clikchic’s blogscraps

I thought I would share a layout of my darling 6 year old daughter.

I have used my new Faux Lomo and Dreamy Photo Actions on her photo, although some of the Faux Lomo effect has been cropped afterwards. The kit and wordart is a little sneak peak of a grab bag that will be appearing in store at SBE very soon! Stay tuned for it’s release! It will have 4 juicy products at a nice teeny price! It is a bit exciting to be releasing my very first solo grab bag!

Anyway, here is the layout…I just go soft inside every time I look at her. I am SO lucky!

I am just sooo excited. I got my test results back from my last biopsy from after the gluten challenge, and WAHOO I am not Coeliac after all! I am SO relieved, I was not looking forward to being gluten free the rest of my life. I was looking forward to hopefully feeling better, but it seems my symptoms are not caused by Coeliac’s after all.

So now I am working on another theory, fingers crossed I am on the right track as it is relatively easily treated if I am right! It is just such a relief to be able to eat normally. I really hate having to be so careful all the time and the food while some of it is ok, just isn’t the same. I can’t wait to use my bread maker for REAL bread now!

Now I have to really start concentrating on getting my health back on track.. first I will work on getting better, then getting healthy and loosing weight. At least eating low GI won’t be as difficult now and funnily enough, my lactose intolerance bothers me less when I am eating gluten than it does when I am not. Either way I am glad you can take tablets to help with any lactose digestion problems anyway.

So that is good news!

Here are some photos of our block. (click on them to see the bigger version)

This photo was taken from the front of the block, you can just barely see the back fence.

Mum and dad are not quite at the back fence with Jasmine, and Kyan is about halfway down in the light blue.

Taken from about 2/3 from the front of the block showing the back fence. (just!)

Taken from the back of the block, facing the front.

South Eastern View from center of block.

South Western view from center of block.

We went to see the builder on Friday, it is all getting a bit exciting! We have a rough plan of the house. It is off to be drawn up properly now.

Well it is official! We have signed a contract on a new block of land and paid a deposit. Has taken quite a while thanks to difficulties communicating with the seller due to them being out of town but thank goodness we now have it all signed and sealed. YAY! The kids LOVE the block because it is so big and love to run around it the few times we have been there. It is over an acre or for our dutch relatives it is over 4500 m2.

I meant to take a photo of it last weekend but forgot to take the camera, so the photo from the listing will have to do for now. he photo below is mostly of the block next to us, ours is the bit behind the fence.

Here is the map of it (lot 54). Adrian & Rachael’s block is on there too. Theirs is three blocks up from ours.

Jasmine got her first report card today for year one and we are SO proud of how well she has been doing. Here are her results

English (overall) - Very High

Reading - Very High

Writing - High

Speaking & Listening - High

Maths (overall) - Very High

Number - Very High

Measurement - Very High

Space - Very High

Patterns & Algebra - Very High

Science - High

S.O.S.E? - Very High

The Arts - Very High

Music - Sound

H & PE - High

For behaviour she got an A, and most of her effort ratings are either A’s or B’s .

We are so proud of our little girl!

Well I have some exciting news this week.. I have been working on a new project for several months, it has been a bit slow going because of lack of time, but finally I have done it! YEAH! I have finally opened my own digiscrap store. I will continue to sell my designs at SBE, but wanted something all my own as well. I haven’t got a huge amount of stuff in there yet, but I have a start, and since I love a good project it has been keeping me busy of late! In the coming months I hope to stock the shelves some more as well as release new products at SBE.

If you want to check out my new shoppe, you can do so at www.digiscrapart.com.

I also have just recently completed a collab kit with Heather Manning to celebrate the opening and am having a 25% off sale on my other products.

For the first week, free with purchase of the collab kit, you will receive a 12×12 album free! Don’t forget to check out the extra previews in store, as the kit is JAM packed and not all is shown on this preview. There is over 234mb of kit in there!

Strawberry Mint Chip

Strawberry Mint Chip Album

Some of my other products brand new in store at DigiscrapArt.com

Available in both personal and professional use versions.

I am SO excited!! A very good friend of mine will be starting work at my work in a few weeks. I can’t wait! She is going to love it there, they are great people to work for, and the staff are great too.

Another update on how my Gluten Challenge is progressing. My joint pain has become quite bad, at times I can feel it in what seems to be every joint in my body. So far I am managing it reasonably well with anti-inflammatories, but I never thought I would say it but I am in some ways starting to look forward to going back off the gluten. If only for the reduction in joint pain! I have also noticed that after eating bakery food on weekends as a bit of a treat, I end up paying for it the next few days. I can manage small amounts of gluten without it having too much of an immediate effect (apart from the joint pain etc), but it appears that too much in a day stops things up a bit.

