Alex's pick of the week - Green Eggs And Ham

A blog I frequent, Felafel and The Bee (I mentioned my blogger friend Michelle in yesterday's post), does a weekly post called ‘On Our Shelves Sunday’ where she talks about the books her children are currently reading and what they like about them.  I like this little 'series' - I like it a lot!  And so I'm doing something similar....

I'll give you the low-down on things we're reading this week - it's most likely to be something Alex is enthused about, but could be something I've enjoyed too :)  Whatever has been our favourite in the past week.  I'd love to hear about what you're reading too, so feel free to leave me a comment.  I'm linking this post back to Michelle's 'On Our Shelves Sunday' post - if you like the idea, please check hers out too.

Alex has a few consistent favourite books that he asks for over and over – and one of those is the Dr Seuss classic, Green Eggs And Ham….  so this is the one we're starting with this week!

This is basically the story of Sam I Am badgering his friend to try something new, even though his friend insists he won’t like it.... I hate to spoil the ending, but of course he eventually tries it and loves it in the end!  Alex’s favourite thing about this story are all the wacky places that Sam I Am suggests he might like to try green eggs and ham (in a box, with a fox, on a train, in the rain, here or there, anywhere!) I love reading him this one as I am always guaranteed lots of giggles, and what can be better than that? ;)

I'm linking this up to Felafel and The Bee's On Our Shelves Sunday post this week. 

What are you enjoying at the moment?

Bye for now :)

A long-overdue thank you!

This post is a long overdue thank you to a blogger I recently 'met' - and I'll warn you now, it is very heavy on the photos!   But let me back up....  There is a blog that I love to read called Felafel & The Bee…  This blogger extraordinaire, Michelle, is a Mum of 2 girls (who she calls Felafel and The Bee - not their real names) and posts all sorts of wonderful things about family life, crafts, sewing, cooking and photography.  I love to read it and look at her beautiful photos.

Anyways, I'm not usually a huge commenter on blogs, but I might have mentioned I really like this particular blog?  LOL.  Michelle seemed really down to earth and I like her style of writing, so just felt compelled to comment... so I started commenting on lots of her posts....  and through this commenting Michelle and I started chatting and struck up a long distance friendship - we're like electronic penpals now (remember having penpals as kids?  So fun!)  :)  And somewhere along the line we came up with this great idea that we should do a 'swap' of sorts of some handmade goodies for our kids - awesome!

So Michelle, being the super creative and efficient person she is, got right onto it and put together a box of goodies that made it here all the way from the US of A super fast!  Just before she sent it off, she wrote this post as a sneak peek, featuring her daughter Felafel giving Alex's newest best friend to be (Super Bear) a test run - so gorgeous!

Alex was soooooo excited to receive it all, especially Super Bear (who has slept in his bed every single night since he arrived).  He has a globe in his room, so when I said this package had come from a long way away, we got the globe down so he could see where Michelle and her family live in relation to our family.... a loooong way away!

Alex loves how Super Bear has a reversible cape...  Red for daytime when he needs extra speed, and the blue sparkles on the other side (he tells me) are stars which means that's his night time cape :)  In the box there were also a bunch of other cute things like a slinky, hand made recycled crayons, a bow tie, a lace up game and a book by John Lithgow called Marsupial Sue - wow!!!  Here he is enjoying his goodies...


Some quiet time reading Marsupial Sue - so cute!

Playing with his new lace up game - he loves this!



Having fun with slinky

Crayon drawing

More crayon drawing - and check out my bow tie!

Favourite truck crayon :)

Super Bear in full flight!

Super Bear gets a cape adjustment!

Super Bear cosy and warm in his favourite spot - Alex's bed!

Thank you SO MUCH Michelle! As you can see its all been a big hit!! :)

So where is my exchange package you might ask?  Well, Michelle may have asked that as well, since it was a considerable amount of time between the arrival of Michelle's package and the posting of mine (except she wouldn't ask, because she's way too nice! :))  In any case, I did eventually complete my little projects and send them off, and they were gratefully received at their destination - more to come on that soon!
Its fantastic the people you can meet through this world wide wonderful web isn't it!!  This was such a fun exchange to do - I really enjoyed it.  And I love that I made a new friend in the process as well.

Bye for now :)

A land of flooding rains... Happy Australia Day!

Hello again!


Well I still haven't quite got around to completing those posts about what I've been doing for the last 3 months…. But they're coming!


