getting out of the nest

not too much happening around here right now. At this time of year I'm happy to just spend my days at home, puttering about the house, the smell of something yummy wafting from the oven and sweet sounds on the stereo (going to see them on friday night!!). Sure, I get a little stir crazy after a while, but we are lucky enough to live here, in the land of the sunshiney winter, and although it's raining again today, we've had a week of glorious sun filled clear winter days, just perfect for packing a picnic and heading off to the city like we did on sunday.

we went to the olympic park, which is a strange and interesting kind of place. The kids took full advantage of the bike tracks and the two biggest boys even managed to fit in a skate/scoot at the monster skate park. Picture a room full of metal ramps with 50 or so kids on scooters going all over the place, including upside down. I had to really concentrate just to keep track of where fin was (one must be watching at all times in order to be able to make appropriate comments later on).

Sometimes I forget how easy it is to get in the car and go. Leave the dirty dishes, the washing and the unmade beds, and just go. Get out in the sun and forget about it all. The housework will still be there later, and the same again tomorrow, so who cares? And, besides the obvious benefits of just being outside in the sun, kids will eat just about anything if it's at a picnic.

life goes on (obviously)

so, I'm ok. I just got a comment from someone anonymous on that last post linking to a pets' memorial site, which admittedly brought a tear to my eye, but also made me think, "oh crap, I'd better write something on this blog so people don't think I'm still a blithering mess".

The days and weeks have moved on, and so have we. And the thing is, there's still sally mally pseudo-dog to keep us company. And the chooks. Now that little combination in itself provides endless entertainment. The chooks have realised that it is possible to instill fear by running straight at sally very fast, forcing her to run for cover while they scavenge what's left in her food bowl and drink water from her bucket. She meanwhile lays in waiting, recovering her shaken wits and as soon they have their backs to her, lunges at them with the intent of removing some tail feathers, only to have them turn around at the last minute and send her running again. Scary crazy fun.

Something that I hadn't really given much thought to previously was that sally was very much dominated by scully, only natural I guess. She went off her food for several days when he died, and I was thinking she was pining for him, but then I realised that she just took that long to realise that she could actually eat it all herself. He was a bit of a stand over man when it came to dinner. Now she's enjoying a generous helping, even saving a little bit for later safe in the knowledge it will still be there (unless the chooks are around). Generally she's becoming more dog-like, stepping up to the job of loyal companion and protector. I'm thinking maybe scully had a quiet word in her ear before he went. She's found her woof, and is using it freely to warn us of intruding lorikeets and magpies, and has also taken to sleeping under the house, which does wonders for her thick white fur. Very dog-like indeed.

The thing is, I'm so glad that we got sally when we did. I was worried at first that it was the wrong thing to do. Scully was getting old, and I thought she might just be an annoyance for him in his retirement, but he actually seemed happier when she was around. And the pain of losing him was so much easier to deal with after everyone realised that she was still here and she needed us too. It helped especially with the kids, teaching them that it's ok to be sad, but life does indeed go on. Needless to say, she's revelling in all this extra attention.

I will be back soon with less doggy tales and more crafty ones.

swimming

the last couple of days have been stinkers and we were forced to spend our afternoons doing this. Tough, I know. We're off on a little adventure tomorrw, to canberra. I think this may just be the first holiday we've ever been on where there are no surfboards on the roof racks. There are, however, three skateboards in the back of my car. I'll be back next week with a full report. Have a great weekend!

stacking

today I found myself with a rare couple of hours to myself. Fin is doing a tennis camp for the week at our local courts, mum took willow for a while and jasper finally gave in and had a little siesta, so I set about tidying up some of my fabric stash which had become a little, shall we say, dishevelled. It's one of those jobs that seems just too huge to even think about, especially with now crawling baby in tow, but once I got started, I actually found it very therapeutic. I found so many pieces that I had frogotten about, and I now have a mind full of projects for the summer. Hopefully I'll actually get around to bringing some of them to frution. For this task, I needed three milky ways (the little ones) for sustenance, and my chosen musical accompaniment today was catpower, you are free. An oldie, but such a goodie.
And just in case you were thinking "she doesn't really have that much fabric", there's also this,
a very tall chest of drawers that is also full, and two or three suitcases as well. I must say, it is nice to have options. Many options.

