Kim Archer | Mindful Living

baskets everywhere!!

Our internet speed is back. We've been limping along on more or less dialup for the past 10 days as we exceeded our download limit! And it's a joy to be able to cruise around the sites, update blogs, check emails and order product for the retreat without the frustrating wait for each thing to load!!! Sadly, my first day back on high speed was Friday and that was spent away from the computer!

I was at school for MOST of the day sorting and packing the baskets for the basket/hamper stall with Leesa from canteen..It was a mammoth, huge mega day!

It took as an HOUR to decide how to tackle things, to bring in the boxes of product and to work out our plan of attack!! We started with the buckets of car wash product! And once we worked out how to pack one we were off and racing!!!

And the end product turned out ok.

It was also Jump Rope for Heart day or something so there were kids everywhere, thumping music for them to skip to in all areas of the playground and parents everywhere. So Leesa and I ducked our heads out now and then to check out our skipping children and we could barely talk over the music. The music was pumped from the room we were in and was up as loud as possible so that ALL corners of the playground could hear it.

Capri called in to say hi...several times.

and once we got the buckets sorted we moved onto the BABY baskets and pulled out all the donated baby product! There were masses of product everywhere.

And minimal baskets...

We SO ran out of time. We were throwing things into baskets left, right and centre.

And then the bell went for home time and we had a LOT of packing up to do. Sooooooo, I ended up taking all of the baby baskets home (not part of the plan)...some were packed with product, others had random product thrown in...

And my loungeroom was overloaded with product and baskets and tissue paper and cellophane!! I spent Saturday afternoon packing baskets and wrapping them in cellophane and adding fabric or raffia bows..

It took hours but I was so pleased to have them done. Some have gift tags - most don't.  Gave up that idea when I saw how long it was taking. I hope to still make some but I will see how I go for time. Actually more shipping tags might work as a fast and easy way to add a tag!

I tell you what - it took AGES to make these and yet, all lined up, it doesn't even look all that much!

Here's a closeup of the baskets.

 

and hopefully they will leave this building tomorrow or Tuesday!!!

Long time between posts...

Time for an update - if there's anyone still reading this blog!!!! More puppy updates...I took some recent photos of the puppies through the week.

In fact even some of the poses from these puppies are the same as from the last litter almost! Here's the white "boy" puppy with Kendalina (or Bella) looking over his shoulder..He's the biggest of the puppies but very gentle and placid in nature. And we have a young girl who was very interested in this little guy and she's calling over today to check him out..

And this one is the most active. She's a busy thing but such a lovely nature...we have a family coming today to meet Bella:)

And here's our little favourite Dottie..and our still sooky black and white boy. We have a potential owner for the black and white boy too - a young family with one little boy who is about 7 or 8 - they are looking for a "boyish" puppy as a companion for their only child...They're coming over today to check him out too..

I am sort of coveting Dottie a bit..ideally I would like to keep her but three dogs is ridiculous. But she's so little and cute!!

Yesterday they headed to the Vet for their 6 week puppy check. Here they are waiting...and waiting, and waiting. We were there for ages.

 

and more waiting...in this room...

And finally the Vet arrived. They were checked out and given a clean bill of health! None of them liked the thermometer (and who could blame them!) or the immunisation needle or the BIG microchipping needle..but they were brave..although Dottie and the sooky boy screeched the loudest!

It's amazing how fast they develop and how fluffy they get in such a short space! They were skinny, ratlike puppies only a few short weeks ago and now they are frollicking around, all fluffy and developing little personalities.

We'll miss this lot when they go to new homes too.

Kate Mason - HeartKids

My lovely friend Kate Mason is hosting a morning tea to raise much needed funds for Heartkids SA. Kate and Jeff have their own little heartkid, Chelsea who you can read about here.

As Kate says, "Jeff, myself and all our girls spent 5 weeks in Melbourne for Chelsea's two open heart surgeries last year.  That's a whole lotta moula!  But we feel very fortunate that we both have jobs and were able to slowly pay back that large tally accumulated. 

And of course we would have given up everything if required to do it again and again and again. But even more than that, we got to bring our Chelsea home.  Some other families are not so fortunate.  All that pressure, emotional and financial at the time when they are at their most fragile.  Can you imagine?"

