Archive for the 'General Ramblings' Category
Guess who needed a nap after a (rescheduled) day at the zoo today. (Hint: not Finn!)
Seriously. I believe ‘herding cats’ is an appropriate simile. After a few hours of what shall hereafter be known as the bums-and-poo trip to the Zoo, (because what could possibly be more fascinating to six year olds than the rear ends - and what emerges therefrom - of exotic animals?) I was completely beat. I have renewed respect for the teachers of our preppies, I can tell you that. Oh, and never so pro-uniform as today - it’s far easier to locate one’s group when all are dressed alike.
It was loads of fun, though, and the weather this time was perfect. After lunch, our class had an hour at the ‘Zoo School’ learning about ‘Feathers, Fur, Scales & Skin’. I hear that the parent helpers of other classes weren’t allowed into Zoo School, and instead took a bit of a scones-and-tea detour. Scones and tea is nice and all, but hey - we got to go in and handle snakes. Soooo much cooler! 
I’m having an easier evening. Dermot out gallivanting, kids both off to bed easily (Niamh has recently abandoned her afternoon naps, much to my distress, though it does make bedtime more enjoyable), and I’m parked under a doona enjoying my umpteenth viewing of Love Actually. I swear I don’t love it just for Alan Rickman
July 25 2008 | Family and General Ramblings and The Kids | 4 Comments »
I’ve been a bit out of sorts lately. Too busy. Too much being sociable, making smalltalk with people I don’t know very well. (Funny it’s taken me so long to recognize my major trigger. Too much of a good thing, I end up feeling overwhelmed, like I need to hide back in my shell! Hmmm. Is it any wonder Finn’s socially troubled?!)
Sorry, got sidetracked for a moment there! Anyway, so Niamh and I ended up in the reserve yesterday for some time out after playgroup (not the naughty-corner kind of timeout, the good kind)
Not five minutes walk from us, there’s this bush reserve. It’s not big - just big enough that by the time we walk into the middle the sound of suburban traffic has (mostly) disappeared. It’s home to a couple dozen kangaroos (mob, I believe, is the collective noun), favourite hang out of all the native birds in the area, and in the summertime, hundreds of tiny skinks sunbathe along the path. I love it. I grew up in regional Victoria, so in some warm fuzzy way it’s like a little piece of home.
We partly headed there yesterday so I could get a picture of my paper crane:
This is for Eve at foldingtrees.com - she’s collecting 1000 ‘peace cranes’ folded from recycled paper and photographed in peaceful places or on peace monuments. (Read more here). Mine is folded from a 10cm square of paper cut from a security envelope - the patterns inside those envelopes are lovely!
So there we were. Photographing cranes, hanging out, goofing off…
I didn’t expect to come across the roos - they’re usually about in the mornings and evenings, and keep out of sight during the day. But there they all were - just chilling out, like us, not far in from the path. I managed to switch camera lenses, get close enough, and keep the wild child quiet enough to take a bunch of photographs. I counted seventeen - the most I’ve ever seen in there all together. Well… eighteen, if you count the little cutie hanging out in mum’s pouch there 
So nice. Feeling better now. It’s good to have all that just five minutes away.
June 26 2008 | General Ramblings | 6 Comments »
Look at all that lovely de-lurking down there! Thank you for all the kind comments on my birthday post. (Only one ‘You’re Ace’ though. Hmmmm.) I’m delighted to announce that the ten pretty flossies will be making their way to Valerie any day now.
I was going to give you photographic evidence of the name-draw as carried out by my barrel boy, Finn - but Melbourne winter evening + poor kitchen lighting did not permit. Besides - see above. It looked kind of like that! You’re just going to have to take my word for it
Valerie, if you would be so kind as to send me your details, I’ll have the floss off in the mail to you ASAP.
Oh, by the way, if anyone else is interested in what happened to my floss dyeing tutorial (I had an email a little while back about this), I do plan on getting it back up at some point - hopefully with accompanying photographs. In the meanwhile, I have the text of it available as a PDF, so just email me if you’re interested in doing some dyeing of your own!
June 01 2008 | Dyeworks and General Ramblings and Other Craft | 3 Comments »
Is it too late yet to say Happy New Year? And, uh, Merry Christmas, as well? (I don’t do ‘Happy Holidays’ - despite my pagan leanings, I’m pretty firmly in the ‘Merry Christmas’ camp!)
