The Bear is unwell again. Nothing major, just a cough, but enough to have us hunkering down for the day. A movie marathon, some craft, a few books. Cuddles, songs and trains. A spot of fresh air once the crispness of a spring morning has given way to the dry heat of an early summer day. Chilling out and spending time together. Naps. Naps are definately high on the to-do, for both boys, and maybe for their tired mama too. Cough be gone, we want to have fun today! I need a coffee or two, then let’s do this!
February 17, 2009
More rain…
Hello Wednesday!
After a long absence, that wonderful sound is back. I can’t think of a sound (outside of my children’s voices) that I love more than that of rain hitting the roof. And it’s not just any rain, but beautiful, constant, soaking, make-the-grass-green-again rain. It’s been raing for four days now, and the river hasn’t even got a ‘fresh’ in it – that’s how little run-off there is! The scorched, thirsty earth is greedily drinking whatever it can, lest the heavens close over & withhold the precious water once more.
Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky as us. Some have gone from drought to floods, whilst I believe those fighting the fires in Victoria are still praying for a decent soaking rain to give them a hand. How fickle Mother Nature can be.
At our house, the bugs are almost gone, but not enough for me to give in to begging to “catch wain, mummy?”. Poor little tyke, all he wants to do is play in the rain, but I’m loathe to let him, lest he relapse into his coughing, snotty, non-sleeping ways. So another inside day today, some craft, some books, maybe another veiwing of Baby Galileo. Plenty of cuddles, and maybe some pikelets for morning tea. Yummo. I used to love rainy days, when we got home from school there would be a pile of still warm pikelets waiting for us, and we’d proceed to slather them in butter, and wolf the whole lot down in about 5 seconds flat. For some reason, they aren’t quite as good now I’m the one doing the cooking and washing up afterwards!
But, the rain and sickness has given me a chance to get a bit further on the 2009 reading challenge!
1. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald (fiction, opshop find) *** (Jan 09)
2. Fishing for Stars – Bryce Courtney (fiction, new/gift) ***1/2 (Jan 09)
3. The Time Travellers Wife – Audrey Niffenegger (fiction, re-read for the 736th time) ****1/2 (Feb 09)
4. The Adventure of English:A biography of a Language – Melvin Bragg(non-fiction, re-read for the 312th time) ***1/2 (Feb 09)
5. Vet in a Spin – James Herriot (non-fiction, memoir, re-read) **** (Feb 09)
6. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie – James Herriot (non-fiction, memoir, re-read) (in progress)
Might be time for a trip to the library I think! I might go stalk some of the other girls in the challenge and see what they recommend.
Alrighty Wednesday, let’s do this!
February 15, 2009
Here we go again…
Morning, Monday (and no, it’s not good. My day started when the time had a 5 in front of it. Not. Happy. Jan.)
Ugh, what a weekend. Sick boys and rain. Not a good combination. The smallest one now has a bunged-up nose, which means he’s not feeding properly, which means I was up 17,000 times last night. Ugh. And the toddler is improving, so he slept quite well, meaning Running Bear was only up once. Double Ugh. But I won’t complain too much, as Running Bear is on his way down with the same ickiness. Fingers crossed I don’t get it too. (As an aside, I can’t believe how early the ‘man flu’ starts, the toddler is such a drama queen when he’s sick. At two. We had a tantrum because he wanted a drink. Being midnight, his slave mummy wasn’t by his side within .35 seconds, so of course, one must throw a tanty, no?)
Anyway, it’s Monday. A nice, quiet, get-better type of Monday. Some Baby Einstein for the toddler. Lots of cuddles. Some laundry to churn through. And, if I’m lucky, and the boys nap together, a quick tidy of the studio, finish a painting and maybe some sewing.
Something I have been meaning to show is this changemat I made for myself. Came in handy when we went to the in-laws on Saturday and we had an explosive nappy half-way there. And man I’m glad I used PUL on the bottom of the front!
A simple disappearing nine-patch, with quite a bit more of the beige in it that I’d planned, but hey, that’s the way these things go. I did FMQ in the large squares. The first square is quite dodgy, as it’s been a while since I’ve done any FMQ, but once I found my groove, I was happy with the results. I’m planning another d9p, and have learnt from my ‘mistakes’!
Ok Monday, let’s do this thing!
October 24, 2008
Another Tag…
From Vanilla this time!
1. Where is your mobile phone? Buried in the bottom of the nappy bag, where I can’t really hear it, and miss almost every call I recieve (which averages out to about 1 per fortnight, and certain to be from my husband!)
