Friday, October 30, 2009

Tomorrow is the end of October




And sure it was a great event of the community, but frankly I am over it!
I am so grateful to the people who have regularly visited my blog and left wonderful
and inspiring comments - I feel like I have made some wonderful friends....
So I am hitting a cruisey November and an absent December. These photos correspond with
nothing I am posting! LOL I am desperate to end this pressure! But hey I have met some great
gals and to them all "YA JUST ALL GORGEOUS!!!!!"

XXXXXXXX


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Oh oh oh oooohhh, my little china girl





This cute little pair of vases belong to my "I would die if anything happened to these" group of treasures. Once owned by my Nan who had a wonderful amount of 50's china. Of course the rest of the family in the following decades did not share my views. I was super close to my Nan and in fact still feel that way regardless of having lost her when I was 10. I am told I am very much like her and share many of her traits for which I am happy to wear as a badge. I do not have a picture of her scanned to share with you, but she was lovely, strong and funny. A lady but not a prude or biggot, a good time gal but elegant and real all at once. Yep, call me Madge junior and I will love it.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Missed a few, but still here!


I have missed a few days. Lack of inspiration I guess, but i feel a new surge coming back.

Last night I made this glasses case, it just needs a fastener.



Maybe I was sugar driven to inspiration from these! Yum, Jelly Tots so hard to find and at $5.95 a tube the kids were simply dreaming that I would actually share! The last time I got my hands on Jelly Tots was when I was about to give birth to number one....I pigged out on then a the beginning of my labour. BIG mistake, I wasted them into a bucket after the epidural. grrrrr.



Oh and some reading material to inspire me further.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Ruby Tuesday



Well not really much of gem kind of day, more study. i am so close to finishing now which means : CRAFT TIME!!! Oh I am counting down the days. I have managed to do a bit of knitting and have made a nice shoulder warmer using a Jo Sharp pattern. I will keep that for tomorrows post! Very happy with how it turned out.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Some days ya do, some ya don't


Didn't make it yesterday! Not much today, here is a first with Missy Moo Moo. The first of those little baby pearls have fallen out!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Quality Time



Like most parents I understand the importance of spending quality time with the kids, even more valuable is spending one on one time with our kids. They seem to thrive in those conditions don't they? But something always gets in the way of achieving these moments : family get togethers, parties, sports, church, school events etc etc and if you have more than two kids it is a huge challenge....I try to factor in "date" nights with each boy at least three times a year, with Martha it seems much easier to get girl time in.

Tonight was the Tullster's first "date night", normally we go to a market or out for a breakfast but tonight we went out for dinner and a movie. He was stoked as we saw Astro Boy, a movie that we have both been hanging out to see. He was allowed to have the "Astro" special offer (a huge bucket of coke in a Astro boy cup with a huge sack of popcorn) and a choc top!!!! Happy as the pig in mud! It was a lovely night and he tumbled home ecstatic, I can hear him now in bed, it's way past 9.30 and he is recounting the story to his brother...simple pleasures : dinner and a movie.

Friday, October 16, 2009

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas


I sat down and thought about it, every year I swear I will make most of my presents and the time to start making comes up and....
my mind goes blank. I don't know what to make. So I am asking my crafter peers and friends in bloggyland.

What are you making for Christmas Gifts?

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Too-wit tawhoo



I enjoy making these little critters, I always forget to post them!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

trinkets for me



I bought this gorgeous necklace at the Makers Market last Saturday, the pendant comes off and is a brooch. Made by Lauren whom I thought was a bright and beautiful woman. Thank you Lauren, really you should make a point of getting to the next makers Market and meeting with all of the lovely crafters there....My regret is I didn't have enough funds to get one of Polly Pratts wonderful belts. Next time!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Some random thoughts (not so heavy ones)


Christmas is 11 weeks away

I am 5 assignments away from guilt free crafting

I need to make some CHristmas Cards

I had better get on with my CHristmas Cake

Is October and I am still cold

White enamel paint yellows with age

The hungry caterpillar seems to have sold out to commercialism

Has Eric Carle's kids gotten hold of his estate or is Eric just planning
on a BIG sea change

House maintenance is a drag

Why do you press the remote control harder when the batteries need changing?

Why do I still entertain dreams of youth?

What is an appropriate memorial ritual for a once pert bustline?

I have learnt to make the most of waking in the middle of the night

Why do we really lose touch with best friends?

There should be universal quality control for all makes of jelly beans

The is something unsettling about seeing the "Umbilical Brothers" do kids TV

No Place like Home


Home is where the heart is. A cheesey expression that sounds like kitchen wall hanging, maybe a little to 1930's mid-west for some but the intensity, the sheer magnitude, the actual weight of this statement hits me more and more each day. Without a home your world becomes unravelled, fast. Imagine not having a place to go after work where you would cook a meal, rest, close your eyes and know securely that all behind your closed door were safe from the elements, from crime, from social debasement. Imagine trying to get you kids up and ready for school without a kitchen, a bathroom, without a roof. Imagine not having a place to express your irrationalities and despair in privacy. Imagine always having to remain expose and vigilant.

This is something that more and more people are facing in this country, this land of the quarter acre block, the 3 bed brick veneer job in the suburbs. They tell us jobs are getting scarcer, but there is ALWAYS a housing worker position vacant. Why wouldn't there be? Who would want to work in a job where you are, day after day, receiving plea after plea for a "place to put my family" and having to break the news "there is no housing".

The public housing list is not just long in terms of applicants, but in years. There is in some places over a fifteen year wait! And then you may be offered somewhere that is completely unacceptable, somewhere that is so desperate just visiting the site makes you feel infected with despair- So bad that you have no option but to gasp and say "thanks but no thanks, I need to keep my kids safe". This little display of pickiness will place back from whence you came : the end of the queue. See you in another decade.



