It's Just Another Manic Monday

Boy is it ever! What an insane day at work. From the moment I got there everything went wrong. First we couldn't log on to the computers, then when we finally got that sorted one of the doctors rang to say he was sick & couldn't come to work. Well, he was fully booked, so I spent hours calling all his patients to reschedule them. And things were just going wrong for me all over the place. I had difficult phone calls, upset patients at the desk & so much more & it was just all a bit too much to handle. I am actually quite surprised that I got to the end of the day without having a break down. But I'm not looking forward to the rest of the week.
Boy what a way to start the week! Let's hope it picks up from here...

Scrapping With Jess

Mum, Jess & I had a lovely day of scrapping today. It was so nice, scrapping & chatting. I got a fair few pages done, though I haven't taken photos of them yet as night light is not real good, so I will share them at a later date, but here are some of my recent pages.
Treen & I giving Amy a big hug at her farewell

Me with my friends Jenny & Erin
My best friends daughter, who seriously throws tantrums everytime I see her!
Leah & Lily, the dogs of my Dad's best friend Pete (mother & sister of Hamish, who a lot of you have met). Lily has been sick with cancer for a while, so I thought it was so cute of Leah to come over & comfort her mummy. I made this page a couple of weeks ago & then Lil died about a week later, which is really sad. It's been quite hard for Pete. He is not married & has no kids, so his dogs are his babies, so I'm sure he is struggling with this loss.
Charlee, such a gorgeous, happy little thing
A page about the when Erin was living with us last year.

I just love this pic of Jhorjie & have been meaning to scrap it for about 2 years but keep putting it aside, so I finally just did it!
Me & Treen with our new little friend!
Amy at her farewell. Missing her heaps, sniff!
A page that started out about my freckles, but ended up being about accepting who you are
Princess Tiffany- she definitely expects to be treated like royalty!

New Beginnings

Monday always marks the beginning of a new week, but for me the new beginnings are a lot bigger this week.
Last Thursday I had an appontment with my psychologist & told her that I had relly appreciated her input over the last year & a half, but feel I am now able to take on board all the things she has taught me & no longer require sessions with her. So that was quite a big step. While it is quite a positive, encouraging thing that I realised I no longer feel I need to see her, it is quite scary to know that I no longer have that. But she is still there & she said I can contact her if I ever feel I need to. But I will leave that as a last option, for I'm at a point where I just want to be moving forward.
Another big part of my life came to an end last week. For the last 20 weeks I have been doing a course called Living Waters which is a Christian organisation based around allowing God to enter the broken areas of your life and allowing Him to heal these areas and bring you further through Him. And it has been such an amazing experience for me. Living Waters is another reason that I have made such a transformation this year. So I'm feeling quite anxious now that it has finished, but am trying to focus more on taking on board the skills it has taught me. I also really appreciate the support & friendship I received from the people at Living Waters & am particularly hoping to continue these friendships with Jenny, Ruth & Erin, three amazing women who have inspired & encouraged me so much & who I think are just beautiful women & would really love to remain in contact with them.
So that is the endings, now the beginnings. Over the last few weeks I have been really challenging myself socially & have been getting out there & doing a lot more.
I have recently started going to a new bible study on Thursday nights & am really enjoying getting to know that group of people.
Since the Scrapping With Soul retreat I have remained in contact with Jess & we are now getting together once a fortnight & scrapping together. That has been really lovely, getting to know Jess again. We were such good friends at school, but then lost contact.
I have been going to more events, including the 80s night at church a few weeks ago & Sarah's party on Saturday night (photos in the post below) & really had such a great time at both of those.
Last Friday night I had dinner with Jenny & Ruth from Living Waters & then went along with them to their church. I did this because I wanted to remain in contact with them after Living Waters & am interested in trying different churches, and found it to be a really lovely group of people & definitely think I will go there again.
Then last night Jenny & I went to another church to hear a friend of ours do the sermon, and I felt really encouraged by the number of people who came up to talk to us & I have been invited to a new bible study on Wednesday night, which I think I will need to give a try.
So I am becoming more social. I have something on every night this week, so that is such a big step to me. So heres to new beginnings, new friendships & a big week.
Thanks for reading this rather long post, I better go or I'll be late for work!

A Pirate's Life For Me

On Saturday night I went to my friend Sarah's 21st birthday party, which was a party theme. It was so much fun & everybody looked so great. Here are a few pics to share:

Stuart's Album

My uncle Stuart had a heart attack a few weeks ago, as most of you would know (seeing as it's mostly family who reads my blog & almost everyone else is on Scrap of Faith & would have heard through there). Anyway, he has improved so much over the last few weeks. And he is now back at Shoalhaven hospital. It is so great to have him local again. Such a blessing for the whole family. I am so amzed at the progress he has made in such a short time. There is still a long way to go, but we should all be encouraged by how far he has come already & know that he is a fighter. Love ya Stuart xox.

Simone organised a little album for Stuart, to give him something to look at while he is in hospital, so mum & I contributed some pages.
Here are the pages I made for Stuart:

Laughter

...is the song of the heart.

Charlee & I having a good laugh, though I can't remember why! Had Charlee & Cooper stay over last night. They were both so good & we all had a good time. I think the best part was discovering that Charlee is a big fan of my singing! She got excited each time I started singing! Especially if it was Video Killed The Radio Star. She sang along with me when I did the "Oh wah oh" bit & she clapped along with me when I was singing Mickey.
Good to know I've got at least one fan!!

Happy Birthday Aunty D!!!

Yesterday was my Aunty Davina's birthday. We had a lovely dinner together. We all had a great night & I think Davina had a very enjoyable birthday, though she did get cranky coz she didn't think I was taking enough photos of her- but here is a nice one that I did get!