how to build a teepee in two days

1. don't start until you are sure that the timing is well and truly inappropriate for a project of this magnitude. I could have had this made four months ago, when the idea first came to me, but true to form I chose to leave it till the week before jasper's birthday, that being the week between christmas and new year, when the kids are on holidays and long lost friends seem to come out of the wood work. Not to mention the difference those four months make in terms of pregnancy.

2. after you have established that you don't remember much of the maths you learned at school, consult your husband for technical advice. They come in handy for some things crafty, it seems.

3. don't bother with a practice run. Cutting large pieces from precious vintage sheets and hoping that they will fit together in some semblance of the object you have in mind just adds to the thrill.

4. make sure you drop your tin of pins at least four times. Crawling around on all fours picking up pins is one of my favourite pasttimes, especially when seven months pregnant. Right up there with retrieving pieces of lego from the far corners under kids' beds.

5. swearing is optional, but at this stage, I would say go for it. I did.

6. after the piece has finally come together, and you're feeling quite proud of yourself for how well it actually turned out, hand it over to the four year old and watch while he tries to fold himself up in it, climb in and out through the window and generally do his best to make it look "lived in" (including adding small items of furniture). Let's just say it's been well and truly road-tested, and is still standing. Phew.

7. even though the whole process may seem a little like child birth...a lot of pain but with a truly magnificent result...don't even think about doing it again. No matter how many people say "will you be putting these in your shop...?"

am I four yet, mum?

we celebrated this little boy's birthday this week. 4...not so little anymore. And soon to be a big brother too. I can't tell you how many times over the past six months or so he's asked me when he will be four, the magic number it seems. So, it was with great anticipation on the morning after his birthday that he asked me "am I still four, mum?" (a whole day had elapsed after all). When I replied yes, he sighed a big sigh of relief and told me" it's good to be four".needless to say, we are now talking about five. What's with all this wanting to grow up, or is it just the thought of more birthday cake? I think we'll just stick with four for now. And soon-to-be nine. And nearly twelve. Oh, and then there's bubba who will no doubt be in way too much of a hurry to grow up too.

happy new year

after spending the last two weeks back on the coast for christmas and catching up with family (and washing!), it became absolutely necessary to get back to the farm, back home. The thought of spending new years eve with the drunken early morning stragglers and random fireworks going off all night, not to mention multiple doof doof parties around the neighbourhood, just didn't appeal to me. Don't get me wrong, in years gone by...well, long gone if the truth be told, I've enjoyed a good party as much as the next person. But not these days. To lie in bed and listen to the symphony of frogs and crickets is my idea of a good night (in!).
the past year has been interesting, inspiring and life-changing for us, and we are looking forward to many more good things to come in this new year that has just begun.

it's a bad time of year to leave the house

I don't like shopping at the best of times, but at this time of year, I find that it becomes really unbearable. I try to do most of my christmas shopping (and let me just say, there isn't much of it) online, and even rely on the mister to pick up groceries on his way home from work during the week while I'm out here in the sticks. But every now and then, I feel the need to get out, and the other day decided to head into town for a few things , including a sniff through the local oppies which are always beckoning. I should have known better, I knew it was risky with the christmas crowds and jasper's unpredictability in public, but filled with optimism, I went anyway.

he is by no means an unruly child, it's just that he's either "on" or "off". He was switched to "on" by a well-meaning old lady in the first op shop we visited, who handed him a bright green lollypop before I could get a word in. That's the other thing about this time of year, you can't avoid the sugar. That lollypop kept him going through three more oppies, which was good in itself, but after that there was a weird kind of quietness as the sugar did it's thing. And that was when I made my first mistake and did a '"quick" trip into target. I don't know why, I think it was the promise of 20% off lego and secret santa gifts to buy for carols on the weekend, but I actually thought we could do it. And then I made my second mistake, I saw something I wanted to try on and jasper promised to sit quietly on the little seat in the change room, and I believed him. Mid way through this exercise, he decides to exit underneath the door (why can't they make those things go all the way to the floor??). So, I'm in the change room, trying to wrangle my way out of a pair of cossies whilst calmly calling out to him, but he's not answering. And then a horrified voice comes from the change room oppposite "oh my god, he's in here". Right, so he's crawled under the door of another booth, no biggie. I open my door, and she opens hers, and through gritted teeth, says "can you just get him out of here", whilst cowering behind the door. Jasper by this stage has realised his mistake and is in his hiding place, underneath the chair, crying.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I found a small child hiding in my change room, I'd probably laugh, definitely try to make them feel better when they started to cry, and assure the mother that it was no biggie. But no, hostility reigns supreme in the land of fluoro lights and that is exactly why I will continue to do my shopping online and if I do feel the need to get out of the house, it will be by myself.

Oh, and the kicker, the lego I was after was all sold out. Merry bloody christmas, target.

pants!

according to the calendar, we are 6 days into summer, although you wouldn't really know it with all the cold, rainy weather we've been having. Not complaining, of course, it does make a summer pregnancy a lot more bearable, but seriously, jumpers and trackies in december? I seem to remember trying to avoid getting my feet stuck in melting tar at this time of year when I was kid.
Never fear, the summer pants are here to remind us that the sun will eventually grace us with it's presence and the kids can look totally groovy in the sandpit and at the beach. Then again, they're equally good for just lazing on the lounge when it's raining too.
Sizes 0 to 3 in the shop now!

water, everywhere

for the past few months, our "sometimes" creek has been a real life stream, and after the recent rain we've had, it's been the favourite after-school hangout for the boys. They spend all afternoon swimming and catching tadpoles...good old fashioned fun. To tell the truth, I'm a little envious of their childish enthusiasm, it reminds me of doing the very same things when I was a kid. Finding suitable accommodation for my tadpoles seemed to be the only real concern I had back then. I do love a good stream. Ever since I can remember, I've had a dream of one day having my own little farm, complete with stream. In my mind, it would be something like the one that scuffy sets out on his big adventure upon...it seems I've found it.
Jasper asked his dad to tell him a story the other night when he returned home from work, and he told him a story about a girl who met a boy and had three wonderful children, with one more baby in her tummy, and they lived on a farm and they were so happy because they had all they ever dreamed of in life.
I am reminded to be thankful and cherish what I have.

i love...

old wooden chairs. Can't go past a wooden chair on a chuckout. It nearly got us in trouble once when we were moving with the help of friends...I remember one of them declaring after about the fifteenth one that he was going to start burning them.
This one was painted in a very scary shade of orange, which I scraped off the other day and found this very agreeable shade of pale yellow, with just a touch of my favourite fifties green. Love that.
The cushion fabric is denyse schmidt. Sometimes I can't help myself and have to buy something new.