I work in the areas of mental health/ drug and alcohol. I see the despair daily. I sit with grown men and listen to them beg me to speak up for them, help them get a place "you know, a place where I can just get back on me feet, so i wouldn't drink or nuffin'". I can speak for them, but my voice does precious little. Sadly I see them return from their substance withdrawal or psychotic episode to a boarding house or a night on a mate's couch, maybe a relative's place that will soon give way to homelessness. I might see them back in the withdrawal unit, so compliant to the programme, so grateful to be there that I often think it is about the seven days of secure living rather than the opportunity to leave a substance free life that brings them back. I don't just see men, I see young people, young enough to be my own children. I meet 60 something year old women who may of developed an addiction or mental illness or both through a divorce, an accident and lost their home, there belongings, their hope.

We are living in a time of social crisis. This is a time of severe housing crisis, there are no places to put people who are poor, sick and despaired. In fact families who work and contribute at a hearty rate are finding difficulties to access good quality and affordable rental properties. Once it was considered a budgeting rule that if your rent or repayments exceeded a third of your income then you ould not survive, it is more than half now. But still normal, un-exceptional but nonetheless good family homes being bought up in clumps, demolished and multiple designer style town houses going up all over the place making developers rich and councils wealthy and socially unaccountable for the strugglers in their towns. Our kids now may not ever own their own homes....our kids, if they fall on hard times may never have a home. How many of us received a big fat cheque from Uncle Kevin and spent it on craft, putting in a new vegie patch, homely goodies? How many people desperately needed that cash but didn't get it because they hadn't put a tax return in - it's hard to keep a job when you have no address.

Folks we need to open our eyes, we need to start talking about this, loudly and we need to tell our leaders this IS UNACCEPTABLE for Australians....No one should live without a place to call home, a place that anchors them in this world where you can retreat, recharge. A place where you can protect and nuture yourself and family. Without a home, life can unravel fast, real fast.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Sunday already too soon!



Martha and I went to Northcote yesterday. We went to the Maker's Market and there we met TinnieGirl and CurlyPops and Polly Pratt AKA the lovely Anna. What a lovely bunch of gals they are!



I little while ago I joined Polly Pratt's pay it forward and at the market she exclaimed "I was hoping you would drop by today!"
And gave me this beautiful gift....I am astounded at her generosity, I feel so lucky and can't wait to show off my new brooches and make something with the fabric. There was a fredo frog but Miss Martha gobbled it up in an unguarded moment.


Thank you Anna, I will treasure this wonderful gift xxxx*hugs*

Friday, October 9, 2009

More white china




I collect and collect old stuff...here are some of my white vases that are gracing my mantel, there are about 15 of them together.


Inspired by another blogger whose name escapes me (sorry!) here are 7 things you may not know about me and will probably wish you didn't!

1. Used to be a WIndow Dresser at David Jones and other various big department stores in a time when Visual Merchandising was not pre-fab, a time we could be very creative building our own props.

2. I have also worked as a Care Bear, Santa Bear and Santa's Elf, all positions I excelled at.

3. I hate whistlers, I cannot stand people whistling.

4. I am allergic to cats.

5. I secretly listen to Dragon (an old Australian band -oh the April Sun in Cuba)

6. Enjoy watching tele-movies - yep the B grade midday movie kind

7. Love tomato sandwiches on white bread

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Thursday



Thursday's mum is full of woe...Tonight I get home and straight away I am told about my short comings : My dinners are awful, I didn't sew Cub badges on (of course I would of if I hadn't been handed them 15 minutes prior to being needed), I wasn't allowing the emerging reader to read (bad parent for assisting with a word that had been read incorrectly 20 thousand times-am I a saint with untold patience?), I failed to find a nintendo, why hadn't I contacted a parent I don't know to arrange a sleep over - so unfair and the night is not over to learn about more of my other failings!

Hope i am a better super parent by Friday

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

This week's photo


I love this, it always makes me laugh. My husband showed me the 'dirty angel" the first time he took me to Warnambool, he and his brother used to laugh their heads off every time they saw it as kids...he still does!

NB The Angel is actually holding a wreath it just looks naughty at this angle and of course two little 10 and seven year old boys just delight in something like this!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Hat is finished



Due to studying, I haven't been able to sit back and enjoy making something in an afternoon, so I REALLY enjoyed making this hat that only took a few hours. Can't say I adore the pattern, but being new to crocheting things outside the "Granny Square" and actually following a pattern, I am pleased to say I followed a pattern! Sorry about the photo quality, my model is tired and cranky and co-operative after her first day back to school.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

But never on a Sunday, a Sunday because that's my day of rest!

Anyone over forty will remember that tune on the radio when they were wee things, I think Nana Mouskuri (spelling ?) may of sung it...Anyway, I LOVE daylight saving, I seem to get so much more done. 5.30pm and I have made a lasagne, a rice pudding, made kids lunches (back to school tomorrow), been for a swim, and made an outstanding breakfast for the tribe (ok so that was hours ago). I can't study with kids around so I started crocheting a hat - in the sun!

Ahhhh, lovely



Saturday, October 3, 2009

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!



I have joined Blogtoberfest and guess what? Yep, I missed the first two days!


But here is what i did on the second of October




Yeah, real exciting...less said the better

And I worked a really long day on the first of October...so no piccie and I crashed in my chair at 8:30pm, so no post!

But today has been good, I hung out with Martha and made Hama's, baked cookies : her choice and meringues : her choice again! And then went with the family to Brunswick St for a slap up Turkish meal YUM!