Cliche alert...

Spring has sprung!

Gone batty...

Spectacled Flying-foxes at Cairns Library.


I've been up in Cairns for the last couple of days... And returned tonight somewhat thawed after a couple of 20+ degree days. While I was in heaven, Nath's been through hell. Poor kidlets have been sick, and poor husband is much tired by the experience. I'm not going to be allowed to go away for quite a while...

There's lots of me to go around.

I don't like having my photo taken. Occasionally someone will take a photo I don't mind, and it will likely be a head-only shot*. Cos I don't like the rest of the package being photographed. The neck-down bit. Too bulgy. You know? Of course you do. Most of us have body image issues. And I've never been 'down' with exercising, and even less so since we had kids. And I like fatty, carb-loaded and sweet stuff. And for some reason I don't lose weight. Der!!! Not really a surprise. One of my recent favourite quotes (i collect them) is "Nothing will change, if I don’t do anything different".

So I'm giving this whole eat less crap, exercise more thing a go. I found an exercise that appeals to me (exercise bike in front of the tv in the warmth) and a process to avoid avoidance (get into exercise clothes before I put kids to bed so I can get straight on bike afterwards) and logging most of my food at calorieking.com.au which gives me a bit better of an idea of the nutritional value of the food that I'm eating. Like that hot chips are 450 calories. Ouch. I mean, I knew they were not great, but when I'm aiming for 1400 calories a day that's a fair whack of calories. Especially when you add the red licorice... and a finger bun. But I digress. I'm not going to harp on about this, but for the first time possibly in my life I'm exercising with a focus and while not exactly enjoying it, I'm proud of myself for doing it. 10km a night on the bike. Yay.

So maybe sometime in the next year I might like seeing a full-length photo of myself. And that might be nice.

*I even stopped liking head-shots recently due to my hair dresser refusing to remedy a lullet (lady mullet) that was developing at the base of my skull. I've now had it seen to and can be allowed out in public again.

Check

Empty house? Check
Tissues? Check
Humidifier? Check
Vicks - applied liberally to all available flesh? Check
Comfort food - ham, cheese, tomato toastie, pikelets with butter, jam and cream, macaroni cheese awaiting?* Check
Tea? Check
Bed? Check
Laptop with Bleak House ready to go? Check
Heavily congested head and sinus pain? Check

All ready for the day then.

Image from http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh297/kbroglio/?action=view&current=sick-girl_032909.jpg&newest=1

*I never lose my appetite when sick...

What a difference a day (or two) makes...

So after an awful Monday, I had a wonderful Tuesday at a training course! It was enough to renew my spirits (surprising, no?) and on Wednesday and Thursday had a much better attitude. Lots of breathing and trying not to think to much really helped!!

And yesterday I was home with the kidlets.

Since Lil started school I've not had both of them for a full day - it was nice! Primarily because I looked at it in terms of what I could do to make it fun for them - rather than trying to get my stuff done. We went down to the school carpark and Lil showed me how she learned to ride her bike (on Tuesday with my Dad). She was pretty good! Then we went for coffee and a play in the big mushroom at the Belconnen Markets with my sister. Lil ran into a kid from her school who is known as the 'naughty boy'. I didn't know it was the NB. They played nicely and laughed and had a great time. Until it was time to go and he yelled 'bye bye f**king head' - which is his hallmark farewell. Then I knew it was the NB... Otherwise he seemed lovely. I'm loathe to label him a naughty boy, because, well, people in glass houses and all that.

And now its the weekend again. I was just cruising through my blogs and my head nearly exploded when I saw that one of my embroidery pieces was featured on Craft! So hello if you've come by from there. Ironically, I made the picture when I was cleaning out my embroidery floss, which Nana had gifted to me because she no longer used it. Then Nana asked for it all back and I couldn't say no because it was all hers... so I'm not doing much embroidery at the mo! I did do the embroidery button swap over at feeling stitchy and did these for Quinne


And she sent me this lovely package:




Anyhoo, I'm off to visit a friend that just had a bub (great reason to start a baby cardy) and then to Mum's for dinner. Enjoy yours!

P.S The roses are from my inlaws garden. They not only look stunning but they smell divine!

Longing

Last weekend saw me and four spectacular women head down to Longbeach for a girls weekend.

It was pretty hard work.

We had dinner in the Bay on Friday night

then headed back to our humble accomodation...

On Saturday brunched in the Bay and gathered supplies so we had no further need to leave our house.

The other four went for a run and a swim. I did not (see post on aversion to sand).

Our mobile masseuse came to the house and massaged us in turn (for 7 hours!!).

Then we sat and read and talked and knitted and slept and listened to the beach and music and had facials and did our nails and ate and drank and generally relaxed.

It was wonderful. We didn't have to do any parenting, or nagging, or warning or disciplining. We didn't use the TV or the internet (although the phones were a must so we could hear how the boys faired without us).

It was a perfect weekend. And I'm already longing for the next one...

Only a mother could love...

As a parent, there are no more attractive children than your own.

From the moment their mushed up faces emerge from within you, you are smitten.

