I guess I kind of got hooked into the Twilight series after all. I mean, yeah, they’re a little bit slushy-teen-romance-y, but I like a bit of light escapism as much as the next girl!
So the weather forecast is for cold, wet and miserable this weekend in Melbourne. Great reading weather! You think I should head out and pick up the other two books?
I just checked my Books iRead on Facebook - I’ve been plugging in books this year as I read them - looks like I’ve managed 22 books so far this year - I’d say that’s one successful resolution for 2008. (Ahem… ‘more stitching’ was clearly not such a success).
Ooh, and in other (wonderful) news today - I passed my first glucose tolerance test. Whoohoo! I had to do an early one this time - at 18 weeks - on account of having had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with Niamh. I was (and am still) fully expecting to have GD again - there is a fairly high probability, I’m only being realistic. But the 18 week test came back normal. Which means, although I have to repeat it at 28 weeks to see if things change, I won’t be a diabetic for Christmas! Restricted portions, no refined sugar, and four-times-daily finger pricks would not make for a terribly festive Festive Season. (Not that I’m taking this as free rein to be a sugar glutton mind you).
November 21 2008 | Family and General Ramblings and Pregnancy and Reading | 3 Comments »
Thanks for allowing me that little sidetrack off the sanity wagon. For your patience, you get to (finally) witness some craftiness around here.
I have a bit of a problem with craft markets - occasionally I walk in and get a bad case of I-can-make-that-itis. Then I get an attack the guilts, because crafters gotta eat, too! It’s a fine line though, between supporting small makers and blowing my budget. So I do my best, but frequently I leave with a head full of ideas, and my money still in my purse.
Mathilda’s market yesterday was bit like that. I went on a whim, since I was heading that way anyway. I spent 40 minutes or so dodging baby-bumps and uber-prams (I took neither, since the kids stayed home with Dermot, and to be honest, my ‘bump’ is still more fat-like than bump-like), but left almost empty handed. I did say a brief hello to the lovely Leslie on my way our, and immediately felt kind of blog-stalkerish and awkward 
The afternoon proved much more just-what-I-needed - I picked up a friend, and we made our way to the Shirt & Skirt market at the Abbotsford Convent. Which is sensational! I had a really good time. We grabbed some yummy lunch at Lentil as Anything and had a catch up, then wandered the market (markets, actually - there’s a second ‘Maker’s Market’ inside the refectory) and the convent grounds for much of the afternoon. I still managed to avoid parting with much cash, but there was much less I-can-make-that-itis, and much more How-awesome-is-that-I-wish-it-would-fit-me-itis!
I did buy the nifty stone necklace you see above (hello cleavage!). I’m convinced there’s a name for stacks of rocks like this (are they cairns? or something different?), but for now I’m calling this my Makka Pakka necklace (that’s a parents-of-young-children reference 
). I like it a lot. The artist is Martina Öhlinger. She doesn’t sell online, but is definitely someone to seek out if you’re at a future S&S market.
The wee chicky and his mum are a gift for someone I quite like, if I can bear to part with them. I didn’t get the details from this stall (inside, in the Makers’ Market), but there were a bunch of other lovely Steiner/Waldorf-y playthings to be found there.
Also seen above are two things made… by me! The amigurumi boy-in-dragon-suit I finished up quite some eons ago. This is the first ami I’ve ever finished. He’s a little bit wonky, and I’m not quite happy with the stuffing showing through the stitches look, but he’s still cute! I bought the pattern from Owlishly (Etsy shop here, Blog here), and it’s very well written and easy to follow. Highly recommended.
Little Ms Red Riding Hood is an entirely-by-me creation. A few weeks back it was badge night at Brown Owls. The badges I made that night are currently all AWOL (blame Niamh, she took a liking to them!) - but I found this ‘in progress’ shot on one of Steph’s many blogs. Aaaanyway (geesh, this is getting rambly and long), we had a bit of a felt-badgy-tutorial from Ms Anna Laura, she of cute lady-badges, and I was inspired a couple of days later to whip up Ms Red here. I won’t point out her flaws, because I’m starting to realise I do that a lot. She’s pretty ace, if I do say so myself!
And now. I’m off to bed to make a start on Twilight. I wasn’t going to, since I’ve already done the whole Anne Rice vampirey thing in my youth and all, but I finally gave in and decided to borrow it from the library. Then I went and bought it instead, because I didn’t feel like waiting until next century (seriously - #64 on the holds list? Stuff that!) So it better be all everyone says it is.
November 17 2008 | Other Craft and Reading and Sewing and Yarncraft | 3 Comments »
That, down there…
.. does not have anything whatsoever to do with a certain bun-in-the-oven.
You know. Just in case you were to misconstrue my bizarr-ity (if that’s not a word, it should be).
