Card of the Week 31/12/2007-6/1/2008

Ever since the first time I looked through the Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue I have been in love with the 'Bold Butterfly' set, I didn't buy it earlier because I was still looking for specific projects to justify purchasing stamps (eg Christmas Cards, Gulu fundraising etc) and I could never find an excuse for this set, so when I signed up this was the first stamp set on my list to include in my starter kit.

To make this card I used Gable Green (I apologise for the quality of the scan, the Stampin' Dimensionals make it sit too far off the glass and the colours don't scan as bright as they actually are) Cardstock for the base of my A6 (10.5x14.9cm) Card;
1. I used my Butterflies & Blossoms Stampin' Around wheel with Versamark across the middle of the card (doesn't show up very well in the scan, again sorry)
2. I stamped the base of the Large Butterfly from the 'Bold Butterfly' set in Orchid Opulence on a 10x10cm piece of Whisper White Cardstock followed by the matching outline in Pink Passion. Then I cut out the butterfly using Paper Snips and layered it on a piece of Pink Passion Cardstock using SNAIL Adhesive.
TIP: to make the butterfly appear as if it's ready to fly off the page, attach the butterfly by applying only 1 line of SNAIL along the body of the butterfly then turn it over and curl the wings by rolling each section around the barrel of one of your markers towards the body and popping some Stampin' Dimensionals under the each section close to the body.
3. I attached the Pink Passion Cardstock & Butterfly to the Base Card using SNAIL adhesive then Stamped 'Happy Birthday' from the 'Favourite Teddy Bear' set (really is a favourite, I use it so often I occassionally set myself little challenges of making a card without it!) on the base card above the line of 'butterflies & blossoms'.

This Card was really simple to make it would be perfect for a beginner, the most time consuming part was cutting out the butterfly. If you would like to make this card for yourself all products are available from Stampin' Up! and you can place your order through me to have your order sent straight to your door anywhere in Australia. Contact me on 0418 650 294 or zjgould@gmail.com to place your order.

Shopping List:
Bold Butterfly Stamp Set $57.95
Favourite Teddy Bear Stamp Set $59.95
Butterflies & Blossoms Stampin' Around Wheel $11.95
Orchard Opulence & Pixie Pink Classic Ink Pads $9.95ea
or Bold Brights Stampin' Spots $41.95
Bold Brights Cardstock $14.50 for 36 sheets (3ea of 12 colours)
or Pixie Pink & Gable Green Cardstock $10.50ea for 24 sheets
Whisper White Cardstock $13.50 for 40 sheets

Because I love the Bold Butterfly Set so much, I am offering a massive 20%* discount off the set bringing it down to $46.36 when you buy 2 or more stamp sets (with 1 being Bold Butterfly) this week (31/12/07-6/1/08) so don't forget to mention this post when you place your order. Don't forget about Sale-A-Bration, which starts this week and can be used in conjunction with this offer (the full $57.95 counts towards your $100 Sale-A-Bration minimum even though you are only paying $46.36)!
*This offer is not a Stampin' Up! discount and therefore only available through myself and only applies to Orders with 3 or more stamp sets.
Artwork (c) Zarna Gould; Images (c) Stampin' Up!

Card of the Week 24-30/12/07 Heartfelt Thanks

Now that Christmas is almost here I decided to stop making Christmas Cards & get back into making cards for our Gulu Fundraising. The Cards are available for $2.50 ea or 5 for $10 and money raised goes towards building a Watoto House in Uganda. Email me (zjgould@gmail.com) for more info about our fundraising or to place an order to purchase cards.

This Card was inspired by one of the Christmas cards I made, I'd got sick of all my Christmas Stamps by the end so in the original I used Rose Red & Always Artichoke for my colours to make it look Christmassy, ended up looking slightly like a pointsettia. I wish I'd scanned it in before I gave it away, it was one of my favourite Christmas cards!

To make this card I used Pixie Pink for the base of my A6 (10.5x14.9cm) Card;
1. I stamped the row of butterflies in Versamark using the 'Beyond Basics' Set.
TIP: use your stamp-a-majig handle sideways to get the row of stamps parallel to the base of the card
2. I stamped the large flower from 'Heartfelt Thanks' on a 8.5x5.5cm piece of whisper white cardstock using my Green Galore & Pixie Pink Stampin' Spots, normally you would use a blenderpen & ink or markers to get multicoloured images from a single stamp but this stamp has enough of a gap between the stem and petals that you can just carefully use your Stampin' Spots to get the same effect.
3. I stamped the matching flower outline free hand in Orchard Opulence, if you want to line it up more accurately you can use a Stamp-a-Majig but I think this flower looks better if it's not perfect.
4. I used a technique I call Scissor Edging (don't know what it's actually called) where you run your paper snips around the edge of the cardstock to rough it up and create a little texture. Then I ran the Pixie Pink inkpad around the roughed up edge, the great thing about this technique is that the roughed up edges soak up the ink and it takes a few minutes before the final look is achieved so you never know exactly how it will end up!
5. I then layered the flower on a 9.5x6.5cm rectangle of Orchard Opulence and attached it to the base card using SNAIL Adhesive.
6. Finally I stamped 'Heartfelt' in Green Galore & 'Thanks' in Orchard Opulence, both stamps are from, yep, you guessed it, the 'Heartfelt Thanks' Stampset. :)

This Card was so simple to make, I made 4 of them production line style in only 30 minutes. If you would like to make this card for yourself all products are available from Stampin' Up! and you can place your order through me to have your order sent straight to your door anywhere in Australia. Contact me on 0418 650 294 or zjgould@gmail.com to place your order.

Shopping List:
Heartfelt Thanks Stamp Set $57.95
Beyond the Basics Stamp Set $23.95
Bold Brights Stampin' Spots $41.95
or Orchard Opulence, Green Galore & Pixie Pink Classic Ink Pads $9.95ea
Bold Brights Cardstock $14.50 for 36 sheets (3ea of 12 colours)
or Pixie Pink & Orchard Opulence Cardstock $10.50ea for 24 sheets
Whisper White Cardstock $13.50 for 40 sheets

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
As my present to you I am offering a 10% discount* on any of the Shopping List items purchased this week (24-30/12) so don't forget to mention this post when you place your order!