walking

...in the bush. I've been finding it hard to strike a balance between living, crafting and blogging lately, and unfortunately, blogging has fallen by the wayside. It disappoints me, because I love it here, but with three adventurous young boys (and one big one) to keep me busy, that's just the way it is. So, this week I will be trying to post everyday about what I/we are doing. I'm predicting there will be a lot of the latter, as it's school holidays in these parts, and I will have all my little friends around to keep me company. Yay, no morning fights for two weeks!
today we set out early to a local national park for a morning bush walk. Lucky for us we did set out early, because today turned out to be a stinker, and we did see one red-belly black sunning himself by the side of the track. It's funny, you always think you might see one, but it's pretty rare that you actually do, and then when you do, it's like, "oh shit, let's go back now". But, we made it out of there in tact, well, except for a minor grazed knee which was quickly remedied with a splash of water (mental note:must get some calendula to keep in my bag), and came home for an afternoon in the pool. Needless to say, there are three very tired boys (and two adults for that matter) here tonight.
p.s. in case you're wondering, yes, willow is wearing a cape in that picture, because you never know what kind of evil villains await you in the australian bush

crashed

don't you just love it when they're playing away happily, and then all of a sudden everything goes quiet?
Sorry for the break, I'll be back soon...too busy enjoying the sunshine.

ah spring, how I love thee

this post was supposed to happen last night, but jasper woke up as I was about to get started, and that was the end of that. So, here I am on this second day of spring, which was just as beautiful as the first. I am so glad to be wearing short sleeves and open toes again (well, during the day at least, the nights are still pretty cool). I don't know whether it's just because we have children at school now or if it has something to do with the lack of insulation on our fibro shack, but there always seems to be someone sick in our house during winter, and I am so over it. Fin , jasper and I are just getting over what must be about our fifth dose of sore throats this year, and willow is in bed right now running a temp and speaking in tongues. Bring on the sunshine, I say.
I had a request for a mei tai sling the other day, and when I checked in on what the soulemama was up to that same night, what had she written about? Why that very thing, of course. I remember her writing about the one she made in the past, and thinking it looked pretty cool, but it never occurred to me before that it might be good to carry around my own small child in, since he has become not too fond of the previous one I made. So, after carefully inspecting her pic (for all of about 30 seconds), I chopped up that old one that was sitting around gathering dust, and turned it into a hazyjaneish mei tai sling. Got it right first go. Very proud of myself. The little pumpkin seems to like it, especially the taste apparently. He also enjoys pushing against me with both hands and feet and arching his back out. I think it's some kind of protest for putting him so close to the boobs, without actually offering him any of the good stuff. It's working well, though, and is much more comfortable than any other slings I've tried. I wear it with the straps crossed over at the back, it seems more secure this way and disperses the weight more evenly. Oh, and I don't think I'll be trying the putting-the-baby-on-the-back-unassisted routine at any time soon. Tried that one this morning and kind of dropped him. On the bed, thank god.
p.s. obviously I didn't take that lovely photo, thanks to northern sky for that one, and also some more

buttoned up

so it seems that my little package has arrived safely in vancouver, and the lovely erica liked it! Some buttons made from one of my favourite vintage fabrics, originally some cute little cafe curtains, one of which we have hanging in the lounge room. If there was actually any light in our lounge room, I may be able to share a photo of that, but there is not, so I can't. I made for erica a sunglass case, which was the most universally useful thing I could come up with. It's hard to make something for someone you know nothing about (I didn't know about her blog until after I'd posted the package). I think I did alright.
There's not been much sewing happening lately, as you may well expect, just finishing off some orders and gifts, and also working on a website for my good friend helen. Yes, apparently I am now a web designer. Helen is my yoga teacher and is one of those people who makes you feel good just to be around them. She does pregnancy, postnatal and astanga classes, as well as birth rehearsal workshops. I'm really loving doing the postnatal classes. Now, if I could just manage to pull my finger out and actually do some at home as well...

small faces

I've been thinking about "deleting" the bears for a while, as I was finding them a bit boring, but after receiving an order for one, I decided I might just try to make them a bit more special, because they are kind of fun. So now they have faces. I'm pretty happy with them, although the general concensus around here was that they look a bit like a teletubbie. I'm just going to ignore that one.
It's been pretty rainy around here, so there's been lots of time spent indoors, fitting in little bits of crafting here and there. I decided that I couldn't live with a plain white shirt for the babe, so this morning a mushroom was added. Now you're going to have to put up with cute baby photos.

