Sunday, February 22, 2009

BOM......

Now I am sure that a couple of the ladies from my BOM class will be having a looksey here so I thought they may like a sneak peak at tomorrows class!!

BOM = Book of Me - is one of those things I had been wanting to do but never really got around to it...tell you what though I am loving it!!! I spent most of Friday arvo/night going through a trunk of photo's with lots of memories (lol I was skinny once!!) and then yesterday dragged out my 3 big boxes of memories. It is sooo good to remember all those little details. This weeks topic is Where I have lived - well me - I have lived in quite a few places!!! Still waiting on some photo's from dad on England











now I am sure blogger will mess up the order they are in but here is the journalling that goes with it!

I first lived in a house in Dianella but not long after I was born we moved to 143 Lawley St in Yokine.

This house was decorated very 70’s style!! Think shag pile carpets, damask wallpaper, browns and mustards. It had a huge backyard with a Jacaranda tree with a tyre swing in it (the swing I jumped out of and broke my collarbone when about 2-3yrs old). We also had a chook pen in the same corner – heaps of grass out the back and I remember helping mum and dad mulch the roses out the front! School was just down the road and I used to walk over the bridge crossing on Wanneroo Rd and then it was just behind the shops. I got caught once spending my lunch money after school buying lollies oops!

Not long after I turned 7 we moved to Borneo. We lived initially in Seria G10/11. All the houses were simply named a number in lots of about 12-20 houses then the next lot etc! Our first house in Brunei was long and skinny! Every room had air-con and Shell supplied all the basic furniture as well. The middle of the house was the lounge room just behind it the kitchen with a corridor going from one end of the house with the kids rooms to the other end where the master bedroom. We could pick our own paint for the walls and mine was a bright happy pink!!! We had an amah – a maid that cleaned the house and lived in the quarters at the back of the house. Her name was Jamila and she was fired as she used her quarters to solicit men. Next door lived the Durston’s who also arrived from Perth. We used to play volleyball and badminton with the net between our two houses.

A couple of years later we moved up in the scheme of houses to a new estate – G5 / 3. These were huge cedar wood houses built on stilts and only 100metres or so from the jungle – we were able to watch the monkeys and orang-utans play at the jungle edge. We also had to watch out for snakes. When we were leaving Brunei and selling all the plants etc, a French lady who just arrived in Brunei found a 12 foot python in one of our egg jars in the garage. The snake people came and caught it – it was sleepy as it had just caught dinner from under the house

Whilst living in Brunei we used to go to the Panaga Club a lot – it was a social club for the employees of Shell. It had heaps of tennis courts, badminton, swimming pool x 2, golf course, oval for hockey etc, sailing club (which divided its time between the Panaga Club and the KBYC), restaurant (which Mum and dad took me to for my 10th birthday – it was a fancy/expensive one), change rooms, bars, takeaway food etc – everything we bought we would sign “chits” for and it was added to our account.

Panaga School was for the Shell employee’s children and we had both English and Dutch streams. At one stage the school had so many children that 2 classes (mine and another) did the year in a house next door and we would walk over some bridges to have recess etc – we always went home for lunch and then back to school in the afternoon.


During our time in Brunei Dad worked a fair bit in England and at one stage went to live with him in Bath. We stayed in two places – Bath - where we had piano lessons with Mrs Sullivan, watched Punch and Judy shows from the grassed area for pantomime, the cobblestone roads with basket after basket of flowers lining the streets, to the book store I loved, to living on a farm with Biggles the dog (near Box I think)! I loved the flowers in England and pressed a lot of them – we didn’t have flowers like that in Brunei!
My schooling ran out towards the end of 1985. I did Distance Education with the Education Department of WA. I stayed on at Panaga School and one of my favourite teachers Miss Mulholland overlooked my lessons with Distance Education. It was this reason Dad took another job for Shell in Holland. We moved there after having Christmas in Perth in 1985. We went from 40degree heat to minus – We hadn’t had a winter since 1981 so it was sooooo different for us. We initially stayed at the Europa Hotel in Schveningen and a couple of months later moved to our 4 storey unit in Leidschendam. It was situated just outside The Hague and between all 3 schools we kids went to. All the houses in Holland are tall and skinny due to lack of space. Everyone rode their bikes though – they even had traffic lights at the traffic lights just for bikes!! I used to ride to school in fine weather – about 12kms – there weren’t any hills in Holland so it was an easy ride  in winter we could also ice-skate the river (aka De Vliet) in front of our house when it froze over.