For now, we are in the middle of another full on wet spell here on the (not so) sunny Gold Coast! Remember that tourism slogan of yore "beautiful one day, perfect the next"? Well now we are "pouring one day, unbearably humid the next"! Those in Australia may also recall that this time last year, 75% of the state of Queensland was under water - the Gold Coast managed to dodge the worst of it last year, but with the combination of heavy rain and king tides, we've had quite a bit of flooding this time around. Although I must say, this is not even close to the devastation experienced last year in places like Theodore, Brisbane, Toowoomba or Grantham (where sadly, lives were lost) so comparatively we are very, very lucky.


Anyways, I thought you might like to see some images I found of our beloved Gold Coast from Wednesday 25 January… (all images courtesy of Gold Coast Weather)


A street not very far from us at 9am – this is a busy industrial area, and that is supposed to be a road, not a river!

This is a local school oval (obviously the school was evacuated)…

A normally busy road under water…

A freeway off ramp looking more like a tranquil bush scene (apart from the massive sign sticking out!)

And last but not least, one of the Gold Coast’s leading theme parks, Movie World, underwater!

Pretty wild, huh? We've had some water problems in our garage, and its been a very soggy ride to work this week, but hopefully it won’t get any worse.


As I mentioned, Wednesday was a wash out for sure - most schools on the Gold Coast were closed due to flooding, roads were impassable all over the place…. Then on Thursday, Australia Day, a miracle happened…. The flood waters (mostly) subsided, and the sun came out! And let me tell you, it was oh so humid - blurgh! Still, it was great to see the sun. We did the all Australian thing and went to a barbeque… we didn’t do as Melissa Tkautz and Sam Kekovich suggested, and throw on some lamb chops (have you seen this special Australia Day take on Barbie Girl? Hysterical!)….

But Mum and I shared some prawns with fresh lemon and avocado, so still pretty patriotic! Aussie Aussie Aussie – Oi Oi Oi!!!


Well that's all for now folks - I just thought I'd share our wild weather… Forecasters say the worst may not be over yet - the current time as I type is 12:30pm, and it's been absolutely bucketing down all morning - just for fun, here is a pic of the radar as it is right now:

We are right under that crazy storm cell and the one over to the left there is likely to arrive later today.  The thing that is so uncharacteristic about this rain is that it is so slow moving - we are used to storms that hit wild and fast, 20 minutes later it's all over and you just clean up!  Lol...  But these storms are taking their sweet time.  There is also expected to be more rain over the weekend, so it sounds like great weather for staying inside and sewing doesn’t it! :)

Hope the sun is shining where you are!

Bye for now :)

Word of the Year 2012

Happy 2012, friends!

I know its been, like, a million years since I last checked into this blog and updated it.  I will post again soon with some big updates and my myriad of excuses for not posting since October 2011... but for now I just had a revelation that I felt compelled to share.  I hope this post won't be too airy fairy for you - its quite different  (and a bit more personal) to anything I've posted before - and just warning you now, its a very wordy, winding kinda post :)

So I was cruising through my Google Reader yesterday and I noticed this post by Layla of The Lettered Cottage.  I should precede any further explanation by stating that I LOVE this blog.  Lovely ideas, lovely decorating, lovely people (not that I know them personally of course, but they do seem very lovely - and judging by their gazillion followers, I'm not the only one who thinks so!)

Anyway, I started to read this post called Word of the Year about a lady called Ali Edwards.  I think this concept is best explained in Ali's own words as they appeared in this post on The Lettered Cottage:

"In 2006, I began a tradition of choosing one word for myself each January – a word that I can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life. I invite it into my life. I live with it. I let it speak to me. I might even follow where it leads.


Choosing a word each year came about as an alternative to a list of resolutions. I wanted something I could hold close and actually develop a relationship with over the course of the year.


Some years my word has made a major difference, and other years it’s been a more silent companion through the challenges and celebrations in my life.


The action of choosing a word (or having a word find you) is full of potential and possibility. And here’s one thing that’s totally interesting: sometimes a word pops into your brain and it doesn’t make any sense right now. Give it some time. Let it percolate a bit. I have often found that our hearts speak to us in very unique ways. Maybe it’s a word you need to hear, but you just aren’t ready for it yet. Again, be open to the possibilities."