rainy day

had a home day today, with the boys. No school due to nasty weather and coughs. Now, usually, this would spell chaos, as fin and willow always end up fighting at some stage, especially when cooped up in the house, but for some reason, today was different. No fights, no screaming. They even managed a bit of crafting together, a bit of dinosaur doco-viewing, and a bit of lego. It was the little one who was a ratbag, although I did manage to put him to sleep with the soothing sounds of the vacuum cleaner. Apparently, he likes it, so there's no more excuses for not vaccuuming now. He slept long enough for me to finish this order, which has been hanging around for a while.
I'm still getting used to the idea of having three children. Sometimes I forget, and then it's like, "oh, there's three of them, where did they all come from?" and it has occurred to me that it's easier to misplace one, the more you have. It was easy with two, we had one each, but now I'm finding that I have to be more on my toes. The other day, we caught up with some friends at the local oval, where the kids could run off some energy after school, and after chatting to the other mums for a little while, I realised that willow was missing (if anyone is going to go missing, it will be willow). After a few brief moments of panic, I caught sight of his sunny little face in the middle of a tree some distance away. Mental note: don't rely on small children to hang around listening to intriguing adult conversation when there are trees to be climbed.

more good stuff

went for a walk in the sunshine today, to the shops with mum, and dropped into the local vinnies as we always do, and scored the above loot. Apparently I am doing something right lately and the vinnies gods are smiling upon me. (Or would that just be St. Vincent himself? hmmn). Just the other day I was giving my very thrifty mister instructions to find me some red fabric, because it seems to be very hard to come by, and lo and behold, I walk into the local and there are two lovely specimens just waiting for me. You gotta love that. Also, a knitted school cardi I took a punt on for the willow, which he surprisingly loved and wore immediately, and says he will wear to school, as the school jumper hasn't been a big hit. Not cold enough yet, I guess.

Oh, and we're doing this now:
and also this:
I do apologise for that blinding light in the top right hand corner, but it was a bit hard getting him in the shot with all that new-found bounciness.

a pleasant day

finally had a good day today after a few ordinary ones (won't go into too much detail here, except to say that there was a dissatisfied ebay customer with very poor communication skills involved, amongst other things). Rearranged the kitchen successfully this morning whilst the baby slept, and then reluctantly had to go to the shops for nappies and other necessary supplies. On my way out the door, glanced at the rather large bag of stuff to go to the oppy, which has been sitting there for some weeks, and decided that I would in fact take it there on my way, as I'm a little tired of looking at it. I tend to have these big clean outs and get rid of things that we don't use or are sick of, and put them all in a big bag in the front room, where they inevitably stay for weeks, or even months until I finally get sick of looking at them and actually get rid of them. Does anyone else do that?
Anyhoo, since we were at the oppy anyways, we had a little look, as we often do, and found the very thing I was about to have to go and buy brand new, a size 0 bonds suit. Would you believe that when fin was a baby I didn't know about the tucky-in hand cuffs? That is one clever idea. Also found these very groovy pants, mmm, velour! After that we went to the big scary shopping centre and found a "parents with prams" park right outside the front door. What are the chances of that? All in all, nothing outstandingly marvelous happened today, but things went smoothly, and smooth is what I like.
in other good news, this lovely book arrived in the post for me last week, and I've been quietly devouring snippets of it mainly while feeding jasper, which seems fairly appropriate I guess. I'm really enjoying this one, just for the simple fact that it inspires me and has reminded me of some everyday things we can do as a family to make life more interesting (although I'm not sure we really needed much help in that department!). And guess what, it's a signed copy!! I did consider pre-ordering this one when that option became available last year, but that was never really going to happen, because I always forget to do these things. So, when I saw it in her shop recently, I went ahead and bought it. Well, actually to tell the truth, I told the mr to buy it, for mothers day. So, I guess good things really do come to those who wait.