At the end of 1987 we moved back to Perth so I could finish my schooling here in WA. We moved back into a house mum and dad had bought in Scarborough a few years before – 8 Lovett St (which I moved into when I left home to live with my fiancĂ© Gary). After house hunting for a month or so we moved into Karrinyup in March. I went to Scarborough Senior High School and started in Year 9. I lived here until I moved out to live with my husband – then fiancĂ© – where we moved back into the Scarborough house and rented it from mum and dad in 1994 – Grand final day – Eagles vs. Geelong!!!



Kaiser Memo board - class for March :)




Have a paper bag class this morning so need to get the girls organised - Shelby stayed last night so it is pancakes for brekkie today!!! After todays class I come home to collect Gary who has a session with Tom swimming with the sharks at AQUA!!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

hhmm....

lol can't think of a title but we have been busy in the Forbes household lately!!

Last Saturday Keith (FIL) turned 80 so we had a little surprise party at Neil and Maur's - typical Keith style he snuck up the side of the house and sprung us in a roundabout sort of way hehe!! Anyway it was a lovely arvo/night with heaps of yummy food and best of all he loved the photo's I had put together - I spent most of last Wednesday editing and sizing photo's to put in a huge frame we got that morning and it looked fabulous - One photo I need to do at Harvey Normans as it was 11 x 14 inches - too big for my printer - got it all ready for Harvey Norman took it in early so I could pick it up on Saturday morning....go to get it and it is purple.....GRRRRRR - here he was trying to tell me that the white was purple. Paid for it, brought it home and it looked DISGUSTING against the beautiful beach scenes we had for the other 17 photo's so I printed out a much better A4 one, mounted it on some black cardstock and voila - will get another large one organised though.




Kindy is full time this week - YAY Chionia is just loving it!! Feels so funny to be dropping them BOTH off at school. We now have an issue with daycare but I am sure it will sort itself out as she gets used to her new weekly schedule!

Twiddleybitz class was a huge success - all students had fun playing with colour sprays, texture paste, gates, vine leaves and shadow boxes!!! So much so I believe a few of them are running them as classes in the next month or so!! Love it when people enjoy it as much as me :)

A few of the quick LO's I threw together at the last minute!! hehe




At Di's I am running a fortnightly BOM class or Book of Me ;) Tiff! hehe Each fortnight we will cover a new topic and by the end of it you will have a beautiful handmade book full of all those little details about yourself. I have designed it so you actually make the album itself as well. The pages are a smaller size so they aren't as intimidating to complete. Next class is Monday 23rd February 7-9pm - Here are some sneak peaks at how your cover will turn out (in your own tonings and colours!!)





This weekend Gary goes diving with the sharks at AQUA - the underwater observatory in Hillarys. LOL I couldn't do it!! But we will be there with video camera's to encourage him and Tom hehe!!!

Must run Take care all :)

Friday, February 13, 2009

I am sure that you can help me......

to all of you who read my blog - most of you scrap - I am guessing that - but I am asking a favour..... create a page for those who have suffered in the Victorian bush fires.....one single 12.x 12page is required to help make some album's for those who have lost everything about their own lives.

All LO's can be dropped of at Di's - 3/18 Enterprise Rd MALAGA Perth WA! THankyou

call us for any questions what so ever!!! Ph 9249 1303 :)

Here is the link to Sarah Gladman's blog which has all the details.....






Hi Everyone



At Scrapbooking to Di for we have been trying to come to terms with the recent devastating bushfires in Victoria. So how can we help??

Sarah Gladman (a well published scrapper) has started a scrapbooking project – called MEMORY GIFTS.

What she is asking is for scrappers to donate a 12 x 12 almost completed page to be made into an album (do the page and leave photo mats for each family to add their photos).



Scrapbooking to Di for is the drop-off point for Perth – we will coordinate the posting of all layouts to Sarah in NSW. I have attached the information from Sarah’s Blog below for you to read further about this wonderful programme. Since the first call for help she has been inundated with offers of assistance from both scrappers, and businesses. Therefore what she is aiming to do is create an album (with your help) for each and every family who have lost their home.

Layouts can be dropped off in store up to the close of business Friday March 13 so that we can post them on the Saturday to ensure their safe arrival at their destination.

We would appreciate if you could pass on this email to as many scrapping friends and family as you can – let’s work together to give the gift of Memories to those families in need. Even one page will make a difference.



Ring us or email us if you have any questions regarding the programme.



Di, Kat and Mel



As scrappers, one of the most important things we deal with on a daily basis are memories. Family memories, memories of loved ones, memories of holidays, birthdays, christenings, bbq’s and days at the beach. These families in Victoria have got no tangible evidence of their lives left. No family photos. No happy snaps. You can replace a fridge, but you can’t replace years of mementos.

