Holiday Snaps

Posted on October 2, 2009 | 7 comments

Our trip away last week was so very welcome, but at the same time… well, you know. Holidays with young children are never really completely restful, are they? But with a view like this from our accommodation in Port Fairy:

Viemfromourdriveway

Views like these to visit:

PortFairyHallsGapViews

And fun like this to be had:

PortFairyHallsGapFun

…I can’t really complain, now can I?

We headed down to Port Fairy, on the coast of western Victoria, for three nights, and then headed north to Halls Gap in the Grampians mountain ranges for another three. The weather was a little volatile, but we did manage to get out and explore a bit, spend time on the beach (albeit rugged up), walk a couple of short easy bushwalks, and cook a few marshmallows on a campfire. We also sought out cheese, chocolate, fabric and devonshire teas – all pretty standard requirements for our family holidays 🙂 In the rainy bits, we very happily lazed about inside – there might have even been a bit of crochet and (shock!) a bit of cross-stitch.

Sigh. So nice. Wish we could do it all over again next week.
CampfireBaby

PS. Pssst, Mum, more photos over here!

Blogtoberfest Day 2 – squeaking in just under the wire, at 11.32pm! And apologies to anyone who read the pre-edit version. At this time of night, my brain it does not.

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Posted in Family, The Kids

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Blogtoberfest

Posted on October 1, 2009 | 5 comments


In a brief second of either distraction or insanity, I appear to have signed up to post every day in October, along with a bunch of other bloggy types (check out the big list over at Tinniegirl). Hmmmm. (I’ll also be opening a book on just how many days I’ll last :giggle: )

Long-time (long-suffering) readers may remember I did something similar back in the days (good grief, have I really been blogging so long? How can one person say so little for so long?). I did struggle some days, I’ll admit. Perhaps the inspirational Ideas Hub over at badskirt could come in handy this month!

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Posted in Blog Blather

More (and Less) Teeth

Posted on September 18, 2009 | 3 comments

Gap-tooth-boy
Teeth are still a big topic of interest around these parts. Current status as follows:

Kid #1: One gap, three more wobblies.
Kid #2: Two grey wobblies 🙁 (I’m still harbouring mother-guilt over that particular event)
Kid #3: One tooth arrived two weeks ago(!), another one on the way (favourite chew-toy = my chin)

There’s been a noticeable lack of creativity ’round these parts lately. I’m sure the lingering mother-guilt has something to do with that. I was “busy” sewing when Niamh took that fateful leap. It doesn’t matter that I’d told her dozens of times not to jump in that spot – this time, I didn’t stop her, so hello! self-blame. Gah.

It’s been a helluva week, too. I had a spot of single-parenting while Dermot was in Sydney for work (earning myself a few brownie points towards wiping out that mummy-guilt). A discovery of the parasitic variety (necessitating trips to chemist and laundromat and noIdonotwanttotalkaboutit. Ew.) Several too-early starts thanks to the smallest boy and his impending second tooth…

Aaaand. A punctured tyre yesterday morning as I dropped Finn off at school. D’oh! As I lowered the window to wave goodbye, I heard a certain kind of ‘thwack thwack thwack’ noise that you just know cannot be good. I stopped the car and found a dirty great big screw sticking out of one of the rear tyres. Hoping the continued presence of said screw would prevent the tyre from letting down immediately, I drove straight to the nearest shopping centre with an auto centre. They were super-dooper busy, but graciously let me queue-jump, and repaired it straightaway while we nicked off to feed the caffeine habit I seem to have acquired lately. (Can’t imagine why!)

But. My good temper will be restored momentarily. We are off! Today is the last day of term, and tomorrow we are going away, la la la. We (ok, mostly I) have been counting sleeps for the last three weeks, let me tell you. We are heading beachfront for three days and then mountainside for three more, just to get ourselves a well-rounded holiday. See you on the flipside 🙂

ETA: Forgot… I did manage to get to the Northside Makers coffee-crafternoon last Sunday (see if you can spot Rohan and I at that link 🙂 ) where I managed, oh, about 4 rows of crochet on a face cloth (simple squares crochet out of a bamboo/cotton mix are divine as face cloths, you should definitely give them a go). Margaret calls me a ‘multitasking wonder’. Hahahahahaha!

