Christmas Day

Today Emily slept in until 8am, and then we opened up her stocking presents (that arrived in a red sack complete with Dora in her lovely Spanish costume). The broom and bubble mixture were definite favourites, and of course she couldn’t wait to try on the clothes she received. She seemed keen to play with the things she opened rather than move on to the next present.
Grandma and Grandad S went off to church and Emily had a sleep. Meanwhile Phill and I worked on opening up our stocking gifts. As usual it was filled to overflowing with the traditional novelties, breakfast cereals, chocolates (this year I ate my first marshmallow santa), several pairs of undies (a Shanhun tradition!), tshirts, stationery and other goodies all wrapped individually!
After church, Steve, Phill, Mum, Dad and I all opened our presents. Mum got a Wii Tetris game much to Dad’s dismay! Emily woke with a start, and we gave her a little snack before she opened her pressie from Elizabeth, a little letter box which she loved.
We were just on our way out when Les, Woo and Stan arrived for lunch (Along with the dogs Ali-May and Asha).
Phill, Emily and I headed up to lunch with Mum and Dad O, Michael, Lauren, John and Caitlin. We had a traditional Grandma Kerr style roast sausagemeat with all the yummy vegies.
After lunch we exchanged gifts. Emily loved her little book and Jemima doll (the Playschool doll – but dressed as a ballerina!). Well, she loved all her pressies, but I think these were her favourites. This year Mum also had a stocking for us (my felt stocking filled by Father Christmas each year to open before brekkie. This year she included some glow in the dark West Coast Eagles baubles for Phill, a snow globe for Emily and some gorgeous, more traditional baubles for me.
After our gift exchange some of us had a nap, while the others played Cait’s new cheerleading game for the Wii and had Christmas pudding with custard. This reminded me of 2006 when we spotted something odd about the custard packaging! (compare the 2 below)

After Emily woke up we headed back home to Foss St for the gift exchange with Mum and Dad S, Steve, Les, Woo and Stan. After a few more presents, Emily was quite tired. She seemed intent on getting into the Little People Animalville Schoolhouse herself! So we decided it was time for bed and would open the presents another day, when she was a little less tired.
All in all it was a enjoyable, if hot (38degrees) Christmas day.
How was your Christmas?
Melissa

One Little Word 2011

If you’ve been following Ali Edwards you may have heard of her One Little Word concept. It is a word that you use to motivate yourself and create a focus for the year ahead. If you want to read more, here are Ali’s posts from 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. In 2010 I chose 2 words! I just could not decide between them. Simplify and Complete.

During 2010 I will simplify processes and complete tasks that are most valuable to our family. Credits Sunshine & Lemonade by Sugarplum Paperie (Digishoptalk member kit) and my own handwriting font.

I wrote a little about it over at the mgl scraps CT blog

Are you thinking about your scrapping aims for 2010?
My words for the year (yeah, I couldn’t get it down to 1) are simplify and complete. In my scrapping that means I’ll be aiming for simplicity in my pages, stash organisation and completed albums. Last year I printed one…

In 2010 I successfully printed 3 unique albums, chose the simple route for my 2011 calendars (and thereby our Christmas gifts), but of course my word was not just about scrapbooking!
Some other things I’ve done in 2010:

• Used complete as a motivator for overcoming procrastination – I must post more about that one!
• Simplified some paperwork systems at home
• Completed an archivally sound purge of our household paperwork!
• Complete several pages in Emily’s baby book by simplifying my processes.
• Hosted more events at our home by simplifying my internal set of rules for a successful event.
• Completed more projects by working on reducing my perfectionist tendencies – in all areas
• Simplified my wardrobe
• Thin-sliced the selection of a plan our new home, so that we have a new house on the way, rather than being bogged down for months with plans – and we are thrilled with the results!

This year, my interest was piqued again as Ali announced her new class. Here’s more about it from Big Picture Classes.

One Little Word
A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can be sharp and biting or rich and soft and slow. From my own personal experience, it can be a catalyst for enriching your life.
In 2006, I began a tradition of choosing one word for myself each January — a word that I can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life. My words have included play, peace, vitality, nurture, and story. These words have each become a part of my life in one way or another. They've been imbedded into who I am, and into who I'm becoming. They've been what I've needed (and didn't know I needed). They've helped me to breathe deeper, to see clearer, and to grow.