I kept meaning to blog, truly I did. I missed so many important moments. Here’s the ten-second run down of that-which-was-never-blogged:
- Finn’s birthday party (Ten pin bowling, wheeee! The birthday boy bowled 96 to take the game - never mind the assistance of bumpers and a ramp!)
- A little bit of frantic pre-Christmas crafting (Bags, bags, bags… I do promise photos, once I liberate them from the various cameras about the house)
- Niamh deciding a week before Christmas was a good time to start climbing out of her cot, thus introducing us to a whole new set of bedtime challenges
- Christmas itself (Cue yet another emotional meltdown from moi - 3-days of family festivities (his family/ my family/ my other family) is just a wee bit more than I can take, apparently)
- Finn’s NYE birthday (My boy is five! Last year Scienceworks, this year the Museum. Lots of fun, but I wish we hadn’t been so rushed)
- NYE party and overnight stay out of town (Thank goodness - we were about an hour and a half out of Melbourne, so no overnight low of 30°C for us - we had a pleasant drop down to 17°-ish)
- Resolution making (Yes really - me! Never mind that I apparently jinx myself out of achieving goals - I’m quite determined that two-oh-oh-eight is going to be a whole different story. Stay tuned)
So Happy New Year then. May it be a wonderful and productive one for all of us. Also, may it bring more blogging and less blah-ing for me. Back soon with those photos, and not far around the corner, a name change and a facelift.
Erm… for the blog, that is, not me 
January 07 2008 | Family and General Ramblings and The Kids | 6 Comments »
‘Tis late. We’re not long back from ‘doing’ the Myer windows and the Boulevard lights - two Melbourne Christmas institutions if ever there were. With a stop off at Haigh’s on the way. Yum. Two happy but tired kids fell asleep on the way home. I thought I’d show you a couple of recent finished objects before I do the same.
This cushion:
which is a long awaited finish (remember the work in progress?) from Finn. He finished it in time to show his teacher last week at his (sob! sniff!) last Kinder session.
The proud boy (since having a new camera - early gift from Mum, thanks Mum - necessitated taking new playground shots of kids):
And a finish from me, which I probably shouldn’t really be showing off yet, since it’s still en route to the recipient:
This was for an ornament exchange on the Aus Xers yahoo group. I joined up before I realised what a slump in stitching I was about to experience. Blah. So I have to confess… I probably broke the rules a little bit. This stitched piece (a Drawn Thread freebie) was sitting in my ‘to be finished’ pile already(!) When I realised I had zero chance of getting something new stitched for the exchange, I picked this out and finished it up as a pillow ornament. Is that bad? Anyway, I’m not counting it as a finish for the year, but I do plan to restitch it for myself, because I think it’s really pretty. If I manage to kick myself in the butt after Christmas is over, I might just get it done before ‘08!
December 18 2007 | Counted Stitchwork and Finished and General Ramblings and Kid Crafts and Other Craft and Sewing | 4 Comments »
So. While I was out…
It turned out that No-vember meant not only (almost)No-blogging, but also (almost)No-stitching. Not a single cross was stitched with these hands in November (shock!), but I did get to and finish the girl-elf I showed you back here, and made a good start on boy-elf. Pics when they’re both finished.
Also, I did some crafty gift making for a couple of the small people in my life. I don’t think either of their mums read my blog, so I can show:
First up, I made a kitty version of Sara Bear, who will go to sweet Lilly. I hope she likes her. Finn has named her ‘Heart Love Kitty’ on account of the hearts in her shoes (uh… which you cannot see… so I guess that makes little sense to mention!)
(Pattern by Hillary Lang)
Next up, a crayon roll for Mr A, Dermot’s nephew. This was fun. I made two - the other one for Finn and Niamh, and it had mysteriously vanished by the time I came to take these pics.
(Based on the tutorial at Skip to my Lou, via Sew, Mama, Sew).
Finally, I whipped up a last minute (11pm, November 30) advent calendar-ish thing to round out the month. We’re also doing the Lego advent calendar this year, because we just looooove Lego around here (except notsomuch when coming across it with bare feet in the dark.) The one I made is simple little felt bags of chocolate goodies, tied with a pretty ornament which goes on the tree (or will, at least). Ornaments from Allsorts.
Oh oh, looks like there’s an imminent break-in!
Hope you’re all having a great weekend
December 08 2007 | General Ramblings and Kid Crafts and Other Craft and Sewing | 5 Comments »
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