happy birthday dear us

today was the "royal birthday", as it's become known around here. For anyone who doesn't know, arran and I share the same birthday...a fact which was kinda cute for the first few years we were together, but now is wearing a bit thin. It just occurred to me today that we've probably subjected ourselves to a lifetime of joint presents from our kids. They had the mothers day stall at school today, and there was also a bit of mothers day craft going on, and I think willow may have become a little confused with the whole thing and given me my mothers day present for my birthday. Who can expect a five year old to differentiate between a birthday and mother's day? After all, I'm a mother and it's my birthday. I think he may still have something up his sleeve, though, which he was trying very hard to keep a secret on the way home from school...apparently it's really special, because you can use it again and again, and you have to light it with a match. Hmm, wonder what it could be???
We are displaying quite an interest in matches and candles lately, now that we are five. It's funny how you forget how much development happens in six months at this age. Last winter he barely showed an interest in the lighting of the fire, yet this year he's getting the match out of the box for me and helping me to get the fire going. (I must add here that we are very wary of young children handling matches and so forth...but I am of the opinion that children must learn about these things rather than not be allowed to touch them).
Anyway, this has the potential to turn into one of my ramblings, so I'll leave off with some of the things I've loved about my birthday::
getting to spend the day with my partner-in-birthdays, and what a yummy sunny day it was,
my birthday shoes (sorry, no photos yet),
birthday vouchers for massages and/or pampering (thanks mum and ana!)
finding a whole lot of flowery loveliness on my back table this morning from all of my loves, dogs included, which will tomorrow make they're way into my newly refreshed vege garden,
a perfectly well-behaved baby during a perfectly lovely birthday lunch and also a sleeping baby during an evening with friends, oh you've gotta love that,
one or two or four glasses of bubbly,
sharing my birthday with my best friend, even if it does mean that I don't get to be the centre of attention... I hear that can be over-rated anyway.

some days are slower than others

today was all about nothing. This lovely scene depicting our washing on the line basically sums up what I achieved today. Oh, that and banana and pear bread, which I must say went rather well. It was one of those days where I had every intention of getting some stuff done, because jasper seemed to be getting into a bit of a groove and I stupidly thought that if I just stayed home for the day, he would have some little naps, and I would be able to do stuff. But no. Because some days are about smiling and some days are about crying. Today was about crying. And not sewing. Oh, don't worry, I didn't get all in a huff about it, because I find it very hard to get angry with the sweetness that is jasper, it's just frustrating, when you spend every bit of the little bit of spare time you actually had, doing the washing. The washing, that is, that seems to be taking on a life of it's own, and today took up not only the big line, but two smaller ones as well. Ah, bring on the holiday, when I won't care if the kids are filthy and I've been wearing the same pair of jeans for a week.
In brighter news, I think I have a new second-favourite female artist (I don't think hope sandoval will ever be removed from no.1 position). My sweet man brought me home a present yesterday, as he often does, and which is one of the reasons that I'm still here doing the washing. It was the new cd from laura marling, and it's good. Very good. Check it out.

a very thrifty easter

this morning we got the little man all dressed up in his new hazyjanes that I whipped up yesterday morning while he slept for three hours, and his very funky tie dyed jacket from the lovely bohemian babes, and braved the weather to attend the annual patonga easter fete. Fin and willow both had colouring competition entries to enter, so it was a great excuse to get out of the house for a while. And look what the thrifting fairies had waiting for me:

yeah, I'm pretty darn happy with that flowery letter rack, I like the way it says "memos" rather than "bills". So much friendlier, don't you think? Another letter rack, because, you know, you can never have too many of those, a few vintage kids books, a nice little plate, and that wonderful vintage bassinet, which happens to be exactly what I've been looking for, to take away on holidays in a couple of weeks. Sadly, the kids did not win the colouring competition, but they were consoled with scones with jam and cream; my boys do like to partake in the odd devonshire tea if there's one going on.

I thought I might also add today a "real" corner of our home, because a friend who reads my blog came over recently and commented on how neat and tidy the place always looks in the pics, and how do I manage it with the kids? Well, the truth is, I don't really. The place generally looks like a bomb's gone off somewhere and also, one would think that it is a carpenter's shop, because on every available surface you might find a tape measure, maybe some screws, the odd wood sample, or if you're very lucky, even a power saw. I do have random cleaning frenzies, and arrange all my things, like my prized pippi longstocking book that the lovely mr bought me for christmas, so that they look nice, but then someone comes along with a roll of tape, or a deck of pokemon cards, and we start all over again. I've come to realise that everything in life is a work in progress, and that living with four boys will always be messy.