Want to join me?
If you decide to register at Big Picture using my link and purchase your first class, we'll both receive a code for 10% off** your next order of your choice. Of course you can always just sign up and select from one of the free classes.
If you are looking to get a discount off your first class, listen to any recent Paperclipping Rountable episode for details.
I have not chosen my word for 2011, but I will soon! Stay tuned and in the mean time leave me a comment with your word for 2011. It is always inspiring to hear from you!
Melissa
**Disclaimer: For each new account created with my Registration Code as a "friend", a 10% off code will be issued once the new account has purchased one class. Code will be available under "My Rewards". 10% off code can be used towards Self-Paced classes and Workshops. Code cannot be used towards gift certificate purchases. Melissa’s registration code is D952F179 - or click on http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/register.php?refer=D952F179

Recipe for a family tradition

One tradition for the Kerr family at Christmas (and for my family throughout the year) is roast sausagemeat. I’ve not really come across many people who’ve heard of it, outside my extended family, so I thought I’d share the recipe. I enjoy the tasty crust it forms on the outside and at only $2 per 500g it is a meal that won’t break the budget.

 

 

Roast Stuffed Sausagemeat

500g sausagemeat
A few crusts of bread or breadcrumbs if you prefer
1 tablespoon of flaked dried onion or one diced fresh onion
1 tablespoon of mixed herbs

Roll out beef sausagemeat onto a floured cutting board

Sprinkle with bread pieces, onion and mixed herbs – Grandma even used to leave out the hearbs at times  for some more fussy cousins on Christmas day!)

Bake in oven 180°C for 2 hours ( based on 500 grams of sausagemeat) with dripping (or olive oil) for basting.

Serve with roast vegies and enjoy with some good old Gravox gravy

Recipe thanks to my Grandma, Barbara Kerr

Do you have a family meal no-one else seems to have even heard of? I’d like to see it! Can you comment with a link to your recipe?

Melissa

*affiliate links where possible*

Make your own 2011 Calendar–simple and stylish

Looking for a calendar to get ready in time for the new year?
There’s an awesome CD calendar over at OScraps by Biograffiti.

If you print with Persnickety Prints they’ll even throw in a CD jewel case for free!

I ended up creating some custom calendars for my relatives, with pictures from 2009 and supplies from the Digi Game in 2010, I printed them at home on our printer as I was trying to get them ready for Christmas! After a little trimming and fiddling around with preview on my parents iMac, I printed them all. I then trimmed them to fit some CD cases in my craft tote which I bought for this very purpose a couple of years ago.

The calendars were very well received and when I hear we were having a couple of extra visitors on Christmas day it was fairly simple to swap out a few photos and print off a couple more gifts.

Are creating your own calendars for 2011?  Why not link me up to yours?
Melissa

*affliliate links where possible*

Christmas Eve

We enjoyed a hot Christmas Eve mostly at home, all the presents were wrapped and ready over the weekend, so I even had some time to scrapbook!

Phill’s friend Ryan came past and agreed to lend us his trailer and cement mixer for our retaining wall project, and told us it should be done in 1/2 a day! We’ll see how we go with that.

Emily was dry all day and was keen to use the potty when reminded (she’s toilet training at the moment).

We went up to Whitford Church for their 6pm Christmas Eve service. Once again the music was a highlight, but unfortunately Emily hadn’t eaten her dinner and we  couldn’t convince her to eat her snacks so she wasn’t the happiest for the service.

We decided to go past our new home and stopped for some Red Rooster on the way. Phill decided that we should have a picnic in our new home, which turned out to be a fun idea! It was very pleasant with the sea breeze in.

We got home around 8:30 and all 3 of us headed to bed in preparation for Christmas day.

22 December 2010

SpeedScraps SupplyTracker
Sweet Shoppe Designs’s All I want for Christmas
Songbird Avenue Flight Plan 1 Template (rotated)
Today’s page is a rotated version of December 1’s layout. I just used the photos from our old O2 Atom Exec.

Phill, Emily and I headed up to see Sally Garth and then did a spot of shopping at Whitford City. Usually it’s not my favourite place to shop (due to the parking) but it wasn’t too crowded after all.
Emily now thinks whenever we get a drink that it is for her! Phill’s espresso Voltage wasn’t exactly child friendly so she shared my small iced chocolate, much to her delight!
We popped in to see Lauren at work and then Emily and I spend the day with Mum O, Cait and John. Phill went down to help Steve put up his pegboard. Just a quiet day with family.

21 December 2010

Since time has been slipping away I've decided to at least pop the journalling up here and finish my pages later (in the new year most likely!)

Another birthday today, Steve's 31st. We celebrated with Stan, Woo, Les (and Asha - Emily practises saying their names too), under the pergola with Steve's choice of lasagne and two cakes - sponges with cream and one with strawberries the other. My contibution was my first ever French loaf which I made into the biggest garlic bread slices ever.

Phill spent all day moving some retaining wall from Wonderwall in Carlisle to Foss St with a borrowed trailer, in preparation for next week.