In order to help out these families begin to put their lives back together Sarah Gladman has started a scrapbooking project - called 'Memory Gifts'





Quite simply, she asks each and every one of you who read this to donate a 12 x 12inch almost completed scrapbook layout to the “Memory Gifts” program. Each page will be sent to Sarah and she will collect them and bind them, then hand them over to the head of Pastoral Care for the Victorian Catholic Education Office, Maria Kirkwood in Melbourne. It will not be just Catholic families benefiting, it will be anyone who needs it. The albums will then be distributed to the principals of the 4 schools that burned down, who will know exactly who to give them to.

Each family devastated by fire will be (in time) given album pages to help them begin their memories again. Those families can then approach their own families for copies of photos to put into the albums, or simply start putting in fresh memories.

Anyone can be involved in this project, so tell your friends and let’s get as many pages done as we can.

You can check out Sarah’s Blog for more details, including LSS that are acting as drop-of points.

Many thanks on the behalf of the Victorian families who have lost everything.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Utter devastation....

it is almost unbelievable. The bushfires in Victoria atm are just so heartbreaking. Over 180 lives have been lost (and I am sure this figure will climb by another 100 at least) and hundreds of properties destroyed let alone the bush and wildlife that has been burnt. 5000 people are homeless It seems so incredible that people have survived when you witness the ferocity of the fires. I believe all the Forbes are safe which is good but so many more are missing.....what do you do? Pray and pray some more that they can control those fires and put them out so that people can get on with life and find those missing and start again.

I was going to post on Sunday but got caught up watching the horrific footage of the fires. So here you go - a couple of Twiddleybitz LO's - the class went really well on Saturday - they all had fun playing with coloursprays and learning new tips :) As I said if you have any questions on it so you can teach a class just holler!!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Some sneak peaks at some new Twiddleybitz goodies

sshhhh - being released on Saturday at the product launch....

Bootleg Brewery




Once in a Blue Moon - new LOVE florish - this is beautiful!!




And one of my two girls starting school - Chionia's was taken later in the day as she has staggered starts!! Also a new game for the pool....lol! With a heatwave coming I may even learn how!


My baby has started school

and how weird does it feel!!! lol Chionia is now a kindy girl and loving it to bits - her teachers are gorgeous and she is so excited about going - doesn't want to know about daycare now - doesn't help that Erin has moved rooms to the baby room as well...

will pop up her photo when I find my camera recharger......have no idea where it is atm lol!!!

Jess is now in year 4 and loving it - had homework every night which i think is great - it is getting her into a routine of coming home and having a snack then homework. Her teacher is Ms Cole who taught yr 3 last year - lots of fun I think she will have this year - heard the other day that WA is phasing out Yr 7 in primary schools and Jess's year will start high school in year 7 - not sure if I like this idea and not sure how true it is.... must do some research - thought I would have heard about it before now though....

Dancing has started up once more and this year Chionia is doing tap jazz modern as well - she got her first pair of tap shoes on Tuesday night and guess what - she hasn't taken them off since then!! Even went to sleep with them on on Tuesday night!!!

Scrapping has been fun lately - Twiddleybits has announced their new design team - lol yes they still want me hehe but I am now joined by the following very talented ladies as well!!

Congrats to all of you - looking forward to working with you - I saw some of the entries yesterday and they are awesome - so much better irl than on a blog!!!

Ellen Woodbridge (NSW)
Leonie Sells (WA)
Lindsay Krauss (USA)
Lisa Swift(QLD)
Paula Brown (UK)
Rebecca Beatie (VIC)
Renee Dowling (QLD)
Sherry Mendoza (NSW)
Sonia Barnett (VIC)
Sonja Thair (WA)
Stacey Klug(USA)
Marion Emberson (UK)
Tracey Holdyk (WA)

I am holding a Twiddleybitz class on Saturday for all those interested shop owners in Perth - just contact Nic if you are interested in coming - I think there are a couple of spots left!(sorry Eastern states - I believe you were all very interested but will look at this in the future if we can get enough interest!) Will be showing off their new shadow boxes and some gorgeous new products which I picked up yesterday - if I find the camera recharger I will pop up some sneak peaks!!!

lol better go and finish putting away the grocery shopping - it was bliss doing it this morning without any kids in tow - Drovers place is sooooooooo fresh and cheap and such a good quality - can get seafood, meat and groceries and bread all in one place at market price!! Got to love that!

Take care all :)

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Once in a blue moon

we get a full forbes family photo shoot!!!!!! lol and so many laughes.....

This is the one of the day :) Has everyone in it - me just after running down the sand dune to get there!



then cause they were all squinting they wanted to change the position...... so we did and I stacked it running in the soft sand to get there in time --- hehe I am on the right hand side out of view lol and this is about 2 seconds after I did it pmsl!

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