At this point I was feeling a bit dismissive - I briefly thought about trying to think of a word, then immediately thought:  I have too much on my plate to be trying to dwell on a word I dreamed up on a whim for the rest of the year, and trying to apply it to my life.  And just as I was about to engage the mega scroll on my mouse and speedily skim the rest of the post, something bizarre happened....  A word just popped into my head!  Did I have to spend the next half an hour thinking if it was THE word and where I could apply it?  No, I did not!  I immediately understood exactly where I wanted it to fit into my life.  I'm tellin ya, it was freaky!!

The word that my brain decided to scream at me?  RETREAT.  Initially (like in the first 45 seconds) it was about a parents retreat - something that, if money was no object, we would build as a second storey addition to our existing home.  I was just thinking about creating a vision board for this the other day, so its relatively fresh in my mind.

As I often do though, I immediately follow a thought about a material want with a mental slap on the hand, and think to myself that I should be wishing for something more spiritual.   (I don't know why I do this).  And then straight away my brain seemingly engaged and reminded me that retreat is not just something to plop on top of my house - it also means to withdraw...  I can't say it any better than this definition I found at www.freedictionary.com:

"retreat

1.

a. The act or process of withdrawing, especially from something hazardous, formidable, or unpleasant.

b. The process of going backward or receding from a position or condition gained.

2. A place affording peace, quiet, privacy, or security. See Synonyms at shelter.

3.

a. A period of seclusion, retirement, or solitude.

b. A period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, or study: a religious retreat."

To me, retreat simply means peace - whether that be by finding a place of seclusion for myself, or withdrawing from a possible conflict.  

http://imgfave.com/view/1717364

You may ask, why is this word suddenly so important to me?  You see, today our lives as we know it are going to be changed forever.  My Mum is moving from interstate to live with us in our home.  We are overjoyed that she's chosen to live with us, and I am really looking forward to spending more time with Mum, and for her to spend more time with Alex.  A small part of me, however, would be lying if I said I didn't have some teeny tiny concerns about how our family will adjust to the addition of another person to our household and our established family dynamic - as does Mum.  I have two main concerns - the first is conflict.  I'm not worried about others losing it, it's me who will be the problem... the fact is I can get pretty full on when I'm feeling stressed or overwhelmed - hence the need to remind myself to retreat from conflict while we all adjust, to talk things through calmly as they arise, to consider others' feelings not just my own - it is a period of adjustment for us all.  The other concern of course is how we will all find our own personal space in this new arrangement.

So you can see how this word, retreat, really has meaning for me right now... it really fits with my life and the challenges and joys that 2012 will bring.  

http://zenflower.posterous.com/mindfulness

I need to really have my new word at the forefront of my mind especially if there are challenges, to remember that sometimes I need to be a bit more altruistic in order to facilitate my goal - a peaceful, happy household.  I know it is achievable, and I also know that others in my home will not have to try quite so hard as I will to be more selfless... not an easy admission to make!  But there will be lots of great times to focus on too, and I am looking forward to those :)


I have no idea how I will go keeping my word close to me, but I'm going to try very hard to really live and breathe this word in all senses this year while all members of our household adjust to living together harmoniously and finding our own individual retreat in a busy household.

As part of this, I will go ahead and create that vision board for our parents retreat - you can get more info on vision boards by simply googling, or you can have a look here at Christine Kane's blog, which I think explains it very well.  You know what they say - where focus goes, energy flows.  So why not, it can't hurt!  (I'm sounding very Oprah today aren't I?  Lol)

I am linking this post up to Layla's Word of the Year post over at The Lettered Cottage - thanks so much Ali and Layla for the inspiration and direction.  And welcome to Queensland, Mum!!! xxxx

Bye for now :)

Friday :: Things I Know...

I mentioned in my most recent post that Boofy and I are thinking of selling our house and buying another one. The property market is extremely bad here at the moment, so selling will be hard (since we bought in a better market and made a lot of improvements, so we won't get the price we feel it deserves). But its also true that you buy in the same market you sell in - so there is an opportunity to buy something that suits us better into the future, and be able to reduce our mortgage (which is always nice!)


In any case, I thought I would link up today to the Yay For Home  Friday segment, 'Things I Know'  to tell you all about the things I know about our current dilemma on whether or not to sell up and buy somewhere else….

So today I know that:

:: The next house will have to be very special indeed in order for me to be able to drag my husband (kicking and screaming) from this house.... he loves it more than life itself!

:: I will miss our swimming pool - a salt water pool with palms around it is as close to a maintenance free pool as you can get!