yes, it was a good friday

this basket o' bunnies (and friends) went off to jasmine greens yesterday, whence they will hopefully wander off and find new homes with all those poor little people who can't have chockies at easter time. I say this with true sadness in my heart, as I can't imagine an easter, or a life for that matter, without chocolate. I have just now devoured half of a red tulip elegant rabbit (thanks, ty) and am looking forward to a weekend indoors with the good stuff, as it is of course raining, as it does at easter time on the east coast of australia. It's been stinking hot all week, which was a bit of a shock to the system after a very autumn-like summer ( I think I mentioned that before), and when I reminded mr. arran that it would in fact be raining on the weekend because of the easter thing, he didn't believe me, but then when we woke this morning, there it was, just as predicted. But, you know, I'm pretty happy about it, because we're not travelling anywhere, and because chocolate is so much more enjoyable when you can snuggle indoors and enjoy it with other good stuff like more chocolate in the form of hot cocoa. However, if it is raining in two weeks time, when we pack up and head north on a little adventure, I will not be so happy, because me and four boys in a van in the rain is not really my idea of a good time.

some hairs are longer than others

remember this little face? Well, after hanging out with a blue cattle dog for the past six months, she didn't turn out quite as pristine as one could expect from a breed with an "oodle" on the end. Because, you know, they did tell me that she would need brushing, and I was like "yeah yeah, just give me the dog", and then I went and had a baby, and a few things got forgotten about. Like brushing the dog. Then I started to notice that the dog was putting on a bit of weight, mainly in the rear end, so she was given the dubious title of "fat arse". And then one day, I gave that fat arse a bit of a pat, and discovered that it was in fact one giant fur ball, so matted that not even water could penetrate the giant tangled mass. I did consider handing her over to the groomers, but then thought better of it, in case they just took one look at her and called the RSPCA, so to the scissors we went. After about two hours of combing and clipping, the back deck looked like it had been the venue for a beginners class in sheep shearing, and that was only stage one, we still have the back legs to do. However, now that arse isn't so fat anymore, and sally has decided that she likes the layered look.

how many am I mum?

yesterday was willow's fifth birthday. Five at last! He kept asking me "how many" he is, and when I would answer, "nearly five", "four and a half", or "four and three quarters", he would get very frustrated because he wanted to be a whole number. So now he's five, and he's happy. And he's actually of school age, which is good, considering there are kids in his class who are already six. I bought him a little ukelele for his birthday, which he is most impressed with, and he now plays it to jasper to put him to sleep. As you can see in the picture, jasper is really enjoying that. There was of course a birthday song, which went something like this (to the tune of "I won't back down"):

"Where the viking goes and it's backing down

and it's going high and low

and then I tested out the bestest dragon in the whole entire world

and then I became the viking king

and then I destroyed all the bad boys"

Yeah, I think we have a song writer on our hands here.

lurking

the things you find hiding under the seats when you finally decide to clean your car...

it's...a new car!

I'm still in a bit of a sewing funk at the moment, I just can't be bothered starting anything. I did need a new bag, though, because I like to travel light and can't bring myself to haul one of those huge nappy bags around with me everywhere I go. So, I made myself this "in-between" bag, which is big enough to hold a few baby essentials and my stuff as well. I'm liking it very much. Almost as much as my NEW CAR!!! (well, second-hand camry actually). Things were getting a little cramped in the laser, so I've joined the land of real parents and bought a stationwagon.
Now, the thing you need to realise about me is that I can be very stubborn, and I really like to do things differently from others (well, you probably already guessed that, yeah?), sometimes to the point where it becomes impractrical. I can't believe I'm admitting to that. When fin was a baby, I used only cloth nappies on him, and arran's favourite story to tell about my craziness is the one where we went on a camping trip for a week up the north coast with only cloth nappies, because I insisted that I didn't want any disposable nappies touching the precious bottom of my baby boy. Imagine us, the baby, the dog, all our stuff and a bag of dirty nappies in a van for a week. Don't worry, I did wash along the way! I also used to go on about how I would never own a mobile phone, because the world had functioned perfectly well for thousands of years without them, and I didn't like the idea of digital cameras, and wasn't real keen on computers either.
I went and got myself a mobile phone as soon as fin started pre school, because I couldn't bear the thought of them not being able to contact me. I now have my own digital camera and laptop. And I now have a car with an alarm, an immobiliser for god's sake and one of those push button thingies on your keyring that unlocks and locks all the doors (very handy with small baby in the arms). And you know what, I love it. I still wouldn't go so far as to say I couldn't live without these things, though. There are times when I still miss my old Hillman Hunter and taking photos on film and not having to buy mobile phone credit, but I must say, life is a lot easier with these little luxuries.