*This discount is not a Stampin' Up! discount and therefore only available through myself.
Artwork (c) Zarna Gould; Images (c) Stampin' Up!

Sale-a-Bration!!!

Sale-a-Bration is Coming!!!

Every year Stampin' Up Celebrate the new year and thank their customers by holding Sale-a-Bration during January & February.

During Sale-A-Bration for every $100 you spend you can earn a free exclusive sale-a-bration stampset... that's right, a FREE stampset!!! On top of that, if you host a Sale-a-Bration party & your guests spend a total of $600 or more you also get a free sale-a-bration set!

I will be posting out Sale-A-Bration brochures to my mailing list soon, if you want one but don't know if you're on my mailing list please email me and I will make sure you get one.

Why not take advantage of this great offer to buy the beautiful limited edition sets from the Summer Mini Catalogue?

To book your party or to make a purchase please email me: zjgould@gmail.com or call: 0418 650 294.

Remember: You can have your order shipped straight from the warehouse to your door no matter where you live in Australia!

My first workshop

Last night I held my first workshop, Amy G, Fiona, Nomes, Deborah, Karin & Olivia came along to be my guinea pigs ('squeak squeak'). We had heaps of fun and made 2 Christmas cards, ate chocolate (although there are leftovers, what's the go guys???).
Here's a pic of the cards I designed especially for the workshop as well as the cute little candy canes that I gave out to everyone to thank them for coming (I CASE'd the candy cane design from here), The little origami boxes I made out of 'In Thyme' Double Sided Designer Paper and put the lucky door & party game prizes inside them, Congrats to Nomes & Olivia who won those! anyway here's the pic:

I was going to take more photos but i got so distracted with having fun that I forgot to take more than this one!
If anyone else wants to order just check out the online idea book & catalogue or mini catalogue and send me an email zjgould@gmail.com or call me on 0418 650 294 and I can have the order delivered straight to your door from the warehouse! Alternatively if you hold a workshop of your own I can come to your house and you can earn freebies!

Cardstock Used: Glorious Green, Real Red & Very Vanilla Ink Used: Glorious Green & Real Red Stamp Sets used: Terrific Tags (level 1 hostess gift) set of 6, Merry Minis $59.95 set of 28, Loads of Love $39.95 set of 7, Small Sayings (no longer available). Artwork (c) Stampin' Up! Images (c) Zarna Gould
And, just because I can't resist here's Charlotte cuddled up with her (2nd?) cousin Amy at the street parade (can't see it well here but she's wearing her Santa suit):

Stampin' Up!

Well I finally did it, I've signed up as an "Independant Stampin' Up! Demonstrator". Lisa convinced me that with the amount I spend it would be worth it a little while ago but I've still been umming & ahhing over whether to do it, but i finally took the plunge and ordered the Demonstrator Kit as my birthday present. I got my number today and hopefully the kit will be here either Tuesday or Wednesday!
I've even planned my first workshop for next Friday night! I'm so excited!!! I just feel sorry for the guinea pigs who are coming... hehehe!
If anyone wants to come along on Friday night let me know, we're making Christmas Cards and the more the merrier! If you want your own party I can arrange that as well (as long as it's in or near Parkes) and you can get some really cool freebies! If you don't live in Parkes you can check out the catalogue here and email me zjgould@gmail.com and your order can be shipped directly to you anywhere in Australia (you may still be eligible for some of the freebies depending on your order size).

Anyway, enough of the hardsell... Charlotte is now 6 weeks old and is growing so fast!... she's now over 5kg and so grown up in some ways. I think she's gonna have a little stubborn streak (don't know where she gets that from...) because when she decides she wants something you can't change her mind or distract her from it; when she's hungry she pulls this funny face and throws herself sideways as if to say 'if you don't know what I want I'll show you' lol.

Charlotte sleeping on her playmat yesterday afternoon

Life as a Mummy

We've been home from hospital since Sunday, Charlotte is the best sleeper, she's only waking up once or twice a night!
On Sunday night they had a special thing for Andrew's 50th and we took Charlotte for her first outing, it was really weird, I have never felt so protective of anyone or anything in my whole life, the little kids came over to see her and I felt like beating them up for coming too close with their snotty noses and germs and bugs!

Tuesday Justin & I went down the street and took Charlotte into Mum's & Justin's work to show her off. Everyone loves her! She was so good and slept the whole time, while we were down the street we went to target and went a little overboard on clothes for her, she has the cutest little wardrobe now!

Yesterday I rolled her on her tummy for some tummy time (about all of a minute) but she lifted her head straight up and stared straight ahead for about 30 secs, she's got such a strong little neck, she's been trying to lift her head since she was about 2 hours old.

When we got home from hospital we tried to put Charlotte in her brand new 0000 jumpsuits and she's so long that she can't straighten her legs in them! I wish I hadn't washed them first!!! We've got her in 000's now but they're so big around her that they absolutely swim on her, but she does look so cuddly!!!

Charlotte Lily Gould

Born: 17 Oct 2007 - 12:50pm

Weight: 3.84 kg (8 lb 8 oz)

Length: 54 cm

Spud's B'day

Here are everyones guesses on the baby's birthday! Let's see who's right!

5 Oct - Olivia / Girl

7 Oct - Claire / Girl

10 Oct - Bob / Boy ... Deb / Boy

13 Oct - Zarna / Girl

15 Oct ***Due Date From U/Sound #3***

17 Oct - Nomes / Boy ... Chris / Boy

18 Oct - Justin / Girl

19 Oct ***Due Date From U/Sound #1***

20 Oct - Shona / Boy or Girl

21 Oct ***Due Date From U/Sound #2*** - Pete / Boy (Maximillian Power)

22 Oct - Lisa / Girl

25 Oct - Megan / Boy

To the people who put me to go over, thanks, thanks a lot!!! I'm hoping Olivia wins it

Sarah McLachlan - World on Fire

Think of this next time you watch rage or video hits:

Leave Britney Alone

Check out this obsessed fan: (Language warning)

This guy seriously needs help...

