almost like she was training him for this time.

I wonder if she knew, or made a conscious decision not to seek medical treatment. I will never know, and in the long run, it won't matter. Her life had become quite difficult and she was sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Mum's faith in God never faltered, and I know this by a couple of conversations I had with her. I was brought up in a Christian family, and I know what happens when you die. I am not afraid, nor an I concerned as to where Mum has 'gone', and I know she will be waiting for me when it is my turn. Her 'interim mode of transport'might be in the earth, but her soul is long gone to a far better place than this one.

To those that have supported us, whether with prayers, loving thoughts, cards, phone calls, food and presence, we THANK YOU.

Mum is in heaven now, free of all the burdens that weighed her down in her earthly life, but she left us with this poem she wrote, and I would like to share it here.

WITH LOVE FROM ME TO YOU

MY THANKS TO YOU ALL FROM MY HEART

MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY LIKE NO OTHER

MY LOVING AND SUPPORTIVE FRIENDS

MY SIBLINGS PLUS ALL OTHERS WHO HAVE TOUCHED MY LIFE'S’ JOURNEY IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER.

AS I SIFT THROUGH LEAVES OF MY MEMORIES,

ALL YELLOWED AND SCATTERED AROUND,

THESE DAYS, THERE’S SO LITTLE OF YESTERDAY,

FURTHER BACK IS WHERE MEMORIES ARE FOUND.

WE CANNOT PLAN OUR LENGTH OF LIFE,

BUT FAMILY CAN BE SURE,

THAT WE LOVED THEM ALL SO DEARLY,

AND THEIR LOVE FOR US MEANS MORE.

Clara Allen April 2010

Thank you,

Stay Beautiful

K XX

Creative Share...............finally

Hi,

I have been working lots, so the blogging is not coming back into swing like I hoped it would.

Here's a really quick share of a card I made a few days ago (last weekend) using Tim Holtz distress inks and a permanent mask technique I found on

http://jennifermcguireink.com/

Do yourself a favour and check her out.

She deals in simple and elegant.

Two things I have in bucket-loads, so I can relate!!!!!

Any questions?? No?? Sweet. Have a fabulous day

Stay Beautiful,

K xx