Every smile lights up your heart like a little bushfire.

Their eyes dance with laughter and your soul soars.

You peer into the prams of other parents and say 'aren't they gorgeous!' while thinking 'but not a patch on my little sproglett'

And then - one random Saturday - your son; your pride; your joy says 'Mummy...'

But when you turn around it seems all that pride in your child's seems ill-placed...



Then of course the older child wants to join in.


And yes, the backwards facing goggles have been removed and the faces have returned to normal. And yet, the image remains burned into my retinas.

The big O

Not a huge Oscar's fan but...



Tina Fey looks great!


SJP does not.

Coasting and such

We went away for a couple of days this weekend, being the Canberra Day long weekend. Nath and I are generally homebodies and don't really like going away. Nathan and I also don't like sand. Or sun. Or sweating. So the coast is pretty much the worst place we could be... but the kids love the beach so it was coastward bound we found ourselves.


Between gritted and gritty teeth we wandered and splashed and played.



I guess it wasn't so bad.




That is until the Ben Hur of the spider world found its way into the house. (Nathan and I also don't like spiders.)


We had an epic battle disposing of this bread-and-butter-plate-size arachnid. Amid much spraying and screaming and jumping and running (ours, not the kids) we emerged victorious. It has confirmed our belief that we must train Paterson to be the great white spider hunter.

And on the way home we had our third experience with 'gum in the hair thanks to Willy Wonka'. From memory, when the Violet Beauregard character (in both versions of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is about to try the three course meal gum, she takes out her current piece of gum and sticks it behind her ear.

Three times Lily has attempted this.

Three times she's had large chunks of hair removed from her scalp. Because I'm not that mother that's going to go through several hours of bright-blue chewing gum removal so she still looks normal. I'm the mother that hacks the blue right out and leaves a hole where the hair should be, because she never looks like she brushes it anyway.

Rosie

Lily and Rosie 2006

This morning we had our cat, Rosie, put down.

I've spoken about Rosie before. As I said in that post Nathan and I got her from the RSPCA just before the 2003 Canberra Bushfires. We found a little cat, about 6-12 months old who was likely to be put down because she wasn't a cute little kitten anymore and decided to take her home. She was a big-looking cat, but was actually just really furry. We called her Rosie.

Rosie loved being with us. She used to sit beside us all night. She sat on my belly when I was pregnant with Lil. But she had been absent more since the children arrived - primarily to escape too much loving. 'Rosie' was one of the first words Lily ever said. She crawled so that she could catch Rosie. Lily used to eat her food. She was often found sleeping under Paterson's cot. Paddy used to try to copy me whistling for her, cupping his hands around his mouth and calling 'who hoo'. She taught Paddy a valuable lesson about problem solving; one day he was trying to hit her with a plastic golf club and she hid under the sideboard. He notice the golf club wasn't long enough for him to be able to reach her, so he dropped it and went and found something longer... (clever, and slightly sociopathic...)

When I got home yesterday i knew something wasn't quite right. She seemed to have a problem with her back leg. I made a vet appointment, and then went to get her to bring her in the house so I'd know where to find her in time for the appointment. She sat quietly on the couch between me and Paddy; Paddy still and very gentle with her for a change. Lily and I took her to the vet and he when she got up to walk he noticed she was walking in circles, and only turning to the left. Apparently it was indicative of brain trauma, or infection. He dosed her up on antibiotics and kept her overnight, saying that if it were infection then we should see a big improvement by morning. And if not, then the kindest thing to do would be to put her down.

She didn't improve overnight.

So this morning I went in to see her in her little cage. She was quiet; she never was one to meow much. I patted her and talked to her about all the other noisy animals in the room, tears dropping slowly onto my shirt. She began to purr quietly. She rested her head in my hand and let me rub under her neck. The vet came then, and I picked her up to take her into the consulting room. They shaved her forearm, and I rubbed her neck. She started to purr again. Then meowed as the needle went in. She purred. Then stopped.

And now I'm at home I see her shadow everywhere she should be. I can feel my self prepare to see her, then the disappointment and sadness when I don't.

The worst thing is that this is not a pain that I'll experience alone. We haven't told Lily yet. We plan to pick her and her brother up, and go to the garden centre together to find a Rose to plant to remember her. I hope that helps her, because I don't really know how else to approach it.

So, bye bye Rose. Thanks for the cuddles and purrs and scratches and friendly bites, and putting up with the kids and their attempts to love you. We'll miss you.

Busy bee

Paddy had to have grommets (small tubes, not small surfers) put in his ears on Thursday. He's come through really well, but is very quiet, doesn't want to go outside, and only wants to watch Dora. Poor poppet. But that means that I've been able to get a bit of crafty stuff done that I've wanted to do for ages.

Firstly this.
I think I'd seen something similar on the web somewhere. So on Thursday arvo I painted up this random piece of wood (mdf) blue, then brown. I wanted it to look like a eucalypt forest so just drew some long tree shapes, then yesterday morning started carving them out with my lino cutting tools.