Oh, and thank you for asking after me, I ‘preciate it
November 16 2008 | General Ramblings | 3 Comments »
I had a whole post worked out in my head before. It seemed to work. It was kind of a metaphorical elephant-in-the-room storytelling post. About how the elephant kept taking great giant elephant craps on my head, and no one else in the room seemed to notice, only then all of a sudden they all noticed at once, and I thought great, excellent - now perhaps we can talk about the damn elephant in the room, because I sure don’t need this toxic bullshit (um, I mean elephant crap) anymore. But then, they all just didn’t mention the elephant in the room, and it was suddenly not so much the elephant I was upset with (because I can easily take a shower, yes?), but everyone else, who seem to think it’s perfectly okay for an elephant to crap all over me, so long as we don’t have to talk about it!
But then I wrote that post down, and it sounded stupid (I know, what are the odds…?!), so I didn’t post it.
Only now, I sort of did. Because I have to somehow get past this thing that is causing me undue tension. That is causing me to not want to craft or blog. That is interfering with my life on a daily basis.
I want to craft and blog and be happy again. And I’m tired of the elephant crap. So it occurs to me that even though the elephant gets what the elephant always wanted, the healthiest thing for me to do is leave the room. Right? Right.
And take that shower, dammit!
November 16 2008 | Family | 2 Comments »
So I wrote out this whole post, and it didn’t start out in a bad place, but it ended up in one, so I’m self-editing, because who can trust a pregnant woman to make any sense, huh?
What I really wanted to say was, thanks for coming to my pity-party the other day. All hugs and premature congratulations much appreciated, and I’ll try not to do it again… much. (Fair warning though: see most of my last pregnancy!)
Minor important details I should probably dish out here are: I’m only 9.5 weeks so far, and I’m still (probably excessively) concerned about the slapped cheek virus and possible subsequent miscarriage. Lets keep all minor appendages crossed, shall we?
…
On another rant entirely, tomorrow, Finn’s school is having a ‘Footy Fun Day’ - an out-of-uniform-wear-your-team-colours kind of hullabaloo. Which is fine. Except you’re looking at one of the teeny-tiny-minority of families in Victoria who do not follow AFL! I know! The Shock! The Horror!
Anyway, Finn barely knows what ‘footy’ is, except what he hears from class mates (which is mostly along the lines of ‘you should… (follow x team/y team/collect footy cards/go to Auskick)’). Whatever. I’m totally on board if he decides to do any of those things, I am. But what’s incensed me today is the suggestion that if they don’t wear footy colours tomorrow, they have to come to school in uniform. Pfft to that (if it’s accurate, which, to be fair, it may not be, since I did only heard it from Finn so far). However… since he’s a small boy who’s sometimes overly concerned about doing the right thing, I’ve convinced him that since ‘footy’ also encompasses soccer/rugby/whatever else (Gaelic football, anyone?), he can get away with wearing the only piece of football paraphernalia which exists in our house - which just happens to be….
…an All Blacks hat brought back as a souvenir for Finn from NZ by my Dad.
Ahahahahaha. Take that, patriotic loyalty 
…
Back next time with actual photographic evidence of crafting. I swear it’s true!
…
PS. We can thank Dermot for getting my blog images back in operation, since I was being a complete dolt about it. Also, he provided hugs as requested. Yay for husbands.
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PPS. Finn will also be wearing other clothes. Not just the hat. In case you were concerned for his welfare and my sanity!
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PPPPPPS. Is 9.5 weeks too early to be breaking out the maternity gear, d’you think?! Because, damn, third pregnancies really suck in that regard!
September 16 2008 | Family and Pregnancy and The Kids | 11 Comments »
So I picked up all these new readers recently (hi!), and the blog has been dead ever since. Sorry ’bout that. And now, when I finally get around to paying it a visit, it turns out all my images have gone AWOL. Crap. I’m really not sure what’s up with that - it seems like some issue with my Zenphoto/Wordpress plugin, but I’m too tired and stressed to figure out what right now. So we’ll carry on picture-less, for now, k? Appropriate, really, since I don’t actually have anything to show you today.
The last two weeks, and most especially, the last three days, have been shit. (I’m not going to apologise for the language, because you know what, I’m done apologising for now). I shouldn’t and won’t bring dirty family laundry to the blog, but sometimes, I’m acutely aware that the distance between my siblings and I is not purely geographical.
I’m tired. Weary. Over the drama.
But most of all. I’m wishing that I hadn’t spent the last 24 hours Googling ’slapped cheek disease’ and ‘pregnancy’.
(And yes… you may now feel free to draw conclusions - the whole world seems to be finding out by accident anyway)
I think I might need a hug.
September 05 2008 | Blog Blather and Family and Pregnancy | 18 Comments »
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