Kate has decided to host her own Cuppa for Kids and she has come up with the brilliant idea to not just offer a cuppa & cake in exchange for fundraising dollars but to offer something a little extra.

Here's Kate's invite for local Adelaide people...

"The cuppa morning is scheduled from 10am Tuesday 22nd September.  Basically, I'll have a little morning tea @ my house [which may well turn into a drop in centre/open house all day thing!], costing $15 per adult, which will include yummy morning tea, tea/coffee etc.  Pretty good deal?  But wait, there's more!  Each adult will receive a high quality professionally printed A4 print of my HAPPY HEART BABUSHKA artwork."

And even if you don't live in Adelaide you can still support the event by purchasing a copy one of Kate's art prints...



I am a huge fan of Kate's work!!! And I have already pre-ordered some prints from Kate for prizes for the @Home|Away retreat. Very exciting.

You can read more about Kate and her beautiful family and their Heartkids fundraiser here. You will also find out more details on how you can support the fundraiser and how to contact Kate to secure your very own A4 print from Kate.

I just can't say no..

So I am knee deep in helping out with the GIFT BASKET STALL at Capri's upcoming school fete. I didn't know what I was getting myself into when Leesa asked me could I give her a hand. And I must admit it does feel a bit stressful with my own event looming and here I am planning baskets and packaging etc for the fete. But I know Leesa would do it for me if I asked her to.

We met on Monday morning to sort through the donations and check out the baskets we had. And there were more basket contents than I had anticipated which was great. And lots of lovely donated products for a variety of themes - babies, gardening, hair care, kitchen ware, bath products etc!

The last big mega fete was waaaay back when Capri was tiny and she was still in a pram!! Back then, I was deeply involved in school life and actually ran the craft stall. And it was massive! I had teams of ladies coming along to craft bees during the leadup to the fete where we would make lip gloss and bath salts and sew and paint and stitch all sorts of treasures!!

But it was the Gift Basket stall that was a sell out that day. I remember people were lined up out the door (including my own mother who was most excited at her gift basket purchases!!) waiting to get into the library where the baskets were all lined up in their finery waiting to be snatched up for a bargain price! They sold out of baskets within the hour!

But sadly, this time around, we have the grand total of 20 baskets only. And many of them need scrubbing and spraying with white paint! We have grand plans for the baskets and we plan to intend for  them to look spectacular. And I INTEND to be sold out by 11am too as I don't want to stand there all day! LOL

Soooo, if anyone out there who lives locally, here in Newcastle, has ANY gift baskets you would like to donate, please email me!!! I would love to hear from you.

It seemed like a good idea at the time!

So last Wednesday night I did something I haven't done in years! I went to Capri's school's P&F meeting. I went along because they are having a mega fete at the school in about 5 weeks time and my canteen friend Leesa asked me would I help her on the gift basket stall.
I came home with a commitment to make ONE HUNDRED fathers day gift cards for the stall.

Yes.
One hundred.
Can you believe that?
I am still in shock.
I had said i would HELP make some cards and as I was walking (well, rushing) out of the door, relieved to know I was finally on my way home, the girl called out after me..
"so thats ok about the cards?"
and I said, "yep."
Anything to get outta there. I was missing Project Runway!
and she said, "so you're fine about making 100 of them?
..by the 1 September."

I was too shocked to say no and muttered, um..yeah sure, no problem.
NO PROBLEM!
Was I delusional?
ONE HUNDRED CARDS.
Using my own supplies. And my own time. And pushing aside my own work to make the things. And with a tight deadline.
Am I serious!

The next day, firstly, I was still in a state of shock over what I had agreed to the night before.. And secondly decided to get stuck in and make as many as possible so that I could get them done and out of my head well before the deadline.

I bought a stack of large shipping tags and folded them in half. And then it was a matter of using up scraps to decorate each tag.

I kept them simple and had a couple of different designs for variety (for myself more than anything as I HATE making the same thing over and over..reminds me of my ceramic days when I would paint fifty million plates in the same design!)

 

and the designs, thankfully fell together very easily.

And I now have the grand total of 31 cards all ready to go. Yay!

My workload is pretty heavy at the moment so I may not get any more than these 31 cards done but I will see how I go this week!

Frolicking Puppies All Over The Place...

