Monday, January 19, 2009

The CHA miracle

In less than 4 days I will be on a plane to LA. Who'da thunk it?
I'm off to CHA to help out Kristy and the gang at the Far Flung Craft booth. Last year I was there in "official capacity" as a partner in the biz. This year, as a result of the move I reluctantly withdrew from the business. I've tried to help out wherever I can, and act as a distribution point for Australia. I didn't think I'd be at another CHA in any capacity.

Quick rewind to last Thursday night: just before bed, DH checked his email and discovered that he had freq flyer miles expiring soon. He made some passing remark that if we had known earlier maybe we could have tried to work out a way to get to CHA next week. I'm sure he thought that was the end of that. Suffice it to say that by the time he got up the next morning I had itinerary all worked out. Thankfully he and Kristy both said YES.

So, I'm off on my first trip without the kids in years. Woo hoo!!!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Catch up time

Phew, what a busy time it has been.

* Christmas with the in-laws. So much fun, lots of people, lots of booze. The kids loved meeting their cousins and the freedom of being in the country.

* Brought the Stag home with us. Yay! All kinds of dramas with rego etc, but it is now sitting in our garage (the first car that has). We've yet to work out rego, repairs, club membership etc here and we may take our time with that as it all costs $$$$

* We have a puppy! As soon as we got back after xmas we started our puppy search. We were looking at rescue groups, and had found one puppy (Oliver), but that fell through as his rescuer discovered aggressive behaviour and said he wasn't safe to be rehoused yet. She recommended that as a family with young kids we reconsider getting a rescue dog with unknown history. Within a week we found Toby, a 4mth old border collie from a breeder down the coast. He has been with us for a week now, and has settled in nicely (despite trying to "escape" within 2hrs of arriving!). It is hard work though - worse than a baby I think! This is the first time I've had a dog in suburbia - very different from a working dog on the farm.

* The last few days (in between entertaining puppy or kids) I've been busy creating sample artwork for Far Flung Craft for display at CHA in 2wks. I was so glad I could sit down and make something to help out Kristy. Hope they are good enough to display. I was so excited and overwhelmed to be at CHA last year. A bit sad that I couldn't be there this time.