Dare I Mention.......

.....Christmas?! Well, I'm going to be brave and courageous. Yes folks, in our household preparations are now officially on their way, thanks to this little project. Perfect for a 2yo little girl, don't you think? I know my girls at 2yo would've loved a little bag to tote their pack-ratted objects around in!!!!! For now it will grace the little basket on top of my sewing cabinet and give me some moments of pleasure!


We've also overcome the obstacles and hurdles of when to get together with my family. One brother alternates with his in-laws, being that they are in Gippsland, so we've tackled that and succeeded in a manner that satisfies us all, I think. It's now up to me to decide on a roast or a BBQ!!!!

Book Reviews

I have neglected my book review posts here! My dear friend Rel has had me reading and reviewing for her of late and all the reviews have now been posted. I think I mentioned 'The Moon in the Mango Tree' when it went up, but have been terribly slack with the others!

Rel is very organised and she has a label just for me, so if you click here you'll find all the reviews I've done will pop up without you having to try and find them. Isn't she wonderful!?!!!

Apparently there is another bunch of books being prepared for me so I'm going to work on my own TBR pile while I have the chance LOL.

Menus and Wonderful Weekends

I'm all set for a week of vegetables, fruit and wholemeal bread!!!!! A weekend deviating from our normal standard diet has left me feeling a little deprived.

So...since we skipped the homemade pizza and had bacon wrapped chicken last night and we missed a few meals because of the weekend I think this might be what we'll eat....

Monday: Homemade pizza
Tuesday: Gnocchi with Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce
Wednesday: Roast (whatever's cheaper)
Thursday: Herbed Ricotta Fritters, vegies
Friday: Yum Cha lunch / Homemade Pasta & bolognaise sauce for dinner
Saturday: Vegie Soup, homemade dinner rolls
Sunday: Honey & Orange Chicken, jacket potato, salad

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Wonderful Weekends...

This weekend saw us visiting with good friends who moved to Shepparton. It's a country town in the central north of the State. The town's parks and gardens have these cows. Lots of different cows. Footy colours, Aussie flags, Aboriginal paintings, there's a brown cow with the words 'How Now' on it! I kinda like this one. If you want to see more of them you can browse here. It's all very imaginative!

We also went and visited SPC, otherwise known as Shepparton Preserving Company. SPC is a well know brand in Australia for tinned fruit & vegies, tinned spaghetti & baked beans etc. Jam at 90c a jar, rather than the $3+ in the supermarket was a worthwhile buy. As was the brand of bread flour we use at $5 off supermarket prices.

And we enjoyed spending time with our friends, whom we hadn't seen in 6 months. It was good to see them happy and settled where they are and yet it was surreal. So many things the same (we knew exactly where to look for the bandaids!) and yet so many things different. A different church family and new friends. Somehow I think our friendship will remain firm and strong despite the distance. We have lived and experienced too much together....not to mention 12 years of camping and seeing each other in PJ's LOL.

The rabbit and bird are still alive and the guy who popped in to check on them also mowed the lawns. What a lovely surprise!

Another Bloggy Break

This weekend we're going to be rather taken up with visiting and I doubt I'll make it to the computer. But I'll be back to blogging on Monday!

I've been madly organising a couple of little stitching projects for the weekend. Besides the fact that it's more sociable than blogging or reading, the AFL grand final is on Saturday. One word ~ B O R I N G. I'm not a footy fan. Stitching will enable me to endure an afternoon of wishing I could watch the grass grow instead! Both projects will end up being Christmas gifts. The little 'Wren's Nest' project I mentioned the other day has been put together and just needs the embroidery to be done. I'm also going to do the 'Fruit of the Spirit' stitchery again for my SIL, since she fell about all over the place in admiration when I was doing it earlier in the year!

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We are now the proud pet-sitters of a little birdy and a little bunny. Featherfruit and Mischief have come to our place for a holiday whilst their family has headed off to Queensland for 3 weeks. I hope we can keep them alive. They tell us it's really easy and just keep their food and water containers filled. I dunno...they haven't remembered how I can kill ivy, daisies and lavender! I'm sure I've told them! We'll also be visiting their chooks to top up food & water and retrieve eggs :)

Despite my lack of pet appreciation, it is kinda nice to listen to Featherfruit chirp away. It has me wondering though, what on earth is the purpose of pets that don't desire human contact?!

Spring has Sprung

One of the true pleasures of buying the house we live in now is that only two months after moving in things started happening. Bulbs popped their heads up and we watched with anticipation to see what they were! Daffodils, Jonquils, stunningly deep burgundy tulips. I'd never planted tulips before, but here they are! The trees that had been dormant over winter started to bud. What a treat! The above picture is a tree in our front yard. Some weeping form of something or other that is awash with white blossoms right now!


The picture below was taken on my phone so it really doesn't do justice to the view. This paddock is one that we pass every day to and from school. One day we looked over and were amazed at the vast expanse of beautiful hues. The paddock sweeps up towards a house at the top of the rise and the whole area is just filled with all my favourite colours. They might by hyacinths I think. I've not gotten close enough to see. It is private property after all, and I'm a rule follower!

Stitching The Days Away

One of the things I like about school holidays is that we're home a lot. Being home a lot, I have more time to do frivolous things that I don't normally get to do during the day. Rel will be thrilled that I'm getting through my 'Books to Review' pile :). The other thing I love to do...and is far less anti-social...is to stitch my way through days where I normally wouldn't be able to do so! Today we're going to a friend's place for a play ~ I'll take this cute little stitchery with me and I'll still be able to chat.

'Tea Party for Madeline' is from Cinderberry Stitches, an Aussie designer. I love her whimsical style and the colours. I'm rather taken with the 'Monet's Garden' variegated thread! One of these days my buttonhole stitch will be more even ~sigh~. I was looking at Natalie's website the other day and discovered a new freebie pattern. I always love a freebie ~ don't we all?! Blue Wren's Nest is a gorgeous little tote bag with a very cute little stitchery on it. There is a free pdf file to download if you want the pattern ... even if it's just to get the stitchery outline! I happen to think a little niece might just like this for Christmas!

What a shame little boys aren't into cute little bags!!! Then again, a bag like this with a 'digger like Daddy's' stitched on it may be quite the thing. Master Nephew is quite taken with digging machines, seeing as how his Daddy owns one.

Moments of Pure Bliss

There are many times when Mum's, no matter how much we adore our children and being mothers, just really need a break. Being a Mum is a full time 24 hours a day, 356 days a year job. You don't get a holiday, although everyone in the house being asleep could be deemed such.

A weekend away is the absolutely most perfect little break I think a person could wish for! All you need is a small group of very precious friends and a place to be. For me, that was three other very like-minded, most precious gems of women that I have the privilege of calling 'friend'. We sewed, knitted, scrapbooked, read.....ate, slept (not so much!), ate, watched DVD's, ate, walked on the beach, ate. You get the picture. We were oh so tempted to stay another day. We had enough food to last us, after all!

I realised in the car on the way home, as Miss Mischief was dibber dobbing about something Dh had done, that for two days I found the normal woman beneath the meany mother! I had absolutely nothing to frustrate me and no reason to feel cranky. I was able to just be the person I really am! Now that is something I intend to keep in the forefront of my mind as we have school holidays and the requests for food and something to do will be non-stop!

Gals, do you think maybe six monthly would be too often?!!!!!