A Grand Old Day

Afternoon my dears!  Morning to my other dears!  Yes I'm chirpy today, am I not?  About time really.  I've been someone else lately I'm afraid.  But as from yesterday I'm back.  Yep and I'm back into my sewing which is very nice.  Not really sure why I've been a bit odd lately, perhaps it's because it's my last year with my darling little sausage at home and I'm missing her already.  Silly aren't I?  Never mind, I'm just going to get on with it again and start having fun once again.  Lots of sewing and doing fun things.  The man says I'm always much better when I am busy with my makings.

So let me introduce you to...  OK I haven't actually named him/her!  Not that it matters as it's my first toy to donate to my 'Gift of Love' Appeal.  An enormous thank you to you lovely ladies who have offered to make some things for the Christchurch people.  They will be much appreciated I'm quite sure.

The bunny came from the Softies book.  I've always like this rabbit for it's simply design and the fact that a little poppet can hold him/her so easily.  I'm betting those denim ears will taste pretty good too!   Do you like his tail?  It's a piece of Moda tape with cute dots on it.  I was also thinking that I could embroider some tape with a word like hope or love.  But I've run out of tape after making lots of name labels for No.1's school uniform.

Yesterday was a very grand day as I also made pumpkin soup for a special guest coming for a sleep-over on Thursday!   I know, a real sleep-over!!  All will be revealed later in the week.  And you know what??  That pretty pumpkin came out of our compost bin!!  Do you think I should hide this fact from our guest?  Yes probably!  It's it just the juiciest, orangey, pumpkin you ever did see? 

Last evening, after a great day, No.4 took her Daddy to kindy for a special Daddy's night.  They ate fish'n'chips and sang songs.  Sooo cute!  Anyway we weren't going to miss out on some fun, so the rest of us bought our fish'n'chips and ate them at a local park. 

Aren't we so very lucky to have this gorgeous park only ten minutes from where we live?  It's quite new so the plants are a bit small.  But the landscaping sure makes up for it.

The girls walked up this man-made hill.  I didn't want to risk breaking my shoes so I waited at the bottom.  Boring I know.  The big girls roller bladed around and No.3 enjoyed scooting on her squeaky scooter.  Must get the CRC out for that wee problem.

The evening was just perfect.  Warm, not windy and very peaceful.  Just look at that heavenly blue sky. 

Well I better get my boots on and get a bit of house tidying done before it's full of children once more.  Not that they will care of course!  Does your house always look messy?  Ours sure does, every jolly day!  Alright, have a super duper day yourselves!  See you next time!

NYR's

I've reeled you in with my amazingly coloured Zinnias haven't I?  I adore their colour so much in my vegetable garden.  Aren't they just the cheeriest flowers out?  How could you not be happy looking at their beauty?  Anyway I went out and bought another five pots of them yesterday as I just can't get enough of them!!  Yum-me!  Consider these a Happy New Year gift for you, from me. 

Now I'm not really one to do New Year's Resolutions, but... this year I decided that we would each make one for another member of our family.  No.1 drew my name out of the box.  Lucky me, look what she wrote...

Isn't her writing just a tip?  Her bedroom is exactly the same!  Anyway isn't she just the sweetest?  Hubby and I nearly wet ourselves reading it.  I mean does she really think I clean all day??  Has she not noticed the huge folding pile?  Well she didn't mention cooking so I guess I'm not hiding the fact that I haven't cooked for days.  But spending more time sewing and gardening sounds rather lovely.  I actually was thinking that I should cut back a bit this year, but clearly not.

So I did exactly what I was told.  I've been very busy in the garden all this week in the boiling sunshine getting the garden back into some sort of order.  The tomatoes are finally staked.

The pumpkins are doing a splendid job in the compost heap.  All self sown I might add.  Yes the whole pumpkin I'd say!  I have no idea just how many pumpkins I'll end up with but we'll all be making pumpkin soup, pie, quiche and more for some time I'm sure.  This year I'm planning to use my new garden diary and garden by the moon.  Should be better for me as I will know what to do when.

And of course I must do some sewing!  A new quilt just cut out ready for sewing.  I actually pinned and started quilting a quilt for No.1 last night.  Long overdue!  Of course I ran out of thread so had to stop mid flight.  Off to the sewing shop for more tomorrow when the shops are open.  Gosh I wonder if Spotlight will be? 

I think I've made a good start to my NYR, don't you?  So funny.  Oh and I took the big girls to the supermarket tonight so that was good quality time, sort of.  Well it was fun except for the trolley running into the heels moment!  And they all had lots of cuddles through the day too.