2. Where is your significant other? At work, so I’m told.
3. Your hair color? Blonde, tending towards a caramel blonde these days. It’s getting darker the older I get *sob*
4. Your mother? Is my housework fairy at the minute – she comes around every morning before work and hangs my washing for me!
5. Your father? Is the most exicted of all my family members when I’m pregnant, very cute!
6. Your favorite things? my camera, my art & craft supplies, my ‘lucky’ pen, and my family!
7. Your dream last night? I believe to dream requires sleep! I can’t remember dreaming last night, sleep was switched to survival mode, no energy for dreaming!
8. Your dream/goal? To make a decent income from my photography and other artistic endeavours.
9. The room your in? My studio/office, surrounded by chaos & mess. I really need to clean up in here!
10. Your hobby? I’ll give anything crafty/arty a whirl, even though I’m not very good at almost all of it! Photography, reading, sewing, scrapping, travelling, bushwalking, chilling on the net.
11. Your fear? Something happening to my family.
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Surrounded by my family, with hopefully another couple of children. Anything else is just gravy.
13. Where were you last night? At home, in bed early trying to catch some z’s before baby woke for a feed.
14. What you’re not? A great housekeeper!
15. One of your wish list items? A new camera.
16. Where you grew up? Same place I live now! Not very exciting, but it works for me.
17. The last thing you did? brought the baby into the office to feed while I completed this!
18. What are you wearing? Dark wide leg jeans, a sift mint green long sleeve tee, a cream jumper, and hiking socks, cos my feet were cold!
19. Your TV? Off. I am trying to break the habit of leaving it on all day for background noise.
20. Your pet? 2 dogs, who don’t seem to realise I’m higher up the chain of command than they are.
21. Your computer? A toshiba laptop. Am dreaming of an iMac.
22. Your mood? is dependant on the amount of sleep I’ve had and the mood of those around me.
23. Missing someone? Myself.
24. Your car? is due for an upgrade.
25. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
26. Favorite store? currently is the online store, Lime Tart. On my way there for a spot of shopping now, actually!
27. Your summer? is currently MIA. Why oh why must I wear a jumper in October? Where’s this global warming we’ve been threatened with?
28. Love someone? My boys & my husband.
29. Your favorite color? Depends on my mood. At the minute, I’m leaning towards dark, stormy, moody colours. But to lift the tone of the day, I’m about to start working with some hot pink fibres, and maybe a splash of orange.
30. When is the last time you laughed? Last night, at a certain ratbag two-year-old.
31. Last time you cried? The moment my baby son was lifted onto my stomach, screaming and covered in amniotic fluid & other birth-related goop. Not only was I meeting this beautiful soul for the first time, but his birth was the realisation of a dream, and affirmation of something I’d believed in for two years, since my first son was born via an unwanted c-section.
I won’t pass on this tag, as I’ve done quite a few tags, but if you haven’t had a go at this one, consider yourself tagged! Leave me a comment so I can swing by your blog & check out your answers.
October 10, 2008
Two for four…
So, another week ends, and with it, my first foray into stay-at-home-motherhood with two small children. Would I call it a success? Probably. The house has been clean everyday, tantrums have been minimal (or no more frequent than usual, anyhow!), trains have been played, cakes baked, hedges pruned, and I even found time to do a little crafty something.
Now what oh what could this be? More will be revealed in the week to come!
June 19, 2008
Sick Bubba…
Poor Little Bear has been sick the last few days, so no sewing or scrapping to be shown at the minute. I did, however, get a chance to do some baking today.
Very simple, but oh so yummy! I love these bikkies, they are made from my great-grandmother’s recipe, and remind me of a time when I wasn’t so grown-up, or so busy. Just the smell of these takes me back to my childhood, evoking memories of climbing off the school bus, racing into the kitchen, and downing multiple, still-warm biscuits with a glass of cold milk. After homework, the bikkies were then cool enough to go round two, involving dunking the biscuits in said milk! It seems the tradition will live on, as Bear has taken quite a liking to these ‘bissits’, and even helped me make this batch, using his (pre-washed) playdough cutters to make shaped biscuits, which he thinks is pretty cool.
The only problem with being all domestic and baking yummy biscuits is all the taste testing required. I think DH would be quite shocked to see the real quantity this recipe makes ! *blush* Also, when baking with toddlers, be prepared to share your beaters *sob*, no longer can I sneak a quick lick of the beaters whilst the oven works its magic. Now, beaters belong to the little helper. Sigh, the price we pay for the joy of small children!
