for Melanie

this has done the rounds of blogs a bit, but it makes you smile.

blogging?

been busy, busy... i've had so much on my mind to write about... new craft inspiration, fabric for the back of the infamous cross-stitch blanket (gorgeous fabric - i don't want to cut it up!)
excellent studies on parenting at my church... but for now, a few random questions on why i blog the way i do!

1. Do you promote your blog?
not really. i used to keep a written journal – something much more private, but i found that since having Nicholas and Audrey i don’t really have the time to sit and write. typing is quick and instant. and i can add photographs or pictures and clips of what inspires me. i don't mind people reading my blog, but i am consious to remember i am writing primarily for me.

2. How often do you check hits?
i don’t. i did have a counter on my blog, but i never actually looked at it, because i don’t really care – it is not why i have a blog. besides, with all my updating, i am sure most of the hits came from me anyway!!

3. Do you stick to one topic?
well, the content is all about what is important to me on any given day! it is quite eclectic – children, family, craft, music, faith and sometimes my little soapbox on social issues.

4. Who knows that you have a blog?
some friends. most of my family.

5. How many blogs do you read?
lots. i try not to read the links in blog side bars, as i will invariably finad another good one. i wonder how many blogs there are in the world? truth be told, there would be about half a dozen i check almost everyday, and then loads i browse through quickly now and again.

6. Are you a fast reader?
i skim read a lot of blogs. there are some that i look forward to every word (SouleMama, TreeFall, Holy Experience...) and some that i just love the photo's.

7. Do you customise your blog or do anything technical?
i originally started a blog just because i wanted to play around with a banner. it took me half a day to work it out! and even now i can’t remember. so it is a good thing i like to keep stuff simple.

8. Do you blog anonymously?
i didn’t use my kids names for ages. or my husbands. mainly just to keep them at a distance. for their privacy – i still don’t blog about my husband very much for that reason. i don’t see this as the place to talk about the intimate details of his life., or even a running commentry on what he is doing, or thinking. originally i wasn’t even going to put photos up of their faces, but where is the fun in that? i love being able to preserve an image of a certain moment in time, and connect it with my feelings at the time.

9. To what extent do you censor yourself?
i don’t talk about anyone else on my blog unless I have something good to say. nobody’s life is a bed of roses, and i don’t try and paint a perfect picture of my life, but I chose to blog the things in my life that make me happy.

10. The best thing about blogging?
keeping a record. i keep telling myself i need to have a hard copy of this somewhere…
i love reading blogs where the content is a shared interest (parenting, craft etc) and I love getting lots of ideas from a variety of sources.

they're finished!

i wasn't particularly inspired to do the Melly & Me kitty doll according to the pattern (dress, embroidered features etc) and then i saw some thing which gave me an idea for Nicholas' softie.
it was nice to see him actually play with it - even if play meant the kitty was a giant, chasing one of his toy cars around.
and Audrey did the thing any mum would love - when i went to her room with her doll in the morning she took it from me and kissed it. the free pattern for the doll can be found here. it was such fun to make. i think i will make more as gifts.
now i need to pack the sewing machine away and today i am going to finally make the Tessa Kiros cardamon and cinnamon buns i have been eyeing off for months... and tomorrow, maybe spend some of my last day as a stay at home mum doing some cleaning. just a little.

this week i am living my fantasy. i'm a stay at home mum. D has teaching prac this week, and i thought it would be best to just stay home with the kids, rather than he have to worry about driving them to carers early in the morning and then getting to school. it has been nice so far, in that D leaves at 8am, rather than 6:30am. we are all up together without it being a mad rush. he doesn't get home until 5pm, as he ha a year 12 class late in the day that doesn't finish until 4, but that beats his usual home time of anything from 6:30-8:30pm!

my days have included lots of attempts to tidy up. or not. i have been sewing... i think it is an addiction when you keep adding to the ironing pile and hoping it won't overtake the entire lounge. when you think about whether or not you can afford the time to get out of your pj's. when you give the kids their lunch, but decide a cup of hot chocolate is all you need. i dream about having a room, with a sewing machine and an overlocker, permanently set up. with a beautiful cabinet full of gorgeous fabric.

not that i have been sewing anything mind blowing. just these strawberry pin cushions, and then this morning a needle case. Sunday night i made N this basket of kittens with a mother cat. D's mum made one for him when he was little, and both N and A love it. she still had the pattern. nothing like a bit of 80's kitch...

i am in the middle of making a couple of softies for the kids. i think they may be a bit scary looking... a cat for N and a doll for A. thanks to my favourite sewing blogs my head is swimming with ideas.

N has been preparing his restaurant - he tells you to sit down and asks what you'd like to eat. we made playdough cupcakes. oh, and the socks on his hands are oven mits apparently.

today we went to the park. it is bittersweet, to watch your littlest baby grow. knowing that she is the last time you'll experience all that a baby brings to your life. i can't imagine grandchildren could be the same as your own babies?

too cute!

i had to post these pictures. look what Aunty Mel did while looking after my kids yesterday... now i am under pressure to be creative...
oh, and A took 4 stumbled steps last Friday. she thinks she is very clever, but not interested in any more than 3 or 4 steps at the moment!
i'm off to lie down. i think if i get 10 minutes without being needed i might feel rested. ;-)

i am sick

i can usually go almost a year with barely getting sick. but now seems to be the time. i have the flu. for the next two days i am home with the kids. i won’t do much of anything. i will make the beds and i will do the dishes – that always makes me feel on top of things. i won’t wear my pj’s all day (although i did get a lovely, comfy new pair for Mother’s Day).
but what i mostly hope to do is lie on the couch, while the kids play contentedly (ha ha!?) and watch Notting Hill, Love Actually or About A Boy. I am in the mood for lots of Richard Curtis movies. maybe even Girl In the Café, which isn’t a romantic comedy, but is also written by him and one of my favourite films. i was asked to say something on Sunday during our morning service for mothers day. this is some of what i said. and i mean it too:

If I have high expectations of them, I need to have high expectations for myself.
It is up to us to instill a sense of excellence in our children. It is up to us to set those high expectations, and that means meeting them ourselves.
One thing that is important to me is that we pass on the value of empathy to our children- the ability to stand in the shoes of someone else. It is so easy to get caught up in us, in me, that we forget about our obligations to other people, and to one another.
I’ve learnt that children see and hear everything that you do and say.
So becoming a mother, a parent, is full of the joy of seeing the world new again, but also becoming a parent has made me more aware of the way I live my life now that I am responsible for two little lives. and on mother’s day, what a spectacularly gorgeous day i had. it was totally unexpected- we don’t really celebrate mothers/fathers day, so i felt very indulged upon. all i asked for was some time together as a family.
D got up early and lit the fire. he set the table with a beautiful old table cloth (vintage in the true sense of the word) and a dinner set i bought whilst i was at university. we had porridge which had been warmed on the fire, with caramelised banana and yogurt, followed by poached eggs with hollandaise sauce on home made bread. i was given new pyjamas and two pairs of ballet flats, one pair tan and the other white. and i bought some blanket ribbon and finished A’s blanket (the drag around with us everywhere we go blanket). i only have white, black and red thread, so the ribbon looks a bit dodgy, with my crooked white stitching, but who am I kidding - I am a novice. D likes it, and A thinks it is a nice snuggle (as far as I can tell by her lying face down on the fleecy side) and N tells me he wants to make something with the sewing machine when he is “big like mama”.
one day i will splurge and buy random coloured thread, squares of fabric, and then lay out all of my patterns and just. start. sewing.
i am hoping to finally make the Tessa Kiros cardamom buns i have been eyeing off in this cookbook for ages. or, since i don't feel so great, maybe just N’s favourite chocolate chip biscuits. (we are getting better at not eating too much of the mixture before we manage to make the biscuits!)

democracy

we spent the morning at the opening of the new Museum of Australian Democracy.

lots of fun - i particularly was excited about seeing three significant people. Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter were singing. they are inspirational and wonderful ambassadors for their people.

a number of choirs sang songs of protest and celebration. one song, from the 1970's is called 'Brown Skin Baby'. it is truly moving. please watch the original artist here if you have a moment.

N, who is so attentive these days, kept asking me why the men took the baby away. hmmm. it took me a minute to think how i would explain the Stolen Generation to an almost 4 year old.

he got to meet Ruby Hunter who was impressed with his face paint. i was pleased that he walked right up to her and said a loud hello, rather than becoming tongue tied and shy. he wanted to see Archie though - the man with no hair...

and (shock horror for all of my conservative family and friends) a man who i believe was the last colourful Prime Minister we had. as PM he truly was an everyman's man.

my mum and i were in the audience for a debate held at Old Parliament House yesterday. it was on whether work/life balance exists in Australia. i believe it does. i believe it is through the choices you make that you achieve that balance. anyone who is super keen can watch it on ABC2 tomorrow, a program called Fora. [can you tell this is the place i want to work one day??]

anyway, here are some pictures of N and A today.

finally, because the story is so inspiring, and it is my favourite Paul Kelly song, AND Archie Roach is singing it...

recent things

i was given a bunch of fleecy fabric, and with the cold weather coming up i thought A would need a blanket of her own for early morning trips (and the evening ones home). i bought some pretty floral flannel - i wanted a bit of a "vintage" look. i still have to get the right shade of ribbon for around the edge to complete it...

there is so much i want to sew, but i am such a novice the smallest thing would take me more time than i currently have!

and other significant events this past week was D's birthday... celebrated with dinner and family.

literature

i finished the book Gilead yesterday (finally - it takes me forever to read a book these days). it was so beautifully written - i don't think a word was wasted in the entire book. there were passages in this book i wanted to read over and over.

like one at the end (spoiler here in case anyone ever thinks of reading the novel...) when Rev John Ames asks if he can bless the wayward Jack.

Then I said, 'The thing I would like, actually, is to bless you.'

He shrugged. 'What would that involve?'

'Well, as I envisage it, it would involve my placing my hand on your brow and asking the protection of God for you. But if it would be embarrassing-' There were a few people on the street.

'No, no,' he said. 'That doesn't matter.' And he took his hat off and set it on his knee and closed his eyes and lowered his head, almost rested it against my hand, and I did bless him to the limit of my powers, whatever they are, repeating the benediction from Numbers, of course - 'The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.' Nothing could be more beautiful than that or more expressive of my feelings, certainly, or more sufficient, for that matter. Then, when he didn't open his eyes or lift up his head, I said, Lord, bless John Ames Boughton this beloved son and brother and husband and father' Then he sat back and looked at me as if he were waking out of a dream.

i have another novel written by Marilyn Robinson, about one of the characters in Gilead. i'm waiting though, to read it. i think i want to stretch the enjoyment of her writing style a bit longer.

next to read on my list is Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry (thank you dad). for anyone who has travelled to India, his novels are full of life and vivid images - when in India you feel like you are in one of his novels. or when you read one of his novels you feel as though you are in India...