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Posted in Family, General Ramblings, The Kids

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Hankies Your Granny Wouldn’t Use

Posted on August 25, 2009 | 14 comments

BlessYou
I went Brown Owling last night. We had a bit of fun embellishing/improving store bought hankies. The Gocco was out and Pip and the Owls were printing their little hearts out, but I decided embroidery was more my style. ‘Bless you’. Short, sweet, to the point.

But then Leah and I decided on a much more Alice in Wonderland sentiment. I tried to resist. I did. But I couldn’t. Sorry :giggle:
BlowMe

On a related note… I am actually surprised how few people use handkerchiefs. I always have. There’s nothing nicer to blow your nose on, I think! We very rarely buy a box of tissues (sometimes if the whole family is laid up with the sneezles and wheezles). Amanda at Soulemama has a lovely idea for storing your hankies, on this post.

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Posted in Other Craft

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The Teeth that Nearly Weren’t

Posted on August 17, 2009 | 9 comments

Sheesh! My girl. My wants-to-be-a-doctor-girl-princess-nurse-cowgirl-hippityhop girl. She’ll do anything for a bit of excitement, that one.

Right around the just-before-dinner-time-when-everyone-is-distracted time last night, Niamh decided to get from point A (armchair) to point B (blanket box) teeth-first. Owwww. There was blood, and tears and pain, but no missing teeth, and no wobbly ones, so we thought she might have escaped serious damage (let’s face it, this is not the first mouth injury Niamh has sustained – been there, done that). But this morning the swelling and angle of her top teeth suggested otherwise, so it was off to the dentist for us.

NiamhsDiary01

The good news is that even though the teeth have been shifted, it’s not enough for major concern – they aren’t back behind the bottom teeth, so they might even move back into position over time. The wait-and-see bit is that the dentist can’t tell us whether there has been root/nerve damage – so the teeth might still turn grey if there has. Or even have to be extracted. The thought of which makes me cry a little inside 🙁

So there’s been a bit of artwork distraction therapy this afternoon. And some dentist role-playing with the stuffed-toy collection, naturally. She’ll probably want to be a doctor-girl-princess-nurse-cowgirl-hippityhop-dentist now, I expect.

NiamhsDiary02

NiamhsDiary03

How cute is my smiley-face belly in “Mum with Niamh in her tummy”?!

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Posted in Family, The Kids

Tagged , ,

Giveaway Winner

Posted on August 16, 2009 | 1 comment

Just briefly (very briefly, for I am absolutely knackered – feel like I didn’t have a weekend at all), I wanted to pop in and announce that the lucky recipient of the CRAFT: magazine is…

… Cathy from Miss Marzie.

Will be back tomorrow (I hope) with pics of the-pants-that-very-nearly-weren’t 🙂 G’night.

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Posted in General Ramblings

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Random Venting

Posted on August 14, 2009 | 11 comments

Much has been said, (or at least implied) about one of our major craft stores, but right now, I’m still seething about our little experience in the other one today. I have to vent, or I might burst!

I was dithering about with wool and bits and bobs, when all of a sudden Niamh decided she had to go to the toilet, now. As kids do. (I swear three year olds have a bladder timer set to go off at the most inconvenient times.)

So we rushed through the checkout process, and asked the ever so friendly and helpful employee if they might have a toilet we could use. No, we don’t, sorry. And no, she didn’t know where the nearest one might be either. Hmmm. I wondered whether all the employees might have to drive home each time nature called.

I thought we might be able to get home in time, but no, that apparently was not to be, so I tried convincing Niamh to have a nappy put on (our cloth nappies are multi-size, so even though Rohan is only 4 months old, they’re so adjustable that they would still fit Niamh at 3). She was almost ok with that, but then broke down in tears once it was on and she faced the thought of actually weeing in a nappy. Don’t blame her, really. So I decided it was worth one last try, and took her back into the store, where I asked (same employee) politely: “I have a fairly distraught little girl here, are you sure we can’t use your staff toilet?”