19 December 2010

We had a nice quiet morning in preparation for the big Christmas Carols tonight. We had a look at our house with the Shanhuns on the way to the carols. As usual Healthridge Park was filled to overflowing with around 10 000 or 12 000 people there, despite some early rain.
John, Mum O and Cait saved us a spot near the sound desk (which is always the best spot sound wise I think!). This year Mike and John were filming and Lauren was playing keys 2. Dad was on backing vocals.
I get so excited to hear all the new arrangements of the carols each year. This year I especially loved the High-def screens and lights on the trees behind the stage.

See more here on Facebook.

Note to self, get some photos from Dan or Mike to add to this page!

Christmas Cards

Now that I’ve posted our Christmas cards, I can share it with everyone here!
After much deliberation we decided to go with the Gorgeous White Ribbon Christmas 5x7 folded card and a photo of Emily from October, in a handmade dress that was lovingly made for me by the Save the Children ladies over 25 years ago.

Gorgeous White Ribbon Christmas 5x7 folded card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

2010 has been an eventful year for our little family. In January we purchased one of the last few blocks of land in the established part of Woodvale (north of Perth) with the hope of building our own home. In March we signed up with Dale Alcock builders and in October the slab went down. We are hopeful the roof will be on by Christmas.
Emily celebrated her first birthday on the 2nd of June and continues to delight us as she learns new things each day, this year she has gone from sitting, to crawling, to walking, to talking (she has a dozen or so words so far).
During 2010 we were blessed with many visitors to Kalgoorlie (some from as far afield as Bendigo) and some visits to Perth. Phill travelled to Sydney and Brisbane for work so Emily and I took the opportunity to stay with family and catch up with friends in Perth while Phill was away in July.
After 6 years in Kalgoorlie, Phill was offered a position as High Voltage Electrical Engineer at Mineral Engineering Technical Service a consulting firm in Perth. So in November we moved to Perth and are staying with Phill's parents while our home is completed.
Melissa is continuing to care for Emily at home and also is tutoring in Records Management and other related subjects for Edith Cowan University, working from home.
2011 will no doubt be another exciting adventure as we settle back into Perth life and move into our new home.
We’d love to hear from you!
Melissa

What’s on your wishlist?

I was inspired by all of the wishlist posts going around to blog mine!

I’m a big fan of anything Jamiroquai!
or Brooke Fraser

or Hillsong for that matter

Izzy of IzzyVideo has got me convinced that I need an Ipad – listen to any episode of the Paperclipping Roundtable or Digishow and you’ll here all about it! An engraved one with my name on it would be nice!

Oh and I really need a new phone too, I can’t work out if I want to go with an iPhone or Windows 7 phone. On the up side, I will be going back to my O2 Atom Exec once Phill’s new phone arrives. So I’ll go from a 10year old phone to a 5year old phone at least.
I’ve already won the Log Your Memory January-June logbook so that’s one ticked off the list!

I’d love a Paperclipping Membership!

Ella Publishing ebooks,any of them really, but this one caught my eye.

Oh and at the moment they have an offer going on!

Have you saved $12 on Ella eBooks yet this holiday season? Use coupon code 12DAYS to save $2 off of any single eBook. You may use this code six times (on six separate purchases) between today and December 23rd, for a total of $12 of holiday savings! Shop now.

Pretty much any of the gorgeous digiscrap kits from Flergs!

Umm, did I forget to mention our dearly departed camera... Kodak Easyshare Z650

Perhaps Father Christmas can give me this one as a replacement!

I’d also love a shopping outing with my sisters (one of my SILs is a big after-Christmas sale shopper) for a much needed wardrobe refresh, so a Coles Myer Gift card would be high on the list too.
Most of all I’m hoping for a 2011 filled with peace, health and happiness for my family and my family!
God bless you all this Christmas
Melissa
PS I’ll be back with a new December Daily page soon!

Inspiration Everywhere

I’ve finally got a bit done of my Art Journal from Inspiration Everywhere

I repurposed my A5 art journal from 2007- and I even left in the few pages of sketches already there. I’d printed out my pages at A4 size so I had fun chopping them down to size and making them look ok on the pages.
One tip – don’t use distress ink for your handprint- it’s hard to wash off!

I’m going to journal about joy today on the blank pages above!
Did you make time to work on your Art Journal today?
Melissa

*affliliate links where possible*

15 December 2010

Today Phill brought home a gift from METS, it was so lovely to get a Christmas gift from work. I’m pretty sure this is the first one we’ve received, as BHP does end of year gifts in September so they are not Christmas gifts. Dad S went in for his gall bladder operation. Emily had a hard afternoon and night, I’m not sure if it is teething or immunisation related. Phill enjoyed testing out the new roller mower that arrived today.

SupplyTracker by SpeedScraps
Scrapbookgraphics Santa Brings Goodies blog train items by Flergs
Paislee Press Pressplate 26 template
Ellie Lash Cold Front
Syrin Stitched Christmas

14 December 2010–Phill’s birthday

I’m still not quite used to the Christmas/birthday season around here. It makes for some busy days!