This week the puppies celebrated their fourth week of life. They have certainly developed and grown rapidly this last week. Plus they moved out of their box in a laundry home (just for the daytime) to outside! We have the fence we borrowed last time to keep them contained

and the heatpad also borrowed, to keep them cosy and warm.

 

Plus the days have been so nice and they needed the fresh air and to get out of my laundry so I could actually do some washing! Mojo was beside himself at all this new activity out in the yard. He's been a little neglected since the arrival of the puppies and desperately needs a bath plus a cut and style. He's SO shaggy.

But he was thrilled to have five new playmates to occupy him.

I took a few photos of the puppies on the weekend..it's hard to get them all lined up and posing for the camera!

This little one is the most adventurous and the most advanced as far as running and her motor skills..

Here's Capri with a handful of puppies...

And this little one is still my favourite. She's a little  "dot" of a thing so is really suiting her Dottie name, despite the fact that she doesn't really have a very distinct "dot" of colour on her like some of the others. Except a very pale brown (and I mean very pale!) behind her ears..

Dottie is quite quiet..she's very placid and not as advanced or developed just yet as the others..she's still finding her feet and doesn't run or venture too far away so she's a little behind the others with her growing...but she will get there. If you pick her up and clings on like a little koala - every time..very cute..

and this one is the sookie la la.

Brandt's named this one Papa Guiseppe - and I heard Capri calling him Papa the other day!! Such a macho name for a bit of a sookie puppy! He's a gorgeous thing though and is our little panic attack puppy - our fraidy cat. He ventured outside the puppy pen and couldn't work out how to get back in and was having quite a panic over it! And he doesn't cope very well if he's left alone in their bed..he whinges if he can't see the other puppies.

They are still so tiny really..but starting to get lovely and fluffy!

Still tiny...

And please excuse our dirty glass - Mojo likes to let us know he would rather be INSiDE and spends a lot of time scratching his muddy paws on the glass! Let me in. Let me in!

ok..some family updates..

I have been busy updating the @Home blog, working on the retreat plus I've been  Facebook-ing..so this little blog is looking a little sad and neglected! And I thought it was time for some family updates...

Sooo, what's been happening?

This kid had a birthday. His 19th. Well, actually his birthday was a month ago! I'm REALLY behind with news for this blog.

Seen here with my sister at Lone Star - his birthday dinner of choice!! I'm still shocked that he's that old. Which makes me feel even older!

We went to freezing cold Canberra the Bank Holiday long weekend early August. It was beyond freezing. Made more freezing by the fact Ken's mum has never felt the cold and therefore doesn't use the heating she has. So her home is freezing. Bitterly cold. For many years we have wrestled with the heating remote when I have been there...And I know she thinks I  am the weird one but I didn't care and went to bed in my trackpants, jacket, scarf and thick socks!

Jammo enjoyed the skatepark at Tuggernong!! He's pretty skilled on the scooter and I was suitably impressed!

 

and we straightened Capri's hair...

 

and Capri and I got to have morning tea with this lovely (and looking glamorous) friend..

 

We caught up with Lyn and her daughter Ellie which was lovely....

And also Ken's cousin and her family..and their entertaining little boys - Mason and Oscar!!!

and that's about it for now. A puppy update post is on it's way!

91 Days...

NINETY ONE DAYS until the @Home|Away retreat.

Check out the new @Home|Away Retreat post over at the @Home blog.

Puppies are growing...

Puppies are growing and becoming very mobile. They still can't walk - they have no control over their back legs but they do manage to wobble around the place although they don't venture very far from their box in the laundry. I rescued one little frightened puppy from behind the washing machine a short time ago. Goodness knows how he managed to find his way behind there and he was quite distressed.

This little female Kenny (or Kendalina as Capri calls her or Bella as the Halls call her;) is a very placid and calm little thing.

  

They are trying hard to walk..and can lift their heads up for a short time..

before their little wibbly, wobbly heads fall back down again..

Little Dot is still my favourite. She's the smallest one in the litter and has very tiny features and is a petite build and sooo cute...

Here's Dot with Kendalina...

and quick..don't blink but here's a few of them trying to walk...they can hold this pose for about half a second!!

They are certainly getting cuter now that they are starting to look like dogs and not just like rats or guinea pigs...their little noses are almost filled with black pigment and they are starting to do more than just sleep and feed!!