a month of parties

well, it sure has been a busy few weeks around here. Christmas, new year (although I can't really call that busy, as I was asleep by 10pm), and various catch-ups and birthdays. Last week we celebrated jasper's second!! birthday. That one kind of sneaks up on me, a couple of days into the new year. I have this terrible habit of not knowing what's happening in the next month, because, you know, it's on the next page of the calendar. And this one's even worse, because it's next year! Never mind, forget it I did not, and he had a lovely, rainy birthday. A backpack , a ukelele and some mama-made jarmies were well loved. Who wouldn't love some tawny scrawny lion jarmies?the happy birthday sign I made the night before from our christmas cards, which were thankfully still sitting there waiting to be recycled. I just cut out the letters free hand and attached them to some red string with masking tape. Extremely low-fi, just the way we like things around here. And speaking of low-fi, we've been lucky enough to take the big boys to the movies twice during the holidays, first to see where the wild things are, which we all loved and cried over, and second the fantastic mr fox, which was, well, fantastic. I don't want to get into any kind of arty-farty rant here, but thank goodness these things are being picked up by the likes of spike jonze and wes anderson, before disney could get their shiny happy mits on them. I know it's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoy a film that doesn't make me want to vomit, and that has a soundtrack that I actually want to listen to.

must be christmas

because there's a weird fake tree in our living room, and an unmistakable air of excitement around the place. In case I don't get back here later (and let's face it, that's highly unlikely), merry christmas wherever you are!

finding loveliness

in these gorgeous lillies from my mum-in-law. Filling our home with their heady scent.

in sweet, wet rain after a hot, hot day and night. Making my garden grow.in this new-to-me picnic basket, FREE! at my local op shop yesterday. Hmm, could that hole in the lid be for a wine bottle? I feel a picnic coming on.
in new fabric, the fifties-inspired range (and some others) on sale at spotlight. Loving that.

Also loving school holidays, relaxing mornings, stealing five minutes to re-read an old favourite, and catching up with sweet friends. Have a lovely weekend!

back on the wagon

so, I fell off the wagon again. And I had such high hopes last month, too. Last month I was all ready to start blogging regularly again, and look what happened, another three weeks went by just like that. To tell the truth, lately I've been feeling a little encumbered with the everydayness of everyday life. Nothing serious, just a bit of "i'd like to go and live in tuscany (or maybe just northern nsw)", and stuff like that. You know, just a bit of suburban boredom. I haven't even had the enthusiasm to log into blogger, I just keep looking at it and think "oh, I can't be bothered". Sad, huh? But, here I am, I've logged in, and I'm actually writing, so that's a start. I can't guarantee anything too exciting though.

so...what's been happening? Well, a lot, actually. There was that market, which was a really great day. I caught up with some old friends and had a pretty relaxing time chatting and hanging out sans-children, which is always a strange but enjoyable thing to do for a few hours. I have now uploaded (some of) what was left into the shop. There is still some more to come, but once again, that takes some amount of enthusiasm. Taking photos of little corduroy skirts without a little girl to model them is quite a difficult task. And, it's just kind of freaky seeing them on a boy. Believe me, I've tried.

oh yeah, and we got chooks! About two weeks ago, two lovely isa browns came to live with us. They are called snowy and mymble. Willow named snowy for her speckly white markings, and I was allowed to name mymble, who is already living up to her name as being a bit of feisty one. I cannot tell you what a joy it is to have chooks. I have been pestering the mister for months to get some, and after a huge amount of research (if there's one thing that man is good at, it's researching stuff), he finally caved. Now of course, they are "his girls" and he claims it was his idea all along.

and the other thing I would like to take the time to mention right now, which I should have mentioned weeks ago, is that my dear friend gabby has started a blog! Gabby used to have the most gorgeous and wonderful little cafe and organic food emporium just around the corner from my house, and it's thanks to her that this whole hazyjane thing really got started. I walked into her cafe one day, in need of some caffeine and a friendly face, having been rejected from another local establishment when I approached them about maybe selling some of my book bags. They just didn't get it. But gabby did, and she offered to put them in her shop, which was frequented by just the right type of softie-loving, vintage fabric-appreciating clientele, and the rest is history. Happy blogging, gabby!

now I think that might just be enough for today. While I have been lacking in frequency lately, I seem to have made up for it here in quantity, and I fear I may start rambling any moment now. And you know how I like a good ramble. Of course, now that I have started thinking about it, there is plenty of exciting stuff going on in my life right now. And I may even be back to tell some more of it very soon. Maybe even tomorrow.

market day

hey, just a quick one, to let all you locals know that I'm doing a market stall this sunday!! It's been a long time...but I think I'm ready for it! The lovely people at the peninsula yoga centre are having an open day and I'm lucky enough to be part of it. Check out their website for full details.

tea

so many new words happening every day now.

today, tea. To the cupboard we went and got out this little cup, and requested that tea be put in it. Just like mamma. So we drank our tea and we ate our grapes and we read our book and we were happy. So happy.

feeling crafty

oh yeah, that's right, I have a blog. I momentarily forgot about that while I was busy making all manner of crafty goodness for the balmain art and craft show, which is happening this weekend. There were the usual suspects; the bunnies, the little effelants, the big ones, some new bags and some bunting,

all of which I have managed to create in the couple of hours a day when I could be lying down or reading a book while the little one naps, but choose to sew like a mad woman instead. So, feeling very proud of myself for having created what I considered to be a fairly ample supply of craftiness to be displayed at the show, off I drove down to sydney, with my medium-sized (vintage) suitcase full of goodness, thinking that I would fill my little cubicle and all would be sweet. And it was sweet, only they kind of wanted more. So, feeling just a little inadequate, home I went, whereupon I decided it was time to unleash a new creature. If they want more, then more they'll get. So, out came mr. owl.coming up with the owl has been a rather long and involved process, and I was pretty happy when this particular incarnation presented itself at around noon yesterday. By midnight last night, this little family was complete and ready to go forth into the world. My sweet husband did the honours and dropped them off for me after work, only to find out that most of the other stuff had already sold. As it was being unpacked. So if you happen to find yourself at the show this weekend, and you happen to see a rather pitiful little display with a cute handmade banner that says "hazyjane", and you're thinking, "hmm, that hazyjane really could have put in a bit more effort", please note, I DID!!