Who is Spud? You Decide!!!

***Edit***
I have some new important information that may affect how we guess! One of the suppliers from Justin's work has a tent every year at the Bathurst 1000 and they give away tickets for free, Justin's put our names down for tickets to the Saturday races (figured not as many people as Sunday so more chance of seeing more and getting autographs that sort of thing) they have a pretty cool program for the Saturday with stuff like the top 10 shoot out so it will still be pretty good. Given that we've planned this and it is so cool I think the baby will probably be born on that day (6/10)! I think that's how it normally works, they come on the day you have the most planned that you don't want to miss out on.

There's not long now until Spud arrives so I thought I'd stick a little competition to guess when we all think Spud will be here. The winner will win the satisfaction of knowing they were right. We'll do Price is Right rules, person who's closest without going over wins (I don't want people guessing over lol!)
Leave your guesses in the comments and I'll edit the post to enter them in next to the date so that noone doubles up on dates. If you want you can also guess if you think boy or girl.
Here are the dates:
15 Sept -
16 Sept -
17 Sept -
18 Sept -
19 Sept -
20 Sept -
21 Sept -
22 Sept -
23 Sept -
24 Sept -
25 Sept -
26 Sept -
27 Sept -
28 Sept -
29 Sept -
30 Sept -
31 Sept -
1 Oct -
2 Oct -
3 Oct -
4 Oct -
5 Oct - Olivia / Girl
6 Oct -
7 Oct - Claire / Girl
8 Oct -
9 Oct -
10 Oct - Bob / Boy ... Deb / Boy (Sorry my bad didn't see Deb's comment)
11 Oct -
12 Oct -
13 Oct - Zarna / Girl
14 Oct -
15 Oct ***Due Date From U/Sound #3*** -
16 Oct -
17 Oct - Nomes / Boy
18 Oct - Justin / Girl
19 Oct ***Due Date From U/Sound #1*** -
20 Oct - Anonymous (Shona?) / Boy or Girl
21 Oct ***Due Date From U/Sound #2*** - Pete / Boy (Maximillian Power)
22 Oct - Lisa / Girl
23 Oct -
24 Oct -
25 Oct - Megan / Boy
26 Oct -
27 Oct -
28 Oct -

Baby Shower and Other Stuff

Last week we had my baby shower, it was so much fun, Nomes ran some games like guessing the size of my belly (not a very good ego boost when you looked at some of the guesses!!!) and baby pictionary, our table won after starting out about 3rd - Go the Moonunit Zappers!!!

I got stacks of awesome presents, one of the funniest was Justin's parents got a potty and a little book, it didn't occur to me at first but as soon as I showed Justin the combination of present he started laughing and said "they've got something to read while they're on the can!"

Hmm what else?... I went to the dr's on Thursday - the baby has now turned the right way around (they could always turn back again but at the moment they're in the right spot), he didn't harass me about my weight for once!! I was the same weight as last time, but last time I couldn't get my shoes off so I put on whatever those shoes weigh lol.

I'm getting sick of waiting for this baby to come, but I have to wait until at least the end of Sept so i don't have to go to Orange; Dr Morris is going away for a month and he's the only surgeon Parkes has at the moment and they don't like letting first time mothers deliver without one on call in case they have to do an emergency caesar. We'll blame it all on Dr Draper deciding not to practice anymore!

I had a dream the other day that the doctor took the baby out of my tummy so I could have a cuddle and then they put it back in again, and last night I had a dream that the baby's foot came out through my belly button, it was a very cute little tiny foot, but bizarre! I think that one came from the other day when the baby was pushing their foot out against my belly button and making it pop right out really high. It was funny!

Our show got cancelled last week because of the horse flu, really sucks, I was really looking forward to it - I haven't been in about 5 years! At least it solved the dilemma for me of what you do at the show when you can't go on the rides lol! I feel sorry for the Show president, it was his first year of running the show and he's had all these big problems to deal with.

Ultrasound #3

I had another ultrasound today, the placenta has moved up where it's supposed to be now, which is still good, but we haven't really ruled out a caesarean for certain as the baby is still bum down and it should be head down by now, apparently if it doesn't turn soon it won't have any room to turn.
The baby has grown heaps and they estimated it's weight at about 4 pound 2 ounces or something which means approx an 8 pound baby at term, because of the size of the head, stomach and leg they've moved my due date forward almost a week to the 15th of Oct so I'm now 33 weeks pregnant... I was born at 33 1/2 weeks!!! I was 5 pound 4 when I was born but 4 pound is still quite a good size for this age so that's good.
Dad & Bob came along for the ultrasound, the lady was a little weird and made Justin sit in the corner and wouldn't let them in until she'd finished doing the measurements and everything then let them come in at the end, normally they've let everyone stand there and watch the whole thing and explain what they were measuring and why as they went - this room was the biggest ultrasound room I've seen so far and you could have fit about another 5 people in without feeling crowded so I don't know what her problem was. I'm definately going to request the Hospital if I have to go for any more in the future. Russell at the hospital is really good and if anything explains too much. Besides, at the hospital it's all digital and you get it on cd instead of on film so you can burn off all the videos and watch the baby any time you want. Dad & Bob really enjoyed the ultrasound though and were really impressed with seeing the face and watching them drink the amniotic fluid.
We still haven't found out what we're having, but we wouldn't have been able to if we wanted to because the baby was in a really weird position, it did that last time too turning away and hiding the body parts that Russell needed to measure! Only 7 weeks and we'll know I suppose.

