I am tired. Dog tired. Exhausted in fact. Ari is teething. If anyone has some natural teething remedies to suggest I would be happy to hear them. Ari is not coping at all. I blame the male gene and it’s associated lack of pain threshold. We are trying Brauer Homeopathy teething relief (with little effect). I am looking at buying an Amber teething necklace. Does anyone have any experience with those? I hear varied reports.

Ella turned 7 last Monday. This is how I know what the date is everyday this week. I count back to her birth date on a Monday, add 7 days to get me the date for this Monday and then add up to today which I know is Wednesday. That is how tired I am. I tried to explain to a friend on the phone last night how I have trouble stringing sentences together, and I even had trouble finding the words to explain to her that I have trouble stringing sentences together. I haven’t found the cereal in the fridge and the milk in the pantry yet, so I am hanging in there.

Anyhow….Ella is 7! Wow. She is a story writing machine these days! She read her story out at assembly on Monday entitled “The Weird Caterpillar”. It was about a cocoon that appeared in her garden, and hatched out an alien. She writes amazing prize winning plots. A recent story included the word paleaontologist, as all good stories should. 

I discovered this awesome knitting book in Spotlight last week. Here is creature #1. The girls (and their friends!) have put in requests for many more.  I have just finished up a cosy pram blanket for a new baby girl in Ireland, so I will show you that once it has arrived safely.

It has been cold in our part of the world, even cold enough for some snow on the yonder hills. These are the  same hills that were ablaze in the fires 4 months ago, which is why we can see the snow so well without a cover of leafy trees.

Goodness, time flies! We are well into the wintery months now. We have one wood fire going, and are in the throes of getting another open fireplace replaced by an enclosed wood fire (with a door). I’m not all that vigilant with wood fires. I tend to forget to look at the fire  for a few hours, then have to revive a tiny ember glow from beneath a blackened wooden log. I usually attempt this in the frantic moments before hubby gets home, as he always leaves the house in the morning with the remark “TRY and keep the fire going”.

I took a quick trip down to my bachelor brothers new rented house 2 weeks ago. Hmm, let’s see. Bachelor, house not lived in for 3 months, and house needs lots of work. The kitchen was blue. The lounge a plum colour. The bedroom I stayed in was both blue and green on alternate walls. The other spare room a strange kind of Aussie Gold. There was no grout in the bathroom tiles either.  Anyhoo….my brother was soon regretting allowing me to stay. I am the unpacking Nazi. “What’s this box? Do you want this? What’s this? Do you use it? Op shop or shed?”. I managed to paint his kitchen for him, which is now Antique White USA and not blue.

Ari has been busy. He now gives out kisses (which grosses his sisters out – open mouth, spit flying). He also learned to wave last night. Picture my parents visiting, all of us at the dinner table, where everyone is waving to Ari and each time he duly waves back. I am sure he must have RSI today.

I have been baking bread, making some lemon cheese, making yoghurt, making butter, baking in general, and getting a little sewing done.  I recently bought Lotta Jansdotters “Simple Sewing for Baby”. I love almost every project in this book. I have made the Simple Pants for Ari and a giraffe rattle. It has easy patterns and instructions, scope for your own personal style, and I thoroughly recommend it.

I visited the Mind Body Spirit Festival on Saturday, mostly to get a reading done. It has been 2 years since I last saw a clairvoyant, and I am badly needing some direction on a few ideas that swim around in my sleep deprived head. I think I got what I was after. Roll on 2010!

This morning at 6am there was a cow in our yard. And two in the yard next door. Mooing and bellowing. Just letting you know.

The op shopping year is not yet halfway through and I believe I have surpassed myself. I am in fact, still pinching myself. I picked up some Florence Broadhurst small pieces of fabric today for $1:

And this!!!

Jan Pienkowski! Can you believe it? $1. Wow, wow, wow. Ari has a large bare wall in his room just waiting for this panel. It was printed in 1979 for Finlandia and C.L.O.T.H.

‘Q’ is my favourite.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Yesterday we needed Ben Harper “Show Me A Little Shame” on repeat. Today we got away with only two Snow Patrol songs. He also likes Jazz.