Moving right along now.  Here's a sneaky peek at our new bedroom I've been promising you...

This is all I can show you as this is basically it.  The ensuite still only has a shower in it and we need to choose the tiles for the floor soon.  The bedroom needs new carpet and the wardrobe is naked.  We also need a new bed and storage either side of our bed.  But for now it's perfect.  It's dark.  It's relaxing.  It's ours.  It's so quiet in the mornings too.  Just heavenly.

Have you made any NYR's?  Don't be too hard on yourself.  It's pretty clear that we are too hard on ourselves.  Go on, have some fun this year, you have permission!

Rocking Rolling Riding

I'm guessing most of you would have heard about the huge 7.1 earthquake that rocked Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand.  I had several very sweet blogger friends worried about us, but we are far from that part of the country luckily.  My brother and his wife and daughter did live through this terrifying experience though.  Their house seems to be fine but hundreds of others didn't fare quite so well.  The central city is completely cordoned off with many beautiful old brick buildings destroyed or crumbling.  Other areas have huge damage to houses, some completely unlivable. 

But no one was killed!  Amazing really as there have been some very lucky survival stories and plenty of injuries.  Apparently if you are going to have a major earthquake, then 4.35am is a good time to have one.  If it had been during the day, it would have been another story.  The damage is just tragic to look at.  All that upheaval for a city is too much to imagine.  How long it will take for most people to get back to a fairly normal life is unknown.  Schools are opening tomorrow if all goes well.  Some workplaces will never open again.

Daughter No.1 went off to school today to try and organise a fundraising collection for the people of Christchurch, after thinking that her $5 might not make much of a difference.  I explained to her, if everyone in NZ gave $5 then it really would make a difference.  Every little bit helps even if it just buys a few bottles of much needed water.  Those people would be very grateful indeed. 

Now while all the news coverage has been on, I've been busy sewing.  What else would one do in a crisis?!!  Anyway, now you might not believe this, but I actually made myself a dress!!!  Shock horror I know, and with my white legs!  I was put off making myself clothes as they never seem to look good after all the work put into them.  And I'm not sure if this was a huge success either. But, perhaps with a little belt or tie around the waist it will be OK.  I'm not sure about the sack look really.  It will be lovely to wear in hot Australia in a few weeks.

I've also completed my stocking swap.  I've decided to get on with swaps at the beginning while I'm still excited about them.  So here is a little sneaky peak at it...

It's double sided just in case one side isn't really her.  It's a surprise swap (meaning we don't directly swap stockings) so I don't think I'll be spoiling it for anyone.  I've not known my swap partner before this so I'm sure she won't know me either. 

I really enjoyed making her stocking and using lots of lovely Christmas reds, which of course I have plenty of.  I have made two presents to put in it as well.  I must get it packaged up and sent off soon.  First I must buy some goodies for her children, I know they always like to get things too.

And if you thought I might sit back and relax a while, wrong!  The big girls picked out some fabrics for me to make them dresses too.  I rather like them.  Bet you know which is my favourite fabric.  Yep, the red spotty one of course.

I don't know about you, but my house is a complete tip.  Yes it usually is, but really I should at least hunt out the vacuum cleaner I think.  All those threads on the carpet are starting to look pretty messy.  I do hope you are having an uneventful week.  There is too much bad stuff happening in the world for my liking.

A Parcel for Little 0ld Me!

It's a funny sort of day today.  It started off foggy, then it rained off and on, and now it's got a bit colder.  But all is good because today my big girls are going to walk their little sister home from school, so I can pick up No.4 from kindy a little later than usual.  It's going to be a regular thing on kindy days.  Well that is if they don't all arrive home in tears after fighting all the way home.  It's only up the road, so there isn't much time for arguments at least. 

Look what I found in my post box today... 

mmm... sounds interesting doesn't it?  It's come from Luisa in Australia.  Check out the inside of the card.  I wonder if she made the paper herself.  I love homemade papers.

And wow just look at what she has made for me!  Two linen fresheners with her own mix of lavender, cloves and huon pine (an Aussie thing) and they smell just heavenly.  I can't wait to use them.  My drawers don't have anything pretty smelling (or awful smelling either thank you!) in them, so these will come in handy indeed.

There is also a very beautifully wrapped soap that I'll keep for years probably before using, because I do struggle with using such nice things.  Silly isn't it?  I love the red corrugated card around the soap.

What do you think about her choice of fabrics?  Pretty perfect for me aren't they?  As soon as I unwrapped them I laughed out loud (which was a bit embarrassing really as I was on my own) as they were so perfectly me.  Thank you so much for your thoughtful gift Luisa. You must pop on over and visit her blog when you get a chance.  She'd be very happy to see you I'm sure.