Bit of everything

I haven't blogged in ages so I thought I'd do a post with a bit of everything:

A few weeks ago we had Justin's 30th Birthday party (isn't he old?!? - I'm married to someone in his thirties!!!) We had a pirate's & ninja's theme and fancy dress was compulsory. It was heaps of fun with the last of the partiers leaving at 3am. Here are some photo's of the party, I didn't take many because I got too busy, but I think everyone's costumes looked fantastic!
Gemea had already taken her costume off but she came as a Fairy Pirate with wings and a wand. Harry's costume was gorgeous, Meg & Steve went to a costume hire for theirs. Justin & Jason ordered theirs off some guy Jason knows that gets all the karate uniforms and stuff so they're proper ninja suits. It's a little hard to see the cakes but we had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Pirates of the Carribbean Cakes to go with the theme.

Weekend before last we went to Canberra for the weekend as a last chance to go away by ourselves before the baby comes, for Justin's birthday I bought us 'Zooventures' at the National Zoo & Aquarium. It was a really cool afternoon! You get admission into the zoo as part of the tour so we went around and looked at all the cool animals first, my favourites had to be the capuchin monkeys:

Check out the little dude on the left, he has this kind of Elvis hairdo happening, He was my favourite, he was really hard to get a pic of coz he was about 10 times more active than the others.

I love the little guy on the top left pic in the collage above he looks like he's wearing one of those leather jackets with the fringing on it.
After we checked out the animals we met up with our group for the Zooventure tour to get a bit closer to them. We fed a Sumatran Tiger (My favourite), Tigon, Eland, Cougar (They were scary the others sort of just take the food really gently but the Cougar just jumps up at the mesh and snatches it out) and Giraffes. We patted Dingoes and Justin held a Boa Constrictor, I was just proud that I was brave enough to stay in the room, I tried to touch it but she kept looking at me and I probably got within about 6 inches. Considering snakes are one of my top 2 fears (with Sharks) I think I did really well because I could feel myself calming down and my heart stopped pounding while we were in the room with it, I think I might have been able to hold it if I'd had more time to just look at it up close - she was actually quite pretty with a really nice pattern and a non-evil looking face.


While we were in Canberra we went out for dinner with Chris and then went and saw the Simpsons movie (It was hilarious!!!)

What else can I write?...

I saw a link to this article and thought the whole concept was hilarious basically China has banned Tibetian Monks from reincarnating without government permission because the Dalai Lama can supposedly pick who they reincarnate as and the Chinese government want to control the Dalai Lama or something. It was just a really bizarre concept that they want control over reincarnation when it's supposedly a spiritual thing.

I've been doing some stuff lately to get the baby's room ready, I washed some of the little clothes and things the other day and they're so little it's hard to fold them neatly to put them in the drawer, it's all so cute! I have my baby shower on Friday night and I'm really looking forward to it! It should be a really fun night! I have an ultrasound on Friday morning as well so that will be exciting! Still not going to find out what we're having but it's going to be hard to resist, there's only 2 months to go now I've gone this long I can wait a little longer now. If the baby is anything like it's parents it could be more like 2 weeks not months lol. As impatient as I am I don't want them being as early as Justin and I were.

I better go and fold some washing (adult size not baby so I haven't been as motivated to put it away)

Wikipedia tag

I was tagged to do this ages ago but I completely forgot about it until I went through the drafts in my posts looking for something to post, So here it is:
Wikipedia
The rules are:
1) Go to Wikipedia
2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.
3) List three events that happened on your birthday
4) List two important birthdays
5) List two deaths
6) One holiday or observance (if any)
7) Tag 5 other bloggers to complete
THREE EVENTS:
1848 - California Gold Rush; US President James K Polk confirms that large amounts of Gold have been discovered in California.
1964 - Vietnam War; For his heroism in battle earlier in the year, Captain Roger Donlon is awarded the first Medal of Honour for the War.
1989 - TGV Atlantique sets a new railways speed record with 482.4 KM/H.
TWO BIRTHDAYS:
1901 - Walt Disney.
1985 - Frankie Muniz; Malcom in the Middle.
TWO DEATHS:
1951 - Shoeless Joe Jackson; American Baseball Player.
2005 - Kevin McQuay; Big Kev "I'm Excited".
HOLIDAY/OBSERVANCE:
Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands & the UK - Saint Nicholas Eve; apparently like Christmas but it is St Nicholas of Myra's (Santa Claus) birthday being celebrated and he brings the good children presents in the Netherlands. In France he brings sticks with which the bad children are beaten. In Belgium children put carrots & sugar cubes for his donkey in their shoes which they leave near the fireplace and the next morning find them replaced with their presents
TAG 5 OTHER BLOGGERS:
I Tag everyone who has already done this but to do it with their birthday reversed (eg 5 December becomes 12 May) if your birthday is higher than 12 add the 2 numbers together to get a lower number (eg 27 = 2+7 = 9)!

Watoto Fundraising!

Go read these posts Naomi wrote about our Watoto Fundraising!
Article in the Champion Post
About Watoto
It is an awesome cause and we should all get behind it!

What's been goin' on?

I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I'd stop being lazy and actually write something.
Yesterday Amy C, Karin & I sorted through all the Cadbury (mmmm...cadbury...) chocolate for the Watoto Fundraiser, even though we'd sorted it out so that every box would have a bit of everything in it instead of getting a whole box of Freddo's or whatever and that the $ value would be the same we ended up with an extra chocolate which Karin & I thought we had found, but then last night I thought I'd better double check a couple of boxes and found some others that were wrong (all ones I'd originally packed) so Justin and I spent last night going through and recounting all 41 of the boxes and then repacking them to find the ones with extras, and it was literally the last box we checked out of all 41 that had the mistake in it! Grrr! But man how good did all that chocolate smell? Even in it's wrappers you can smell it! Yum!!!
I've been making some handmade cards using Lisa's products for the Watoto Fundraisers as well and it's been so much fun, really addictive! We'll have to organise an afternoon where we can all sit down together and have some fun making more, (I've already made about a dozen but there's about 200 plus to make lol!) Mum's been our best customer, she's already bought 5 of them! Here are some pics of some of the cards I've made:

Speaking of my mum being my best customer, most of you already know that I've been trying to get my kids clothing business going well I finally sold some stuff over the weekend (to someone other than my mum!) it was so fun to actually have 'real' customers, I was sold out of one size within 1 day, 1 person bought 4 of the same thing!!! I also had another sale overnight last night so that's really cool! I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere!