There is still no answers on the fevers.. I am now getting them daily, and almost all day although they seem to be worse first thing in the morning and in the evenings. They seem to be more frequent now and it is getting extremely frustrating! All I know is that it isn’t from the Coeliacs (according to my gastro specialist). My gp seems to think it might be related to my PCOS, but I am skeptical on that one. It also seems that the sweating I have been experiencing is not related to medication like I thought, as I am now off that medication for nearly 3 weeks and I am still sweating. I am thinking now that it might be related to my fevers as the one morning this week I didn’t sweat while putting on makeup was when I took some nurophen at 5.30am. I am thinking that it controlled my fever and so I didn’t sweat. I will keep an eye on that theory and see what happens.

At this stage everything with the fevers is pretty much in limbo. My gp wants to talk to an endocrinologist about my case and so I am waiting to hear from her about what she comes up with there.

I have about 6wks to go eating gluten and I will be very surprised if my tests results show I am not Coeliac. I may not respond like a typical Coeliac, but all Coeliac’s do respond differently, something I was reminded of when speaking to a Coeliac at a work function. My reactions just don’t seem to be as immediate as a typical Coeliac’s but it appears the reactions are definitely still there.

Another update on the gluten challenge I have been having to determine if I am definitely coeliac since my results have not been entirely clear.

My old joint pains, stiff and aching spine are returning. Last week I was making apple crumble for a staff social day for work and I had to rub the butter and flour with my fingers to make the crumble and my fingers ached, it felt like what I imagine arthritis feels like as does my other joint pain. I hadn’t had the joint pains for quite some months before the gluten challenge so it is looking very much like I am Coeliac after all. I have NEVER had joint pains in my fingers like that before.

The bloating is continuing on and off and despite eating not that much worse than normal, I gained 4 kilos in just over a week! That is just not normal! I did indulge a little as I had been missing my favourite gluten foods so much but I certainly didn’t eat 4kg’s worth! Thankfully the weight gain seems to have plateaued again and I hope I don’t start gaining any more again.  I had lost about5kg’s in the space of 6mths prior to the challenge without doing anything special, I was eating as normal and having treats probably more than I should.

So knowing that when I go gluten free again chances are I will likely once again loose weight without even trying does give me some comfort. At least now I know why I have so much difficulty with my weight when I am not a big eater and do for the most part try and eat healthy.

Here is my latest kit which if you bought it you might recognise from my collab grab bag which is now no longer available. My portion of the grab bag is now however available as are the other kits that were part of the grab bag by Pton and Tracy.

Click on the preview to check it out in store at SBE!

So far all is going well on the Gluten Challenge, no nasty side effects so far as I can tell. I have had some small amounts of bloating but I suspect this might be from having cereal on some mornings. Lactose seems to bother me much more first thing in the morning than it does later in the day. This has pretty much always been the case, I just used  to avoid having too much dairy in the mornings not realising I was lactose intolerant. I just knew my tummy didn’t like it first thing in the morning!

Yesterday I had toast and had no bloating.  I don’t feel any more or less tired, than usual and pretty much feel the same as I did before.

Of course this doesn’t mean I am not Coeliac, as some Coeliac’s do not get any obvious symptoms, so time will tell if I am or not when I have another biopsy in three months time.  In the meantime I intend to enjoy my little reprieve from the horrible gluten free diet. It is amazing how good food is tasting again! I am going to have to be careful I don’t put on weight. I lost about 5 kg in the last 6 mths and I don’t want to ruin that!

The fevers have gotten worse again, but that started before I was back on the gluten. I am having them every day again at the moment, usually in the late afternoon and evening. I can’t wait to get to the bottom of what is causing them as they are driving me batty! My gp was apparently having breakfast with an Endocrinologist friend of hers and was going to talk to her about me so I might give it another week or so before I go and see her, I need to see her again anyway.

It has been SUCH a treat to eat normally again. I really feel like a leper when I have all this special treatment because of my Gluten Free diet, I really hate it. If it turns out that I am Coeliac I will just have to learn to live with it I guess, I know I wouldn’t mind so much if I actually felt better from it, it would be worth it to actually feel healthy for a change. Since there is something else wrong with me (fevers etc) anyway I would rather just deal with one thing thank you very much. It has really got my gp stumped as to what is causing the fevers. I take my temp every night when I am feeling off, and every night it is around 38.1 degrees give or take.

Work is incredibly busy at the moment. We have just lost a second receptionist after our brilliant one (the best they had ever had) left to have her baby and so all the admin staff have been under quite a load taking up the slack as well as dealing with the rush before the tax deadlines. I am falling further and further behind in my own work because of having to do so much other work. A new ad went in the paper today with a deadline of 22 May so it is not going to change in the immediate future. I have brought some work home this weekend in the effort to try and catch up some. Will see how I go!

Be Quick and get these grungy frames at 25% off during our NSD sale ending 5 May.
Or get an additional 25% off by first purchasing my NSD Collab Grab Bag and using my 25% off coupon!