:: The next house needs to have some of the hard work (eg: kitchen, bathrooms) pretty well done - we are not ready for another major overhaul yet!

:: I am a gypsy at heart and it is incredibly hard for me to stay in one place for too long… so I am way more excited about this prospect than Boofy!

:: If I convince Boofy to move, I need to be happy about putting my gypsy leanings aside and stay in the next house for at least 5 years

:: It would be wonderful to start decorating all over again in a new place (the fun!)

:: We will never get as good a kitchen as the one we have put in this house (you can see the whole kitchen makeover here and here) since we designed it to be exactly what we wanted

:: If we move I will miss our current house MUCH more than I am probably admitting to myself….

:: If money were no object (or a certain amount anyway), I could definitely cast aside my gypsy urges, extend up on our current house and be happy there for the next 10 years (oh, if only!)

:: This post is all over the place (a reflection of my current state of mind!)

So there you go…. I am still no closer to deciding which way we should go. Boofy is firmly in the 'please can we stay put and enjoy the fruits of our labour' corner. I was firmly in the 'use the current downturn to buy something that suits us better long term and reduce our mortgage to boot' corner, but now I'm wavering…. What if we don't like the new place as much as we thought? What if the neighbours are total nightmares? What if we just plain regret letting go of our little slice of paradise? It's not easy to categorically reassure Boofy (or myself) that we're going to love the new place as much as this one. Boofy is also now well aware that I am flip flopping and is preying on my vulnerable state to try to sway me his way! (Don't think I don't know what you're doing, Boofy!)

Anyways, I think I'll use this weekend to get stuck into Photoshop Elements for Dummies and doctor up a pic of our current house with a big old parent's retreat on top of it… then make myself a dream board and slap that pic firmly in the centre! What is it Oprah says? Where focus goes, energy flows…. Who knows what sort of magic I could weave? ;)

I'll keep you posted!

Bye for now :)


http://yayforhome.blogspot.com/2011/10/things-i-know-roar-n-snore-edition.html



How Krispy got her groove back....

I know my posts have been few and far between lately, friends. Please be patient with me - I have been really ill for the last 3 months or so, with little energy or enthusiasm for normal life, let alone blogging. But I'm on the up now and getting my groove back, so slowly you will see the frequency of posts increase :)


I am conscious that there are just 82 sleeps until Christmas Day! Actually that doesn't sound that close does it… kind of like when Dr Evil demands one million dollars in the Austin Powers movie…


One Million Dollars

OK lets start again…. What if I told you there were less than 12 weeks until Christmas! Aha… much closer now, yes? This is slightly accelerated for me too because we are heading to Melbourne early December for my step brother's wedding, so we'll be having an early Christmas down there with that whole side of the family. With that in mind, I really need to get my butt into gear!

You might recall that back in July I made myself a list (which I only managed to partially complete!) called Thirty Things in Thirty Days… Well, I'm at it again! After the momentum of Alex's Baptism and party were over, I sort of fell in a heap, and that's where I've stayed in recent months.  But now its on like Donkey Kong!

So here it is… the new and improved thirty things in thirty days list for October (I'm aware that we have 31 days in October - but I need to get a rest in somewhere.. And we're already 4 days in!)

1. Sleep in past 8am (I can't believe I need to write this on a list, but others with young kids will understand it’s a rarity!)

2. Go see the bank manager about what would be involved (financially) in selling our current home and buying another one, to see if its viable

3. Make a decision about whether to sell now or hang on to this house for the duration of the down turn and ride it out (and then move forward with whatever we decide and not look back!)

4. Cull Alex's toys (even more overdue now than it was on the last list!)

5. Have a movie night at home with my 2 favourite boys

6. Bake some muffins with Alex to take to Church - he enjoys telling people he made them :)

7. Read another book

8. Put on a BBQ brekky for our friends Julie & Tony and their kids

9. Go op-shopping again in my local area (since I had so much fun last time) but this time with only $10

10. Revamp an op shop find

11. Tart up my desk at work (still haven't done this!)

12. Look after Julie & Tony's kids for a day so they can have some kid-free time

13. Try another project I've seen on Pinterest (again, I had so much fun with that last time)

14. Redecorate the area where my random cupboards (still) are

15. Go out for dinner as a family

16. Hang painting in the laundry

17. Bake some savoury muffins to take in for my work mates

18. Make a list of people to buy for (Christmas)

19. Make a list of presents to buy for those people

20. Start buying Christmas presents

21. Attend a house auction (whether or not we decide to move on - just because we've never done it before)

22. Settle on a theme for Alex's new big boy room (so I can ask Santa to bring some of the items to move it from my mind to reality!)