And now back to reality.  There are dishes in the sink but at least they look cheerful.  Piles of folded washing to put away in drawers.  Bit of games and toys scattered all over the house.  Paper and pens galore all over the coffee table.  More washing to fold.  And of course a nice hot cuppa and a rest before kindy pick up.  Well I'm hoping there will still be time for that.

Tonight we are having a lovely roast chicken for dinner.  I love roasts very much so I don't mind cooking for a change.  I really don't like the peeling vegetable stage very much. Perhaps when I'm peeling my own homegrown veggies it will be more fun.  One can only hope.  Have yourselves a wonderful day and thank you so much for visiting me.

Rubbish is Not a Disposable Item

It all started with this book...

which has some fantastic chapters on shopping, recycling, green cleaning and growing your own vegetables.  As you may know, I am now cleaning with baking soda, salt and white vinegar with fabulous results.  I take bags with me on all shopping expeditions, so there is no reason to collect yet another plastic bag.  I've even taken goods out of bags and left them at the counter.  Do I get a gold star for that? 

This NZ Gardener magazine style book was gifted to my mother after sending them a recipe.  It's such a great read.  I read nearly all of it in one sitting.  Anyway now I am thinking what we can do to reduce wastage, packaging and money and lead a simple life eating more natural products instead of packaged ones. 

My hen hopes have been dashed due to regulations in our area.  Seems you need them to be ten metres from a house and three metres from a boundary fence.  That means they would be in negative space.  Now we wouldn't want that for some feathery friends would we? 

In our area we are all given a huge 240 litre wheelie bin for our recycling.  That's always been a great thing for us, as we sure put out a fair bit of paper and plastic each fortnight.  But I still feel bad about the amount of packaging that goes in there each day.  Honestly the bin is packed to the brim.  So...

from now on when I visit the supermarket I need to remember to take my bags with me, including the bulk bin ones.  If I buy from the bulk bins with recycled bags I will not be consuming any packaging at all.  If I buy other goods in bulk there will be less packaging in the long run.  It's not always cheaper, but perhaps if we make a fuss about it things will change.  And I'm hoping that our bin will be much lighter next collection day.  I'll keep you informed on that one.

I will bake all our bread so I won't be left with a bread bag each day.  I've worked out a really quick and easy way to make the bread too.  I filled five ice cream containers with all the dry ingredients minus the yeast.  So now when I want to make a loaf I just have to empty a container into the maker, add water, oil and the yeast.  All done in 30 seconds!  You can't beat the heavenly smell of it cooking and I know it's better for our family too.

Warning, real life photo ahead!!!!!!!!!!!

These bins now reside on our bench.  It's our food scraps and egg shell collection points.  All scraps, minus fats and meats, end up in here instead of down the sink.  The drain will thank me for that too as it regularly blocks up.  (Hubby too for that matter!) 

The plot to the far right is now my dig-in compost plot.  I'm going for this method as I don't want to buy a compost bin.  It should keep the smells away too.  The rest of the garden is looking pretty flash too after a day in the garden yesterday.  I found 22 self seeded lettuces too under the mass of weeds - bonus!  Oh and plenty of parsley plants too. 

A trip to the garden centre provided me with loads of seed packets.  There is plenty of time to start with seeds instead of buying punnets.  Besides I have so many empty punnets behind the shed waiting to be recycled. 

Shhh, the babies are sleeping in the nursery.  Daughter No.1 helped me plant the seeds and made name tags for them out of recycled yoghurt lids. 

I was finding The Challenge of the Utmost Kind a little unchallenging, (probably because of all the clauses I added!) so I am hoping that this will be more challenging for me.  I'm just going about it quietly and trying to make it a normal everyday life thing.  Feel free to join me if you think you need to improve in this area.

T for Terrific!

Just popping in to say "hi everyone".  The weather has been quite spectacular these holidays and we have been out and about most days this week.  You really would think it were Spring it's so warm.  OK the mornings are a bit chilly with frosts in some places, but I'd rather have that than the grotty rain we were having for weeks on end. 

So what have we been up to you ask?  Well we've been to feed the ducks at the Domain (home of Botanic Gardens and Museum), climbed trees,

found out where bananas really come from, built sandcastles at the beach, ate ice blocks, been to Shrek the movie, had more sleepovers,

eaten out, make two pathetic volcanoes, taken books out of the library,

written speeches for school, made toffee apples for the first time, cleaned the pantry, done loads of washing, discovered the joy of cleaning with baking soda and vinegar,

spent a little 'me time' on the sewing machine and having a bit of fun with the alphabet,

and generally keeping rather busy.  And yes, now I am tired.  I need a little rest this afternoon.  Oh and we have the 'T' Party to prepare for tonight.  We have been out to the supermarkets in search of 'T' goodies today and we found quite a nice selection too.  The girls are excited about their feast and their 'treat' each too.  

