No FF@ish last week...life gets in the way-

Warning, this is super text heavy and light on the graphics today. It's personal, not business.

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend. 

If you follow my Facebook page you might have seen where the Herbster and I were on Saturday night. We didn't have very good reception but I tried LOL.  And not a 'wedding' in sight. I do believe that wedding was beautiful and we did catch up with a little of it at brunch yesterday morning after church.  We've also been away for a little while on a much needed break.

https://www.facebook.com/StampOutYourArtWithVirginia/videos/1185050631636132/

Today as I plod about the house, I've been listening to some very interesting words and thoughts by my Stampin Up Manager's husband, Bruno . How much snorty snort snorting I've been doing at a lot of his comments. But they are all good points and all well worth hearing. This post is more personal than anything I've ever shared before but I feel you, my followers, customers, family and dear dear friends will understand me more for this story I'm going to share.

I'm so thankful that both  Kylie & Bruno share so much and they work as an amazing team.  I too have a very understanding hubby and it was he who helped me decided to have a break then start again. He actually said the other day that I look to be so much happier now than I've been in a few years. He asked at one point earlier this year "When can you join SU again?" ROFL. He knows I'm on a budget and he knows I am not in this as a 'business'. I'm in it because I have a creative streak that is huge & diverse.  This is the 'Herbster' in one of his many Popeye tshirts I've bought him over the years. He's my 'Sailorman' as many of you know ;-)  Yes! I finally got him to eat sushi with me!



/Soooooo..... Stampin Up products are world class and so much fun to use. When I'm creating I forget about many many things and become quite a lot more calm and relaxed. My hubby knows if I can't get my creativity 'out' I go a bit stir crazy too. My creativity is also my 'therapy'. I have few very close friends, one who's now with me on our Stampin Up journey together.   Those who are very close to me know the many challenges I've had come my way over the years.  I'm hitting the big six oh, ie 60 in 2 months eek, how did that happen?  :-)

I remember when I went to my first Stampin Up 'convention' in Melbourne in 2014. I saw Kylie & Bruno and thought "Wow, you two are amazing". I've been to a few Stampin Up Conventions/OnStage Events since and am so looking forward to going to November's in Melbourne this year, 2018. I've missed a couple and gone to some on my own but one thing I know, there are always people you meet that you've chatted with online, know from other places and it's like a huge family.

FACT:  Did you know that I had the very first Stampin Up workshop  held in Australia here in my little hovel at my huge kitchen bench? True!  The lovely Angela Sargeant came to do the workshop back then.  I was going to sign up the same day with Angela but because of where I worked I risked loosing my job if I did it so I had to delay until I no longer worked there.  Next best thing was to hold my own workshop. Yes my Herbster (my loving nickname for him, his real name is Brian but don't call him that, he won't answer) is my biggest fan and if it were not for him and his hard work, I'd probably have been locked up long ago. It was he who said he's on good money, why not drop my work hours. It was he who said now our son's left school/uni, why not drop your hours again, we really will manage.  So I did.  This is our Benjamin, June this year with his beautiful fiance, Kat!



When our son, Benjamin, moved out of home and went through all he's been through (many know what happened to his eyesight and him having to give up his blossoming career as a graphic designer), hubby said well let's see. I'm on good money, you don't have to work any more if you don't want to. Why don't you chuck it in?  Well as those that know where I worked in my federal government public service position know, that decision was made for me.

I was a broken woman by that time.  I loved the work I did. I didn't love the politics of the place and the way staff were treated.  I was refused annual leave in the hottest months of the year for 3yrs running.  I got more and more ill with lupus SLE (I can't be out in the bright sun nor the heat either)  I was medically retired at 54yrs old.  At 55 I could take my public service part pension. So with only a few months to wait, I did it. Leading up to that I was on sick leave for over 6 weeks.  I was forced to go into the office to 'explain' myself.  I went in with a doctor's report stating just what working there had done to my poor little body.  If I was not given leave at those hotter times of the year then they risked sending me to an early grave.

They'd employed me knowing I have this auto immune condition. They also employed me knowing I had PTSD which could see me have severe panic attacks without warning.  What I didn't have before I started work there was high blood pressure.  The day I passed out whilst talking to a doctor on the phone and someone found me on the floor under my desk, they kind of took me a bit more seriously. But then as is want to happen, governments changed, staff move on, you have to explain yourself over and over again.  So after close to 10yrs, enough was enough.

Many didn't know that I only took the job because it was ment to be stress free.  No paperwork, no in or out trays, all phone work, for me it was so easy to do. No high flying corporate responsibilities ever again. I could talk with anyone, I could calm the most irate caller right down and get them the info they needed all without raising my voice at all.

Many at that job didn't know previously I'd always been a corporate personal assistant, worked in publishing, human resourses, /travel, media behind the scenes.  Publishing and printing have always been a passion of mine so you can see why I love all things paper and was so proud of my son when he got his degrees in Graphic Design and Communications.

Some may recognise these faces from 2002. Me in the middle, to my left Sharnie and to my right a lady I accredit to being my unsuspecting 'mentor' Cathy James Daulman!  We'd been to a paper arts festival called Rubber Down Under (if I recall) and all met at Parramatta in Sydney for dinner.  Yeah I'm standing up, they are sitting ROFL.



So the point of all this blurb today?  It's to show you I'm human, I've got faults and I do fall apart now and then.  The last 8 to 10 months have been super super stressful due mostly to selfish, unkind people. The owner of the properties next door our house (two run down houses on the one block that go for high Sydney rents) has been putting us through the ringer. We want to sell our house and move out of Sydney but everything has been put on hold until this 'dispute' has been sorted.  Let's just say we are waiting to see if he submits court proceeding documents now we've had a bit of a holiday.  We are praying his wife has made him see reason and he won't do it.  All because we need a new fence. And we dare to love our magnificent Jacaranda tree which we need the shade from during summer.  Look at this magnificent tree!  This is about 3yrs ago before our kitties' enclosure was built and the shed and green house were removed.



We can't sell our property without a decent fence and we can't put the fence in because the owner of next door won't allow it because he wants to cut down our Jacaranda that is on the significant tree register in our council area.  We've spent a fortune having surveys and reports done. He's been told by the council the tree is never to be touched (there's history with this tree, it was here before we bought the place).  Let's just say the man now has blinkers on, can't see the forest for the trees and he's on a 'vendetta' to get it removed.  He can't, he's been warned and he's also in the bad books with his wife because she had no idea we had made offer after counter offer through mediation and he refused it all. Nothing but the removal of the tree will see him agree to a new fence being put up.    Now it's not rocket science to understand when the city council says under no circumstances, ever, of any kind, will the tree be removed, it's not going to be removed. As have our our legal advisors concurred, it's ain't going to happen.

So here we are playing the waiting game.  Hubby's back at work after his 3 week break and I'm plodding along at home, some days in my pj's and others off to medical appointments and not being able to do much creating because my brain has said nope, not happening today Wirgie!

Thanks if you got this far, you've done well!  And if you didn't well you dipped out LOL.  Not long now and the much anticipated new annual catalogue will be released.  I will share with you the link to the pdf for you to download it when it goes live too!

soooo, 'til next time

happy stamping, colouring and creating!