23. Fill out the enrolment forms for Alex's prep year

24-30. Complete 7 new sewing projects (don't have to be unique, just not previously started - and none for myself)

I know you're saying 'what the'? '7 sewing projects'? There are two reasons for this range…

Firstly, I found that when I got into my list last time I got really excited about the sewing I was doing and completed lots of projects, but other things fell by the wayside. So in order for my October list to be more achievable, I'm trying to give myself as much opportunity as possible to actually enjoy the things I'm crossing off.

Secondly, I am really trying to make as many Christmas presents as possible (many of which will be sewing projects) so this will allow me to kind of kill two (or three) birds with one stone by crossing things off my list, enjoying it as I go and getting prepared for Christmas.

So there you have it folks - my brand new list!

Who's joining me in getting some stuff done? I look forward to seeing your lists.

Bye for now :)

Pots pots pots...

Well hello again!!  I know its been a really long time... I can't believe a month has passed since I wrote my last post.  Many apologies, its just been such a busy time.

As you'll know if you've read the blog before, we recently had Alex Baptised.  It was a very special day, both at the Church and the party that followed at home.  There are many stories that go along with that day, and quite a few things to update you on too - but I might tell those all together in a special update post.  For now, please enjoy this picture of my special little guy on his very special day :)

And now onto the garden pots...  Some time ago, in this post about how I had the blues so bad... I showed you a couple of pictures of what had become of the herb pots that we had around the place, and also my beloved kaffir lime.  To save you flicking back, here is what the herbs looked like:

So sad...  You see the herbs were undercover, so they never got any direct sunlight or rain (except the mint on the left which, as you can see, is the only one that was even close to survival) and I rarely remembered to water them!  (Notice the pre-pressure clean pavers too - urgh!)
And the kaffir lime, which did get sunlight and rainfall, was just as neglected...

And so they all looked awful....  Until very recently (actually it was more than a month ago, but lets pretend I'm totally up to date it was very recent... humour me!)  You already had a sneak preview of this in my recent Backyard Blitz post, but in case you missed it.... I got rid of those old dead herbs and repotted these with new plants - I also gave them a new location where they could enjoy the sunlight and any rain that came along, lining the little path into the garage.  There was a perfect spot between the path and the pool fence that was crying out for something...  I also added a couple of strawberry planters.  Here is how they looked when I'd finished that day:

Cute aren't they?  From left to right, they are parsley, lemongrass, mint and strawberries.  And here is how they're looking now (don't mind the weeds at the bottom - I have yet to lay some stones there!):

The strawberries have copped a beating from Alex lately... every time a little red strawberry pops up, its just as quickly popped into a little mouth!  Consequently there is not much doing there at the moment.

And as for my kaffir lime?  Well he really wasn't too healthy at all...  I decided to cut him right back and give him a fertilise and lots of water... When I originally wrote this post it still wasn't looking too healthy, and I wasn't holding out much hope....

But it has since taken off beautifully (we have had a lot of rain here lately, and I've been diligent about watering also!) and is now going great guns...

And yes, that is a little sprig of coriander growing in the pot there... and around that area on the ground also... clearly a previous effort went to seed somewhere around there!! Lol

You may have noticed a little companion on his left too...  I actually planted my very first thing from seed - radishes!  I'd had the seeds for ages and didn't know how they'd go, but one week on, I had some cute little green shoots in there!!  It was very exciting :)

Of course I should have separated them shortly after taking these photos - because they now look like this and all their roots are intertwined :/  I don't think they're actually going to produce anything, but Alex is still hopeful...

And again - I need to put some stones down on the ground there! 

Anyway we're loving the new little arrangement, and they're great for Alex to water while I focus on the big vege garden.  Speaking of which, stay tuned for an update very soon - I cannot BELIEVE how out of control it is after only about 8 weeks!!

So there you have it - another little backyard job done and dusted...  I'm so excited to be accomplishing things at home, it's great!  I promise I won't leave it so long to post next time, I just needed time to catch my breath after all the happeneings around here!

And the very last order of business today?  Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband Boofy - we've been married 9 years today  xxx

Bye for now :)