Next time I'll have to show you what we ate at the party.  And no it won't be pancakes and corn fritters!  I'm thinking of making these into a tea towel wall hanging.  Don't you get annoyed at having to get out the same recipes all the time?  Well now I won't have to.  I still have quite a few to stitch and they are terribly time consuming, but fun.

Golly three year olds are funny!  No.4 has just come out all grotty because her biggest sister wants to watch Harry Potter and she wants to watch one of the girls movies.  Little girl ones she means.  The face and talking is too funny.  She does pretend cross very well these days. 

Anyway must be off.  Stuff to do.  Potatoes to peel.  Fights to sort out.  The joy of holidays is wearing off!!  But I am enjoying having all my girls at home with me really.  See you next time!

Eight Things About Me

Kate over at Fox's Lane has just answered eight questions we had for her.  Now I am going to have a turn as well.  I don't usually talk about myself much, let alone show photos of myself.  So here goes!

Favourite meal to eat?  Easy!  I have always loved a roast dinner, lamb with mint jelly if given the choice, with peas, carrots, kumera, pumpkin and gravy.  I'll have the potatoes too if necessary, but can easily go without them.  My lunchtime treat would be chicken sushi.

Do you have a quirky eccentricity?  Well apparently my whole face moves around when I eat, especially my nose.  Gosh that's so rude hubby!  He also says the whole place could be coming down around my ears and I'd still be concentrating on my current project.  That could be a good thing, it means I have good focus, right?

My middle name is Frances.  I do not like it at all.  I tried to give my girls  middle names that they would be proud of.  They are Jessica, Rose, Amelia and Eliza.  So far they love them.  I'm hoping Sophie Eliza likes hers!  I wanted her to be named Greta but hubby wouldn't have a bar of it. 

I am passionate about my girls having a childhood like we had.  Doing normal things children seem to do less of these days.  Playing together, playing board games, outdoor games, reading, riding bikes, drawing, having fun.  Not playing on the computer, watching too much TV, or homework.

Thongs or Birkenstocks?  Thongs are knickers over in NZ so we'll call them jandals right away!  And I have no idea what Birkenstocks are.  I wear proper shoes all year round.  Jandals around the house and for hanging out the washing.  I hate shoe shopping and only have one or two pairs of shoes on the go at any time. 

Who was I before I had kids?  I was a traveller and someone who always wanted to get married and have babies.  I've done all that and have really enjoyed myself.  I took myself off to London when I was is my early 20's and worked for a year as a live-in nanny.  I spent my weekends travelling around England and several other countries on my own and have many wonderful memories of my time there. 

 

Have I ever been arrested?  Heck no!  That's so not me.  Boring to some but just the way I am.  I hate the thought of ever loosing my freedom.

This weekend I have spent a great deal of time crocheting my Grannies.  I've done so many of them too.  I'm very pleased with my progress as I've been very slack lately with them.  My first love is sewing but I've learned to love crochet too. 

So who else wants to join in and have a go?  It's good for us to share about ourselves and not just our crafts.  Let me know if you are going to join in the comments section.

Now that my apron swap is sort of over, although my apron hasn't quite arrived here yet, I've decided that next weekend we should have a show and tell.  All you have to do is put my apron button at the top of your post, or a photo of you apron if you struggle with buttons.  And then pop a photo or two of the apron you made and the one you have received.  It should be a lot of fun to see them all at the same time.  Any day next weekend will do as we are all in different time zones. 

Hope you are all enjoying a great week!  Catch you later on. 

Yesterday...

I dropped No.4 off at kindy. 

She loves her kindy. 

She doesn't love mat time however. 

Still she will in time and the head hanging and the tears will leave.

(The kindy sign)

The day was just perfect for a sit in a park. 

With a wonderful pile of new crafty library books.

An apple and a fancy drink.

The sun was really hot and the sky was so blue.

This little park is fairly new and so cute and round.

Unfortunately they had just cut the grass and it was all a little short and muddy.

But that didn't matter, for I had a whole hour to myself.

A whole hour to just sit and read and be inspired by all the exciting projects in my books.

Then I felt the need to go and see my baby girl. 

And there she was, sitting by herself on the mat, looking very sad.  A huge wet hug followed and then we made some Christmas cards.  Yes that's right.  Christmas cards.  My girl is going to be very prepared this year!