Whereupon (because there were other customers and another staff member nearby, presumably) she said sweetly “Oh, did you want to use the toilet?”

At which point I wanted to stab her eyes out with the DPNs I just bought.

Other staff member showed us the way. Turns out there were not only three staff toilets, but one (unsigned) for public use. Why would the first girl lie about it in the first place? How incredibly rude of her. Or perhaps just lazy because she didn’t want to show us the way? I am completely bamboozled (coincidentally very similar to the name of the yarn I bought, and now wish I hadn’t!).

11 Comments

Posted in Family, The Kids

My Creative Space/ Giveaway

Posted on August 13, 2009 | 8 comments

CraftMag

This week has seen a bit of reorganisation happening about the house, as we moved Rohan from cradle to cot (which makes nary a difference since he spends most of his night cuddled up in with me anyway). My craft space, aka the wardrobe, becomes somewhat inaccessible with the big cot set up in our room, so I moved some of it out to our third bedroom (aka ‘the junk room/piano room/ study’, though by the end of the year we hope to achieve a functioning third bedroom), packed some of it away for the forseeable future, and even did a spot of tidying up/ destashing. Not a fraction of what it needs though. The sleep deprivation has started to hit in full force this week, so I’m feeling a bit of a zombie.

Anyway, in the process, I found a few things that I thought I might pass on to new homes. First up is this copy of CRAFT: magazine Issue 08 – I have two copies, so one could be yours! If you’d like it, drop me a comment, and I’ll have a random-number draw thingy after 6pm on Sunday (Australian EST). Sorry – Australian residents only this time – I got a bit burned by postage on my last giveaway 😮

PS. If you only pop in on Thursdays, you’ll be wanting to know about that knitting!

PPS. More spaces over at kootoyoo!

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Posted in Memes

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Announcement

Posted on August 11, 2009 | 18 comments

Rohan has something he would like to tell you:
WrapCardigan02

Yes, that’s right – his cardigan is finished! Hip hip hooray!

Also, he would like to tell you that Melbourne weather today is dark and gloomy, so not the best photo taking weather…
WrapCardigan01

But perfect cardi-wearing weather, so it’s all good 🙂
WrapCardigan03

I would like to tell you that I am inordinately proud of my very first ever non-scarf knitted thingummy. Also, I love it to pieces. It is just my style of baby top – simple but gorgeous. The pattern comes from the Winter 2009 issue of Family Circle magazine (an Australian mag). The wool is Patons Bluebell Merino 5 ply – thicker than the yarn called for, but I am impatient and didn’t want to wait… plus I like the colour. I knitted the 12-month size and used just over 3 balls. Rohan is four months old (today!) and it fits him now… but there is a good amount of growing space, so it may still fit him when he’s one. In fact it will probably fit him best in the height of summer, but never mind. There will eventually be nephews and/or nieces to pass this on to, and in the meanwhile I’m going to have him wear it at every opportunity!

Go me – I’m a knitter! :giggle:

18 Comments

Posted in Other Craft, Yarncraft

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Friday Mornings

Posted on August 7, 2009 | 8 comments

Friday mornings are fast becoming one of my favourite times of the week. A mini-break, if you will. I drop Finn off at school, Niamh off at occasional care, then race home and get Rohan down for his morning kip. Then I get a whole 45 minutes in which I can do anything I like without interruption! Ok, so this usually just means shower, have breakfast, and catch up on some blogs/tweets, but still. We take our little slices of me-time where we can get them, hey?

Once Rohan is up and fed, then we sit around making faces at one another, and omnomnomming on those cheeks for a while before we have to pick Niamh up again. (Or you know, doing something more productive. Only can’t remember what. Maybe it is just the omnomnomming!)

Rohan3m1wRohan3m1w02Rohan3m1w03Rohan3m1w04Rohan3m1w05

Oh yeah. Such a tough guy!

And if you think I’m showing you gratuitous baby shots just to distract you from the lack of a finished knitting project… well, I can neither confirm nor deny 😛

(But it won’t be too long now, promise. I cast off at midnight last night!)

8 Comments

Posted in Family, Other Craft, The Kids, Yarncraft