Spud's been going well, really active, lots of kicking and somersaulting going on in there! I swear we've got a Footy, Karate or Gymnastics star growing in there! I go to the dr's tomorrow for my checkup, I'm dreading how much weight I've put on this month, last month I put on too much and I haven't been able to stop eating, I've been starving and it doesn't matter how much or how little I eat, I'm always hungry!!!

I read the dilbert blog by Scott Adams pretty regularly and he had a link to this page the other day and I thought it was hilarious and I think all you Star Wars fans will too!

Am I mean?

On Saturday we were at Big W and the woman asked me when is my 'little boy(?!?!?) due?' I was so tempted to tell her I wasn't pregnant and what was she talking about, turn on the tears and the whole 'are you implying I'm fat?', to make her feel bad. I was polite and resisted temptation but then she was really annoying and kept telling me I was having a little boy and if by some 'small chance' I had a girl I could name it after her. I told her we weren't going to find out and she was convinced to the point i think she seriously thought of it as fact that we were having a boy. She was so annoying I wish I had pretended I wasn't.
Am I mean?

Me at the moment

This song reflects how I feel at the moment:

Baby I know your eyes see right through my disguise
And no one can deny
Baby that I’m the one whose love is no surprise
And he can’t tell you no lie
But there’s a secret I’ve been hidin’ I can’t keep it no more
There’s this thing about himself he’s never told you before
Baby!

He needs to tell you something
I don’t got a bellybutton
Oh I need to tell you something
Have you figure it out
He don’t got a bellybutton
Bellybutton no, oh no no

Baby please don’t squeal, just tell me how you feel
‘Cause his love is for real
And if you went away, my heart would never heal
So to you he appeals
There’s something missing in my middle and it’s hard to ignore
There’s this thing about himself he’s never told you before
Baby!

He needs to tell you something
I don’t got a bellybutton
Oh I need to tell you something
Have you figure it out
He don’t got a bellybutton
Bellybutton no, oh no no
Bellybutton!
Uh, uh
Bellybutton!
Uh, uh
You say your bellybutton’s missing, there’s no reason for alarm
It’s a common thing for gourds, it won’t do you any harm
You’re technically a fruit and with that much being said;
Your umbilical equivocal is up there on your head!
You could opt for a prosthetic but of course you’d have to know
It’d be covered by your shirt, but not your HMO
Bellybutton!
Uh, uh
Bellybutton
Uh, uh
a stylish something absent from my midriff’s décor
There’s this thing about himself he’s never told you before
Baby!
He need to tell you something
I don’t got a belly button
Oh I need to tell you something
Have you figure it out
He don’t got a belly button
Belly button no, oh no no
No belly button!
My belly button has virtually disappeared:

that faint mark in the middle is all that is left of my belly button, my tummy isn't that round I had to lean back to get the right light on my stomach so I could take the pic without the flash (it all goes white otherwise.)

I better apologise to my mum for this post, I know how you feel about bellybuttons, sorry mum! :)

Another ad!

Most of you know already that I've been selling stuff on eBay...
I've just decided to step up my 'business' a little and get an order of new kids clothing from a supplier, I've just listed it on eBay and have started another blog to detail what I'm selling and put special offers on there for people who read the blog.
Check it out and tell all your friends:

http://zjgould.blogspot.com

Weird...

...I had a survey thing that got sent to me ages ago and I saved it as a draft and finally got around to finishing it today and when I posted it the post has gone on in February.
So go here to read it:

Another Survey

And now a word from our sponsor...

My friend Lisa (you've probably seen her commenting from time to time) has just signed up to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator, she can do parties or just order stuff for you for scrapbooking and stamping supplies.
Lisa stuck a picture/description of the first card she made using the stuff and it looks great, so go and check it out!

http://digitalfox.blogspot.com/

Baby Names

Meg's been talking about trying to pick out baby names and I realised I hadn't mentioned on here about that yet, I'm gonna keep you all in suspense about the names we've picked but I thought seeing as I know all these people that are having their babies before we are that I'd go on record saying we've already picked out our names in case anyone else uses our names first so they know we aren't copying.
I think picking the names was one of the first things we'd done, the Boys name was the easiest but the hardest to pick was the girls name. I love the names we've picked out and I really really want to tell everyone but I don't want to ruin the surprise. Aaargh! it's so hard! I can't keep secrets!!!
Speaking of secrets apparently someone I know is pregnant and they've already told mum but she won't tell me who coz they want to tell me themselves, so if you're pregnant tell me already!!! I don't know if I'm even supposed to know that mum knows someone is pregnant but my mum is really useless at keeping secrets. So if it's you tell me already!

Whatever!

I have no idea what to write. I haven't been up to much lately, it's been fun staying at home, I haven't been doing much of the 'house' type-stuff to being a housewife but I'm still enjoying it. If only my computer was working properly!!! It's gone completely spastic and we think the motherboard is dying. I've been having to use the laptop but it doesn't have all of my favourites on it so I keep forgetting about my blog (and everyone else's).
The little thingie at the top my blog says spud weighs a pound at the moment, that's like 1 eighth of a baby! (hopefully... I don't want to have like one of those 12 or 13 pound babies!!!)
I've been doing some scrapbooking yesterday and today, I keep finding stuff to buy for scrapbooking and then have to find a way to use it! I finished one more page from our wedding and 2 more from our honeymoon and now I'm halfway through doing some pages on Crusher, he's so cute it was really hard trying to decide what photos to use and not to do a million pages of him!
Anyway that's enough rambling for now!

Spud's TV Debut

I had another Ultrasound today, this time I went to the XRay dept at the Parkes hospital and they do cool videos & a cd with all of the images on it so I thought I'd stick the videos on here. They only go for 5 secs so you might have to play them a few times to catch everything.

This one Spud is lying with their head to the left of the screen and their bum to the right, their legs are tucked up on top (they're really tucked up under themselves but they were lying face down so they had to flip the pictures). You can see them swallow towards the end of the video.