Don’t miss this fabulous grab bag for only $3, PLUS don’t miss our 25% off NSD sale from 2-5 May! It has started!!!!

AND if you purchase the grab bag you will receive a voucher for an additional 25% off my products for the duration of the SALE. The coupon can be used multiple times too! (one per order)

Poor little Kyan has lost his best friend at Kindy. We knew it was coming as his family was moving to Abi Dabi (sp?) but Kyan didn’t quite understand and last week was Kyan’s first week without his best friend at kindy and it is finally starting to hit him. The poor little fella was so close with his best friend and he has been a bit sad this week. Dean took him out to pick up some takeout during the week and sat him on a chair while he ordered, when he finished ordering he turned around and Kyan had a tear in his eye and told him that he wanted William. I broke out in tears when I heard that. My heart just breaks for him but thankfully he has started playing with another little boy and girl in his class. Hopefully in time he will miss his best friend less and less.

One of his teachers was VERY sweet and did a beautiful scrapbook page for them each with photos of the two of them together and framed them for them. They were really lovely photos and the page was just lovely. I also left my camera at the kindy for them to take photos of the two of them and have put those on CD for William and gave it to him on his last day. I am hoping they might email us when they settle in to their new home.

On a brighter note.. I am SO excited! I just got back from the specialist and I get to go back on gluten for 3 months! Yeah. Basically it is a gluten challenge. My last gastroscopy was normal and so now I go on the gluten for 3 months, and have another gastroscopy to look for new damage. If there is new damage then the Coeliac diagnosis is confirmed, and if there isn’t then I am free from this awful diet! YEAH! So for lunch I am going to have a ham and salad roll and we are having La Porchetta for dinner. Pizza is my favourite food so I am REALLY looking forward to it.

Now I am going to go and have a biscuit with my coffee and dunk away! YAY!

Check out my latest set at SBE, Ephemera Brushes ….

Includes .abr brushes and PNG files for those who do not use photoshop

Check out my latest kit to hit the shelves at Scrapbook-Elements.com

Have been busy designing and have some new stuff in store at SBE.

Canvas Impressions 2 - My first set was popular so I decided to make a second one. These papers were made from photographs taken by me in local gardens.

All That Glitters - Photoshop Glitter Styles and patterns for both personal and professional use.

Doodle Me Crazy - Glitter & Grunge Doodle frames and bonus glitter butterfly. Includes black and white png versions as well as photoshop brushes.

If you liked my Little Dreamer Designs freebie, stay tuned for the full kit which will be available at SBE on Sunday.

Here’s the photo of Dean’s Chicken Pox. Nasty Hey!

Thankfully the rest of him is not quite as bad as his face. The spots on his face are more concentrated and very swollen. He has been using lots of creams, ice packs and washers. The chemist confirmed that they no longer use calamine lotion as it dries them out and makes scarring worse. I never thought it worked all that well for chicken pox anyway when I had it as a child.

Apparently adults scar more easily than children so I bought some bio oil for when the spots are healing. Apparently that is good for the scarring. He has been in bed most of the day today and probably will be tomorrow so hopefully he will be feeling a lot better by Monday. Fingers crossed!

ETA This is his back.. it is twice as bad this evening as it was yesterday.

It is official. Dean has Chicken Pox! Ouchie! We thought he had the flu as he has been sick the last three days but this morning he broke out in red spots and the odd little blister. He went to the doc and she confirmed he had chicken pox.

It has been going around Kyan’s kindy for the past month so as soon as I saw the spots I suspected that might be what it was. Thank goodness Kyan and Jaz have both been vacinated. I think if Kyan was going to get it he would have done so by now, and I think that Kyan probably passed it on to Dean. Certainly explains why Dean had the flu and I don’t! I am usually the first of the two of us to get these things! Since I have already had Chicken Pox I probably won’t get it.

The hubbie of one of the girls at work got it as an adult and has been filling me in on how bad it can be for adults and giving me tips best treatment options. Apparently calamine can make scarring worse! So I guess that is out since he has heaps on his face especially. She said he had the spots for 3 weeks! EEEK We have pinetarsol at home so will make sure he bathes in that plenty. Hopefully he doesn’t get too bad.

I hope everyone at work has had it I would hate to pass it on to them!

I finally got the results of my Coeliac Gene Test. It appears that I do have the Coeliac Gene. BUGGER! Of course, it doesn’t mean I DO have Coeliacs, it just means it is possible I have it so still no answers. It is getting SO frustrating, I just want ANSWERS! I was soooo hoping the gene test would show I didn’t have the gene so I could eat normal again of course then I would still have to find out what was wrong with me.. but at least it would be some progress.. at least I would know what WASN’T wrong with me! LOL Oh well… will keep plugging away…