madness

'Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody moved.

'Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time.) 'You're nothing but a pack of cards!'

At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her: she gave a little scream, half of fright and half of anger, and tried to beat them off…

last night this image came to my mind. I thought of three more books I'd like to read. they keep publishing them faster than I can read them. and then I think about updating N's baby book, actually writing more than A's name in hers, starting her scrapbook and finally finishing N's. I then dream about the sewing I'd like to do and before I know it I feel like Alice in Wonderland with the deck of cards falling all around her! at least last night I pulled out the cross stitch I started when pregnant with N. I will finish it for A to use in the cot...

and then I realised it is only 10 weeks before I am back at work - that's when I "gave a little scream"! :o)

home {sweet} home

we're back! and as I knew, I loved being in the country and all the way home I dreamt of a little farmhouse of our own in any one of the towns we passed through.
N had a ball. we left Canberra at 8:30pm on Thursday night. he talked the ENTIRE way to Wagga! I thought (hoped) he would sleep. we stopped at MacDonalds to get him a cheeseburger, and some peace for us. :)
when we got to Eva's house N ran around giggling, saying "I excited!"

we caught up with a load of D's family (there are 26 first cousins!) and had a lovely afternoon tea on Friday for his aunts 60th birthday. all the aunts and cousins had arrived with cakes, sponges, biscuits and slices. a county gathering...

the next day the aunts and uncles went to their little country school reunion. we headed off with D's cousin and his fiance to Temora. we had a lovely breakfast with her parents on their farm. their house was gorgeous and filled with patchwork. her mum owns this shop.

these are some of the "country" houses we visited/stayed while away. I wish I had heaps more photos, but didn't want to seem too snoopy. :)

above is our home away from home in Wagga. I love staying here. the gardens are gorgeous and D's aunt has peacocks, finches, chickens, dogs and cats. she makes the most amazing jams, so we always look forward to breakfast.

below is the house in Cootamundra owned by the woman who sold us ours here in Canberra. she is currently renovating inside. lots of fun, but lots of work! we had the yummiest pumpkin soup with a touch of chilli for lunch on our way home.

and the kids slept. ALL the way back to Canberra.

food for thought

so I told D that today I would make sure all the washing and ironing was done, then tomorrow I can concentrate on getting our bags packed and an early dinner ready for us so we can get away as soon as he is home from work. simple, right?

at the moment A wants to be held. all the time. I love her little warm body cuddled up to me. but for the rest of my life to be able to function I need to put her down! and N seems to have discovered the word "no!" in a big way - he screams it. which was difficult today when I am trying to get him to eat his lunch and put him to bed, so that I can vacuum. [is my house the only one that needs vacuuming within a day of doing it??]

but, before I go, here is an article I read on blogs and choosing which ones to read. (I'm loving this blog thing but I need to do this or I'd be here for days and the floors would never be vacuumed). here I have listed those few I have been reading for a long time, as well as a couple of others that have recently caught my eye - at least for this month! when I get home I want to tidy my blog up. I want the font in the side bar to be smaller - and why do I end up with some paragraphs having bigger spacing than the others??? and because I still don't know where I am headed with this thing (I'm stumbling along at random) I've only made it available to a handful of trusted friends for now...

today I have also been thinking about art. in highschool and college my favourite subjects (probably coming as no surprise to anyone) were english literature, history and art. I loved sketching mostly, and don't know what I ever did with my sketches... I desperately want to take another class, but am satisfied with the knowledge that the classes will still be there when my two little miracles are just a bit older. at the moment though I am loving an attempt at collages and multi-media art. (stamps, paper, photographs, paint etc)
oh, and soon I'll be having a Stampin Up! party. I'm looking forward to it. :)

**the pictures on this post were taken last year at a friends 1860 stone cottage in Braidwood.

Guie-me???

and this is one for my sister - to bring back memories of two teenage girls. (one older, one younger, but loving the same song)

music

the music I listen to changes constantly. my mum once said she never met anyone with such an eclectic taste in music. some of it drives D crazy (like my world music!). you know the guys who stand in shopping centres playing exciting south/central american music? yeah, that's them. or the various African / Tibetan / Eastern European cd's I have.... he likes some of the European stuff. I also love instrumental and classical. probably my alltime favourite though is folk music. I used to romanticise about being a hippie!!

If I was 20 in 1970 I know I'd be listening to Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Carole King and Joan Baez. not to mention Cat Stevens and Bob Dylan. ask anyone in my family - they'll tell you...

a youube heavy post this time, but how can you not hear the music??





maybe it is because in the 3rd grade we had a music teacher named Mr Ralph who played acoustic guitar and taught us to sing songs like Bridge Over Troubled Water, You've got a Friend and Imagine.

so continuing on the list theme, here are some of my eclectic favourites.

1. Sarah Maclachlan (a seperate post to come on her another day)
2. Luka Bloom
3. Loreena McKennitt
4. Yo-Yo Ma
5. Peter Gabriel
6. Keith Green (his love and passion for the Lord is always inspirational) another christian who once wanted to be a hippie. and probaby was!


7. U2
8. Norah Jones
9. Sara Groves
10. Madeleine Peyroux
11. Ladysmith Black Mambazo
12. Wendy Matthews

the list doesn't really do justice to the variety, but there you go. a glimpse at some of my music.

on albums and lots of pictures!

well, we have now all had the dreaded bug. D came down with it yesterday - I got it on Friday, but am feeling better already. I expect he should only have it a short time as well. so we have quarantined ourselves for the weekend.
I am glad it is now though, as we are going away on Thursday and I'd have hated for us to have to cancel the trip. we are off to Wagga - my favourite weekend away! we stay with D's aunt and uncle. they have a large block with gorgeous gardens a greenhouse, geese, chickens and swans! we will take N to the botanic gardens there, which also houses a petting zoo. here are a couple of pictures of N when he was about15 months. he looks so little!

a year ago we were thinking of moving to Wagga or Armidale. here are the houses we looked at on the net. It has always been my dream to own an old home. Canberra isn't old enough for them though. :(

this is the house in Armidale:

and here is the one in Wagga.

both cheaper than what we have bought here in Canberra. I like our house here though - it is feeling more like home. anyway, home is about the people within the walls, right?
everybody is either in bed or having their breakfast. I have been looking at Ali Edwards site this morning. i love her miniBOOKS and enjoy doing them - they feel achievable!
I also like her post on "telling your story". this is what I hope to do for my heritage album. just display the pictures and tell the persons story. here are my grandmothers. sadly they have passed away, so didn't get to know their great-grandkids.
I like this one of my mum's mum - she is about 15. when I think about her I think of her sense of humour, the beautiful baby clothes she knitted (which I'm now getting use of), Elvis and Days of our Lives! :)

here is my dad's mum - I am not sure how old she is. when I think of her I think of 'Oil of Olay', her always manicured nails and late nights watching tennis or cricket. I have her old singer sewing machine. I know she grew potatoes and sold them to buy it. she sewed her children's clothes on it. I can even remember seeing her use it when I was little. I now have the machine in our entrance and use it as a hall table. it isn't a fancy, ornate singer, but I love it because it has her story. I'll have to get moving on that album!

Jane Austen... i am...

Take the Quiz here!

yesterday was such a blog-heavy day I was going to stay away today, but I discovered this quiz. how much fun! of course I was hoping for Elizabeth (doesn't everyone love Elizabeth Bennett??) but I am ok with Elinor too. :)

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.