This one's a bit harder to see but you can see them push away with their hands and feet.


In this one they are sitting there sort of just swallowing, the big bubbly looking thing near the mouth is the umbilical cord, you can see them wave their hand near their head too.

How cool is this Pic? You can see the arms and little ribcage (it's clearer in the right hand pic)

These are the little legs how cute are they? Russell the radiographer dude was nice and measured the feet just because we were curious about how big they were and he said about 2.5cm's. (about as big as the top part of my thumb from nail to knuckle)

This one's a bit gross but I think it's funny, that huge big black shape to the right is my really, really really, full bladder!

Sorry for boring everyone but I think this stuff's cool!

Weird

This is creepy!

Think of a letter between
A and W.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Repeat it
out loud as
you scroll down.
.
.
.

.
.
.
Keep going . . .
Don't stop . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Think of an
animal
that begins
with that letter.
.
.
.
.
.

.
.
Repeat it
out loud
as you scroll down.
.
.

.
.
.
.
.
Think of
either a man's/woman's
name
that
begins
with the
last letter
in the
animal's name
.
.

.
.
.
.
.
Almost
there........
.
.
.

.
.
.
.
Now
count out
the letters
in that name
on the fingers
of the hand
you are not
using to
scroll down.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Take the
hand you
counted with
and hold it out
in front of you
at face level
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Look at your
palm
very closely
and
notice
the
lines
in
your
hand
.
.
.
.
Do the lines
take the
form of the
first letter
in the
person's name?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. Of course not....
.
.
.
Now smack
yourself in the head, get a life,
and
quit playing
stupid
e-mail games!

Dear Justin & Nick

Don't leave stuff on the video camera if you don't want it to go on the internet for the whole world to see.
Love Zarna

Attack of the Chihuahua

Pete

Red Dwarf Marathon

We are going to have a Red Dwarf Marathon Housewarming Party sometime soon (will let you know a date once I work it out, the day I was thinking of there will be a WoW thing on at Church). Basically it will just go as late as you can stand and we'll get through as much Red Dwarf as we can stand!
I'll get more info soon, but just a heads up that it's coming and you're all invited!

Better than a kick in the guts

I just felt the baby kick!!! I have been feeling stuff for a few days that I've sort of sat there and gone was that the baby, a tummy gurgle or a fart, but just then I got 3 really strong pokes in the tummy! It was bizarre, heaps stronger than I thought it would be so soon, technically you can feel the baby from about 14 weeks (2 weeks ago for me) but normally it's not til closer to 18 weeks for your first baby (sooner for really skinny people or 2nd bubs - of which this is neither). I'm just so excited!!! I had to come on and blog this straight away!!!

Yay We've Got the Internet!!!

We got the internet back on on Tuesday, after 3 weeks of waiting! I completely overloaded myself on Tuesday and Wednesday so I barely touched it yesterday.
Hmmm... What's new?...
Well I still haven't finished unpacking - What Justin doesn't know (hehehe) is I'm going to set him to work tomorrow (Me too of course) and get our house at least looking tidy so then I can start thinking about organising a games/dvd night or something as a housewarming.
I went to the Public School yesterday with Sharon and we helped the kids with 'Rocket Reading'. It's like extra reading help for kids having trouble, you just sort of sit there and listen to them read and help sound out the words they get stuck on and stuff. I had to try and help one little boy sound out "Michael" that was really hard to explain coz the 'ch' is really a 'k' sound and the 'ael' sound is really 'el' we got it eventually but I hope I didn't just confuse the poor kid.
Our car battery went flat on Wednesday night, it was really strange, one second it worked and then we stopped for petrol and it wouldn't start again. So I spent yesterday afternoon buying a new battery. Dad tested everything and it looks like it was only the battery that went dead and it wasn't caused by something else, so hopefully we won't have anymore latenight rescue missions for Dad.
That's about all I've been up to lately, I've got some pictures to put on but I'll do it another day, Justin's going to put Vista on my computer tonight (with my brand new 400GB harddrive!) so I'll wait until that's all working in case by some fluke I lose them.

I HATE telstra!!!

Telstra are a bunch of losers!!! We still don't have the internet and it's driving me insane!!! I bet if we were bigpond customers they wouldn't screw us around like this! Our internet company is trying to get us connected and Telstra keep being idiots and stuffing everything up because they own the lines and stuff they can do what they want!
Ok, now I've got that out of my system I'll update you all on my fascinating, fascinating life.
Yesterday we got Spud's cot & changetable out of layby, they look so cute, I had to put sheets and stuff on the cot and it's gorgeous! They're a really nice dark wood and the sheet/quilt set we got at the moment is white with little silver stars (I'll get something funkier once the baby's born so I can get girly or boyish). Justin's mum gave us his 'teddy' from when he was little the other day and we've stuck it in the pram, it looks funny coz the teddy is bigger than about a 2 year old, I'd put photos on but... (stupid telstra!)
Anyway I'll go and check out what all of you guys have been up to before I run out of time.

Another update from the Library!

This really really really sucks!! We don't have the internet yet!!!! There aren't any spare ports in Dubbo for ADSL or some crap and now we can't have internet until Telstra puts more in, it sucks even more coz we aren't even with Telstra but they control everything and our internet people have to go through them!
Our internet account gives us a bonus dial up account but it's like 10 hours per month which is absolutely stupid so if I want to do interesting stuff I can't do it at home!!!
A certain cousin "There's a spider crawling up your back" of my husbands is at the library (you all know who I mean) I just had to be polite and say hello. Yuck! I know I know grow up Zarna!
We set up the pram last night, that was cool, then we had a fight over who got to wheel it around the loungeroom first! But we now know how to put it up and fold it down so that we won't look like loser first time parents on our first outing with spud!
You know how I joked that docs would be round at our place as soon as we had the baby? Well anyway we met one of our neighbours from across the road and she works for docs, as soon as she told me where she worked I just started laughing and then had to explain myself lokl!
Meg & Steve's wedding was cool, they had Harry all dressed up and he walked down the aisle with the flower girl, it looked so cute. When they were doing the speeches Meg was holding Harry and he kept grabbing the microphone and would just make nonsense noises, everyone cheered the first time he did it so after every sentence Meg said Harry tried to grab the microphone (most times he got it!)
Anyway better go check my email before my time runs out.
Cya!
PS Pete stop picking on me for not blogging, I would if I could!