Too easy. MDF is totally the wrong wood - no grain showed through, just that fibrous wood. I was going to clean up the edges, but they look better not being 'sharp'. From a distance it looks great. I can't wait to try it again with some decent wood.


Then this.


I cleaned out my embroidery box the other day and gathered up all the stray floss laying around afterwards. It looked so pretty and so I thought I'd use it for something. I was going for a eye type of image and was going to have all the threads coming out as eyebrows.


But it looked pretty good when they kind of exploded out of that shape. Now I don't really know what it is, but I like it!

Mamma mia...

Last weekend Lily and I went to Melbourne* with her friend M and her mum S.

Lily and M have a love-hate relationship. They've been friends since they first started childcare at 15 months and have been pretty much inseparable since. Except when you have to separate them for their own safety. Or your sanity. In the beginning it was just your standard hair pulling/face biting (seriously)/pushing each other type confrontations. Now they fight about who is the best swimmer, dancer or singer. ALL. THE. TIME. I probably would have discouraged such a competitive friendship long ago, but I really like her mum (and her son gets on really well with Paddy so we won't be parting ways anytime soon). That and the fact that I guess they're kind of like sisters - they fight hard but love harder. And having each other has given them a confidence at school that has been incredible. They are the two that the other kids gravitate to - because they are sure of themselves because they have each other. As long as the other one is there they are fine. And its not like they're totally codependent - they've each made other friends in the three weeks they've been at school. Anyhoo.

We went to Melbourne to see Mamma Mia. The girls love it so we thought we'd do a girls weekend. While waiting for the show we walked around the city a bit and I found my favourite fountain. It reminds me of a similar one in Bathurst...


The girls loved it! They kept re-enacting it - at breakfast, in the hotel foyer, on the tram and down at St Kilda beach.


We went to see the markets and had some lunch down by the beach. It was really nice. Except for the dead jelly fish.



Then it was time to take two very tired, very grumpy children back home. It will be a nice memory for them hopefully. For me it will be a reminder to always take a leash when I'm taking the child to large cities.


* It was a flying visit - and the first time I'd been to Melbourne in 18 months. It made me realise how much I want to go back without any 'hangers on' so that I can catch up with the lovely folk I know down there and see the places I want to see.

I'm hot

Gentle reader. Please allow me permission to boast. I'm hot, and new according to craftster!!!

I'm positive this is random - but how cool to be on the front page of craftster???

FO - lace ribbon scarf

I started this in September 2008 and decided that I had to finish it before beginning anything new*.


So here it is. Lace Ribbon scarf, in merino bambino, knitted on nana's old tortoiseshells. I didn't do as many pattern repeats across the scarf as required and in retrospect I think it may have been a mistake. It's as long as I am tall. It could have been longer but I was bored to tears by the end. Great TV knitting though.


It was knitted for my sister. But as she's sitting on a beach in Mexico at the moment she's not received it. I'm frankly a little offended that she didn't hang around to receive it. Screwy priorities I reckon.

*I did start a little jacket for my step niece in bendy 4 ply... but that doesn't count!

More embroidery

I made this for my sister last year. Another thing that wasn't blogged!


She loves this haiku

Here is the dark tree
Denuded now
Of leafage...
But a million stars

Shiki




I love it too.


I love this embroidery too.

Homage

I first drafted this post before Paterson was born, in mid 2007. I never posted it and I don't know why. The link doesn't have the image i used anymore - but it does have her other work on it.

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Wandering the net one day I found the wonderful Muffin's site... all her illustrations are just delightful, but there was one that truely resonated.

I was so taken with it that I decided to embroider her. I'm nearly all finished - barring the legs. I'm not so happy with my take on her mouth and head incline - Muffin's version captures perfectly the exhaustion? exasperation? resignation? Whatever it is, she's got it right.

In mine she looks almost pleased. And her face is sharper than i'd like. Either way, I'm delighted to have embarked on this endevour, and to know that I once felt that way. Because once this bub is born then I'll never turn my mind to pregnancy again. I also learnt alot about drawing with floss - its hard to get it to look exactly how you envisage it.

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I did email muffin to and had her permission to post her image. I loved working on this. But three years on, its still sitting in my embroidery bag. I must do it some justice sometime. Check back in 2013!

Embroidery from the past

My paternal grandfather celebrated (I use the term loosely) his 90th birthday in Bathurst on the weekend.

(we lit the candles and he walked away... overcome? pissed that we took him out for dinner when he didn't want a fuss? just sick of having family around? who knows...)

I've never really spent much time with my paternal grandparents but I remember the bits and pieces that they have around the house. The last time I was there was for my grandmother's funeral. A combination of having my husband and his insatiable curiosity about family and history, and the children's brazen invasion of the whole house made me look at some of these things anew. Like this incredible cross stitch map of the Netherlands (where my family is from).



My dad was born here in Leeuwarden.



The work in it is amazing.


Its filled with lovely little details - an ice skater, a horse, a boat (and three things that look like nuclear submarines - but I suspect not)

It makes me so sad when I think that she could have shared so much with me about her love of craft and her country. But we never really felt comfortable with each other. But she certainly had skill and talent and she must have shared some genetically with me...