We celebrated Phill’s birthday with the traditional steak diane thanks to Mum S and I made the ever popular strawberry hazelnut gateau. In the afternoon I’d had the brilliant idea to made dinner rolls using the breadmaker and they were very popular. Les (and Asha) and Steve joined us to celebrate! Phill’s presents were a hit all round with Bunnings vouchers, flying monkey (which has been adopted by Emily) and the sibling’s Lego Starwars Wii game, shirts and more. Emily had a late sleep so was able to stay up for the 7pm dinner but wasn’t too sure about the sparklers.
SupplyTracker by SpeedScraps
Scrapbookgraphics Santa Brings Goodies blog train items Dawn Inskip
Madame Wing and Sugarplum Paperie Candy Christmas
Syrin Stitched Christmas
Tangie Vintage Christmas Flashcards 

Melissa

*affliliate links where possible*

13 December 2010

I was inspired to reuse my layout for 9 December today, it will be a fewpages later in the finished album, so why not? So I rotated the photo placeholder and embellished a little differently. A lovely quick page!

Today was a run around kind of day. Emily had her 18month immunisations - she was a very brave girl and got a blue jelly bean. She also had her child health check, I went to see the Chiro. I worked on Phill’s card and present wrapping. Mum O and Cait joined us to check out the progress of the house. The electrical channels are now cut in and the roof structure is complete. Now for the tiling!

Mum S made these mini presents with a little verse and sweet treat inside for Dad S to give out to his work mates, they were too cute!

SupplyTracker by SpeedScraps
Scrapbookgraphics Santa Brings Goodies blog train items by Flergs and Dawn Inskip
Madame Wing and Sugarplum Paperie Candy Christmas
Syrin Stitched Christmas
Tangie Vintage Christmas Flashcards 
Sweet Shoppe Designs All I want for Christmas Paper and Journalling Card

Want to support my blog? Check out the Digi Game

*affliliate links where possible*

Thanks so much for all your comments and retweets!

Melissa

9 December 2010

I was so blessed to spend time with Sarah Davis over from Sydney. Emily loved the ship playground at Zephyrs on the Swan River.

SupplyTracker by SpeedScraps
Scrapbookgraphics Santa Brings Goodies blog train items by Flergs and Dawn Inskip
Madame Wing and Sugarplum Paperie Candy Christmas
Syrin Stitched Christmas
Tangie Vintage Christmas Flashcards 
Sweet Shoppe Designs All I want for Christmas Paper and Journalling Card

4 December 2010

SupplyTracker by SpeedScraps
Scrapbookgraphics Santa Brings Goodies blog train items by Flergs and Dawn Inskip
Madame Wing and Sugarplum Paperie Candy Christmas
Syrin Stitched Christmas
Tangie Vintage Christmas Flashcards
On Saturday, Emily and Phill went to visit Dad S in hospital. He got out of hospital around lunchtime, so we had a lovely lunch under the pergola together. While Steve was over for lunch we decorated the tree. After a couple of days we decided to move the Christmas tree so it would be out of the way of the open windows.
Photos 9 December

3 December 2010

SupplyTracker by SpeedScraps
Scrapbookgraphics Santa Brings Goodies blog train Paper by Dawn Inskip 
Ellie Lash Cold Front
Studio Tangie Christmas Flashcards
Candy Christmas Paper by Madame Wing and Sugarplum Paperie
Syrin Stitched Christmas stiched frames
Today Emily and I visited Dad Shanhun in hospital at St John of God Murdoch. Then we headed up to Mum and Dad Okely’s place to sign over the Barina to new owners, we stayed for tea and Emily enjoyed helping with putting up Christmas decorations and eating the Gingerbread the girls made

6 December 2010

SupplyTracker by SpeedScraps
Scrapbookgraphics Santa Brings Goodies blog train items by Flergs and Dawn Inskip
Paislee Press Pressplate 26 template
Ellie Lash Cold Front
Vera Lim Worded Christmas Overlay
Flergs FlairyFloss glitter
Syrin Stitched Christmas

I love to have my hair all nice and freshly coloured for Christmas. I’ll be honest, I do leave it too long between appointments, but I like to hope that I’m doing my hair a favour in the long run by not colouring it every 6 weeks. Besides my fine, delicate hair doesn’t grow too quickly, so it’s usually a while before it starts to really show the roots. It takes about 3 hours for a half head of foils, a bit of shaping around the face and a bit of a trim. I love having excellent hairdressers who are also friends, so it is a chance to chat too! Thanks for doing a great job Carlie. Thanks to Mum, John and Cait for minding Emily while I got it done!

I’m not exactly scrapping from my original plan so far, but I’m having fun finding the Christmas goodies I’ve got in my stash!