Moving and other things

Well, we finished the move on the weekend, now I have to unpack... yuck!!!
We haven't got the internet on at home yet so I've gone to the library to catch up and fill in some time.
I am so bored at home atm! It might be better once I've unpacked and know where everything is but I just so can't be bothered. I unpacked a few boxes of books and put them on the bookshelf this morning so that's something I suppose.
We had fun at Nomes & Petes on Sunday night, don't think we left til almost 2am, way too late for me & spud!
I haven't had any morning sickness for 3 whole days now!!! I hope that means the end of it. I threw up this morning but I didn't actually feel sick which was bizarre, I just coughed and then had to run to the bathroom, threw up and then felt fine again. I don't know what that was but at least I didn't have all the nausea to go with it. You boys don't know how easy you get it!
I got Toobed on Saturday, but my Toobers weren't very discreet, I think asking 'did you get the toobs?' kinda gives it away...
Justin started work this morning, he looked so funny in his new uniform (I took pics I'll stick them on later) he was almost like a little kid on his first day of school!
Oh well, my time has run out so I better go and find something else to do, I think I might go have a milkshake or something before Justin finishes work so I don't have to drive home and then drive back downtown to pick him up!

Update on Moving

Ok, so for a while there we thought we might be homeless for a few weeks as there is new stuff going on at the mine and rentals in Parkes are really hard to get at the moment, but we found a place to rent late last week and we'll be moving most of our stuff over this weekend and then do like a trailer load over Easter and then we'll be officially living in Parkes!
The place we found is nice (but a little smaller than we had in mind), it's right next door to Katrina Lister's parents place and I think it backs on to the Taggart's place (No nude sunbathing please!!!) I'll chuck some photos on after the weekend.
I better go do more packing, but that reminds me, we haven't seen the dog in a few days but there's this box that keeps barking...

More on Spud... and some other stuff

Ok, where to start?...

Spud is what we're calling the baby (Justin's idea - he thinks unborn babies look like potatos). Here is spud:

We had an ultrasound this morning - more painful than I would have thought, you have to go to the toilet an hour & a half before the ultrasound and then drink a litre of water and then not go to the toilet until after the ultrasound is over. I've labelled some body parts so you know what you're looking at because I had no clue when I saw the ultrasound (I thought Spud's bum was his/her head - hopefully I'll get that right once it's born)

We've bought a few things already (I know I know I'm shocking!!!) but we found this pram we liked and were just going to go back and get it later but it was on special so we bought it then and there, it's really cool though - it's red so it goes faster, it has a one handed fold which I can actually use, it's got 3 wheels and lots of other cool stuff, here's a pic I found online of one the same:

We bought spud's first toy like the day after we found out (which was really good timing because it was the same day Sharelle had Jacob so we bought a card for them at the same time and it just looked like we were buying the dinosaur for him because we hadn't told people yet). I really like him and Justin keeps getting cranky at me for playing with it he reckons I'll wear it out before Spud is born.

See how cool it is though!!! As if you could resist playing with that!!!

I've also got a few little (and i mean little those things are tiny) Bonds suits and singlets as well as a t-shirt that says "2 am. Party. My Room." on the front in cool red letters (I can't be bothered taking a pic and putting it on atm) and a rainbow beanie thingie.

I probably should have devoted an entire post to this but I'm too lazy so I'll let you all know as well that Justin got a new job... which means we're moving to Parkes!!! I never thought I'd be excited about that when i first left home but I really am excited, we're still trying to find a place to live but we'll be officially in Parkes Easter Weekend, coz Justin starts work on the Tuesday straight after, I'll probably have to do a few trips back and forth to let cleaners and stuff into our place to finish up here but after Easter is when our official address will be Parkes!

Justin will be working at Leading Edge Computers doing techy stuff and some sales, I'm a little worried coz I know how bad it is for me working at Myer and buying clothes and wonder if it will be the same with Justin & Computer parts.

Anyway I think that's all the life changing news I have to report on at the moment!!

PS - Megan thought my last post was a joke for almost a full day how funny is that!?!?! I was hoping someone would think that!

We're Having A Baby

Another comic

I know, I know I'm slack, I'll get around to blogging properly soon, but this was so funny I had to chuck it on!

This is so funny

That is all

Katies Grad

Ok, so Thursday night straight after work I flew down to Sydney, Deb picked me up from the airport and took me to their place. We had some tea and played "Guess Who" while we waited for Amy & Gemea to turn up.

They got there about 10.30 or 11pm and we unloaded some of Katies stuff & wardrobes from the Carty's car.(A sleepy Gemea when they got there)
We got to bed 'round 1am, then around 2am Aldi (who are right near Deb & Katie's place) got a delivery and kept me awake, so then I finally fell asleep and at 5.30am the fruit shop (also near Deb & Katie's) got a delivery and woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep. So 3 1/2 hrs was about all I got. I'm just a country bumpkin not used to city type noises - It's not really that bad.
Deb had to go to work for a while in the morning so Amy, Gemea & I just hung round the flat, Amy couldn't find any towels so when Gemea & Amy had a bath they used a Handtowel for Gemea & a Sheet for Amy, it was so cute, the handtowel fit all the way 'round Gemea like a real towel would on an adult!(Gemea in her 'towel' & amy in background wearing sheet)
We went to the Grad (I got so carsick coz I was in the front and kept turning around to talk to Amy). It was so pretty and all the girls & staff there were so nice and I think they are really going to miss Katie heaps.(Katie Looking Pretty before the Grad)
(Amy while we're waiting for the grad to start)
(Close up of Deb)
(Close up of Gemea - this one's gotta be saved for her 21st I think!!) (Katie getting her Presents & Certificate)
(Me, Katie & Deb hanging out in Katies room)
(Gemea stole Amy's shoes)

Toobs

I had my first packet of Toobs as a grown up on Thursday at the airport in Dubbo, I was going to take a photo of them in the machine for Nomes but I thought they might think I was a toob terrorist and cavity search me or something.
I've got to go to work today - YUCK!!!! I hate work atm - so I'll post pics and details and stuff tonight or tomorrow. It was great!