It was my birthday yesterday. The first half was spent rushing out the door to school/Kindy, followed by being knee deep in watery clay goop.  Our neighbour helped me pump water out of the dam so the excavation guy could scoop out said goop. My gumboots were firmly stuck in the mud, and for a few frantic moments I thought I might not get out. The hose pumping the water out was spraying everywhere, just like in a cartoon. I regretted washing my hair hours earlier. And wearing my black pants tucked into my gumboots. Yep. Happy birthday.  

The afternoon and evening improved greatly.  I had bought a gorgeous Nikki McClure poster, which Jamie had framed for me. I received some books I had been wanting for a while. I can’t wait to make something from the Sewing Green book by Betz White. I love her ideas for repurposing old items, most of which she sources from op shops. Like I needed another excuse to go op shopping.  Ella proudly made me a bookmark. I got spoilt with the unexpected gift of a massage and facial voucher for a local health spa. 

The tea party with a few friends on Sunday was fabulous. Lots of chatting, drinking bubbles, and eating decadent cakes. Yum. Curry with friends in the evening made it a perfect Sunday for catching up with friends. Jamie cooked profiteroles from scratch for my birthday dessert last night. I was most impressed. The chocolate sauce was awesome, although not the best right before bedtime for the kidlets!

Our baby boy is commando crawling now – eek! Polly Pockets and Clickits are being removed from their hiding spots in our fluffy carpet, as I send the girls on ‘treasure hunts’ to secure the area for Ari. His days in this hat are limited, but I keep squeezing it on. He’s  wearing it with his knitted vest from Nanna. Nanna’s are good like that.

I’m hosting a tiny tea party for 4 friends today in celebration of my upcoming 35th birthday. Champagne, and cake served on Wedgwood. Aah, a perfect sunny afternoon. Might have to shovel all the kids art creations in progress out of the sunroom and sit in there. It looks like the weather is going to oblige today.  

This fantastic rainbow emerged over the valley during the week. I was searching hard. It was definitely the end of the rainbow, but I couldn’t find that elusive pot of gold. I see the horse. Maybe it is worth a pot of gold?

We spent the Easter break at the beach. There was fishing, shell collecting, puzzles, knitting, paddling in the waves, walking, reading, visiting a fete and eating.

Of course, the Easter bunny visited us. Ella waited very patiently from 6:30am until we woke Mia at 7:20am. I sewed some Easter bags for the kids to collect their eggs in, from a Rosalie Quinlan pattern. I only just managed to sew them in time for Easter, stitching like crazy at every possible moment. A bag can be made and stitched in 24 hours, when combined with home duties. Not recommended, but you know, if you want to impose these kinds of deadlines on yourself.

It was nice to be away from home in the sea air.  Since we have returned Ari has burst his eardrum. That took a full sleepless night of screaming. He had an throat infection before we left on holidays, which antibiotics didn’t fix. We now have a new bright pink, heavily coloured, syrup scented antibiotic. I am gagging in sympathy with him twice a day as I pinch his nose so he swallows it (a neat trick I learned when I worked in childcare all those years ago!).

School holidays seem to have disappeared already, so we are staying close to home for the remaining days. Today I plan to make some homemade lemonade, and make a short trip to the apple farm. I wish there was another week to go.

6 months old today! That is his 4th dodgy fringe cut by his Mummy. Couldn’t you just kiss those cheeks!

I did some Wardrobe Refashioning of my own today. Though it wasn’t from the wardrobe, it was from the op shop for 50c. As soon as I saw it I knew what it would end up as.

From a size 6 girls skirt:

to size 0 pants for my boy:

I followed the instructions from Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule, where she makes pants for her kids out of old adult t-shirts. Too easy. I would love to have the time and enthusiasm to sew more clothes for my kids, but we do so well with op shop finds and hand me downs that it hardly seems worth the effort. I like the idea of keeping items out of landfill and repurposing them.

I find I have come to loathe shopping for my kids or myself, especially for clothes. Clothes for 6 yr olds (and even 4 yr olds!) seem to be fashioned on clothes for 18 yr olds. And slogan tees on kids? No thanks.

I sometimes despair that my kids are dressed in a mish-mash of things that don’t seem to match. I try to embrace the individuality of what they choose. My kids dress for the moment of play they are in, and for comfort. How else can I explain a bikini top, teamed with shorts and a tiara? Or gumboots and a nightie? Yay them I say. Get away with it while you can.