Best of the duck

Just remember the duck is a guard duck and he's a little over zealous with scary access to a huge arsenal.

Another Survey

1. What time did you get up this morning?
8.30
2. Diamonds or pearls?
Diamonds always!!
3. What was the last film you saw at the movies?
Pirates of the Caribbean 3 - I loved the nose scene!
4. What is your favourite TV show?
Gilmore girls!
5. What did you have for breakfast?
Porridge & 1 slice of Toast with Peanut Butter
6. Your middle name(s)?
Sunshine... but who doesn't know that?
7. What is your favourite cuisine?
Anything I didn't cook myself, but probably Yummy Noodle!
8. What foods do you dislike?
Licorice, any part of the animal inside the ribcage or digestive tract.
9. What is your favourite chip flavour?
Salt & Vinegar followed closely by Doritos or CC's
10.favourite CD at the moment?
Gavin DeGraw - Chariot Stripped / Brooke Fraser - Albertine
11. What type of car do you drive?
2000 Hyundai Lantra
13. What characteristics do you despise?
Arrogance.
14. Favourite item of clothing?
My black LMS Pyjamas, they make everything better!
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Around the world trip in a year, or the US to see Claire & Seth
16. Favourite brand of clothing?
Don't think I have one atm.
17. Where would you like to retire to?
Somewhere tropical and laidback - Vanuatu or somewhere similar
18 Favourite time of the day?
Probably about 9pm when Spud's kicking and moving heaps and I'm quiet enough to feel it heaps
19. What was your most memorable birthday?
My 6th birthday - It wasn't really my birthday but Nanny & Poppy couldn't be there for my real birthday so I had a surprise party a week or 2 before hand with Cake and everything - I can't believe I didn't notice my mum making sausage rolls & party pies and decorating a cake (clock with the hands pointing to 6 O'Clock)when I was just in the next room - but they bought me a new colouring book that morning so that probably helped. Then on my actual birthday I got another cake (in the shape of the number 6 with a car on it - I was a bit of a tomboy but it was a pink car so that makes it alright)
20. Where were you born?
Wodonga
21. Favourite sport to watch?
AFL
22. What fabric detergent do you use?
Dynamo Liquid
23. Coke or Pepsi?
Coke all the way - Pepsi's just tryhard Coke
24. Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Not morning - definately, not really night but I think I would be a Night owl if I didn't have to get up in mornings.
25. What is your shoe size?
9- 9.5
26. Do you have any pets?
Crusher & Sharkbait
27. What did you want to be when you were little?
Nurse - but I can't stand the sight of blood - You're my hero Karin!!!
28. When is your birthday?
5 December!
****************FAVOURITES****************
Shampoo?
Herbal Essences or Sunsilk
Soap?
Body Wash not cake soap but nothing in particular
Summer/Winter?
Summer.
Favourite Advertisement?
It's a big ad beer ad.

****************NOW****************
Wearing?
Trackies & Jumper
Eating?
Not at the moment but I'm eyeing off the chocolate cake in the fridge
Drinking?
Bottle of Water
Thinking about?
Wondering why my eBay stuff won't sell!!!
Book?
Nancy Wake - The biography, she had a fascinating life when she was young
****************THE LAST 24 HRS****************
Cried?
Nope
Met someone new?
Some lady at the post office when I was posting Claire's present - She said she knows the Gould's
Cleaned your room?
Nope but I cleaned the loungeroom
Driven a car?
No, went down the street with mum yesterday but she drove
How many hours sleep?
About 8 or 9
****************DO YOU BELIEVE IN****************
God?
Yes
Yourself?
I'm pretty sure I exist... I do exist don't I?!?
Your friends?
I think they exist, if they don't I might have to go check-in somewhere
Santa Claus?
I still get a stocking filled every Christmas so Yes & now I get to be Santa!!!
Destiny/Fate?
I don't think I'd call it fate but I definately believe everything happens for a reason and what goes around comes around!
Ghosts?
I'm pretty sure the dead have better things to do than hang around us
****************FRIENDS AND LIFE****************
Who do you go to for advice?
Depends on the type of advice I need, normally friends or Mum - gotta love the mum!
When do you cry the most?
Over movies or Books - It's really hard to read a book if you're crying btw!!!

Update kinda

Ok, So here is my Pink Hair:

It's not heaps pink but it's definately not purple like the box says.

This is Crusher I think it's a cute photo

Isn't he just so handsome?

Yesterday we went to the Zoo for lunch (just took some meat & salad and had a bbq)

I love the siamangs! They are so cool, they weren't as active yesterday as they can be but they played on the ropes a bit. I think they're my favourite animals (except for Crusher of course).

Here is a random rock I took a photo of, don't ask why.

I had last week off work and just bummed around the house - it was so great, I played heaps of sims (so much that I think I'm going to go into withdrawals when I go back to work on Wednesday) why I haven't been on messenger lately.

I said I had off until Wednesday which is cool - I timed my holidays so that I had my long weekend at the end of them.

On Thursday after work I'm flying down to Sydney and staying with Deb for Katies Grad on Friday. I'm excitedx3 = I get to fly!!! I get to see Deb & Katies new place!!! AND I get to go to Katies Grad!!! It will be cool to meet the people she's spent a better part of a year with + see her graduate!

I don't fly very much so it's all a novelty (it will be like my 3rd domestic flight & 5th altogether - except for the joy flight in a cessna when I was little)

I have to work on Saturday but that's cool coz they gave me Friday off after taking a week & a half off.

Anyway so I promise to Post photos from Katies Grad & Sydney trip.

PS Here is a cool pic I found on my camera from Christmas (I only just got around to copying them to my computer)