fiveandtwo

Banner

Oh, the frustration. I am trying to make a custom banner for my blog. Correction. I have made one, I just can't upload/insert the damn thing. Man, it's doing my head in I tell you!

I've put it all aside for now, to deal with next week...mutter,swear, mutter, swear.

The Battle of the Banner has meant no crafting or other interesting pursuits. Have a look at my bathroom medicine cabinet instead. Finally installed in the bathroom! Came from a garage sale years ago, and fixed up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I read/heard somewhere that greyhounds are cuddly pets. They don't look as if they would be but here is some evidence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clare having a snooze with Suska. That's cuddly.

With the cold weather upon us out comes the winter kitchen window covering. Put on at sundown to keep the cold out and the warmth in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news: I've been having a go at patternmaking. I have a (long term) plan to open an online shop, probably Etsy. Selling little kid's clothes, toys, felt purses, cards and bags. Or maybe just the clothes and toys. Either way I need to make patterns from my sketches. Nothing like a new challenge - but it's nowhere near as frustrating as that banner thing! Of course, it's a slow process...meaning: don't expect grand shop openings anytime soon.

Those of you with Etsy shops, I'd appreciate any ideas/feedback.

I'm off tomorrow afternoon for an overnight stay at Lakes Entrance - tea out Saturday night and a sleep-in on Sunday...ah. This little interlude has been in the pipeline for a good eighteen months! My two buddies and I have found it hard to score a weekend when all three of us don't have other commitments!

A Very Muddled Week

Ally's description, "This has been a very muddled week". So accurate.

It started last Saturday with me going to the Curves gym (recently joined to deal with stress and apalling level of fitness) and developing a blinding, excruciating headache halfway thruogh the circuit. Carted off in an ambulance. Nausea and vomiting, photophobia. In retrospect, classic migraine symptoms.

It was decided, eventually, that I'd had a sudden migraine. Fortunately, I don't have these evil headaches very often, but in the past there's been some warning: a thudding headache that doesn't go away, thirst and fatigue. One coming on suddenly was rather disturbing. I was out and couldn't get back home under my own steam. What if that happens again?

I'll go back to Curves, but I'm really nervous about doing so.

Oh, and there's nothing like a shot of morphine to deal with pain, and Stemetil for nausea/vomiting (Maxolon didn't work).

Took a couple of days to throw that post-migraine weird, disoriented state.

A long appointment sucked up Tuesday. I did fly in to work and do the pays though - disgruntled employees weren't on my agenda.

The usual routine was thrown completely by now. Transporting kids uses so much time. With Giles, mostly I drop him and some mates at the favoured surf beach, one of the other kid's parents pick them up. It's still a 1.5 hour round trip to drop them off. Sometimes, if the bus timetable works, they can catch the bus both ways. Their favoured surfing area, Red Bluff, doesn't have a bus for them to catch home. V-Line buses = strange timetables.

I managed to buy some food and pick up Leah from Lakes Entrance, where she'd stayed with a friend. Leah looked pretty crook, she could hardly speak. Criminal sore throat. GP appointment...tonsillitis? All the glands around her jaw were huge. Can only imagine the state of her tonsils. Antibiotics prescribed and duly taken. I worry about her fluid intake. It's so painful to swallow that the poor kid just isn't drinking.

Thursday: buy more food. Take Leah to A&E because she finds it hard to breathe, and looks really "flat". Leah is admitted to hospital, IV fluids perk her up a bit. But only a bit. She's on her third type of antibiotic now.

Ah, but the waiting with Leah in A&E meant reading time! Good progress made on this:

When I read As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, well, I was going to Spain. Never did though. A friend who read it around the same time spent three months in Spain with her baby daughter.

I've enjoyed all of Laurie Lee's books. This one came from the op-shop. How lucky! A $50 book for a couple of dollars. I'm enjoying this biography.

This pre-order came too, last week:

Resisting starting it until I'm done with the Laurie Lee biography!

Back in the early 80's I read Monkey Grip. My impressionable seventeen-year-old self wanted in to that lifestyle. Never did though.

Gifts, Birthdays, Mess

Look, look, look what came with the parcel man today!

From Victoria, whose art I really admire. It's a beautiful piece of work which I'm honoured to have.  It's of Clare and Ally (and Suska the dog) dressed as princesses (one of the Twelve Dancing, and Clara ,from The Nutcracker) for Book Week.  Lucky, aren't I.

Speaking of Clare and Ally, they've just had their eighth birthday. We made this stupendous cake which started out as a castle but was so loaded with lollies and the like, well, you wouldn't recognise it as that.

See what I mean?

But it was "all good".

Hmm, but their room is something I'll tackle with them this week, now that the birthday and all is done. Look at this (or maybe you should avert your eyes).

A bit of sorting and tidying is in order, I think.

Now for some peaceful sunlight.

Now that the days are getting shorter there's sunlight all the way across the kitchen in the late afternoon. The tall windows require ingenuity to keep extreme heat out, and cold out (thick blinds and curtains) but it's so worth it. So I can gaze at patterns of sunlight on the floor, on the wall, across the furniture.

This place was an absolute dive when we bought it. But like our first place, it meant we could still pay for it even if neither of us had paid work (because that's been the case in the past). Heck, the first house was four rooms plus lean-to. No bathroom, outdoor dunny (bonus!), rusted out wood stove in the "kitchen". Paper-and-hessian wall lining. Good living, but got really squeezy when bub number three (Leah) came along. And I really wanted more room to grow vegies.

We'd fixed up number one house slowly, over four or so years, and were fortunate to get a buyer who really wanted it.

So to house number two, this one. We're here for the long term. All the work over the last twelve years has kind of custom-made it for us (contrary to teenage opinion - why haven't we got a TV Room, a Family Room, a Pool, a Spa, a Tennis Court, a Boat Mooring with large motor boat, and so on...) I must say this comes from Giles and Leah. I think Linsey remembers the "poor years".

Well, this is rather a ramble. Not  what I intended.

Cheers.

Bubby Stuff

Guest appearance of Clare and Ally.

I've made some things, but the photos I took are not up to scratch. When I've taken better pics I'll post about that.

Meanwhile I'm posting some bubby-pics. They're not "bubbys", but because they're the youngest, that's the tag. Give the girls the small digital camera.

I remember being really nervous with the older kids and the camera. Gosh, developing and printing film was expensive. With digital they can muck around, experiment, with the DSLR there's as much scope as my old film SLR.

But there's nothing like seeing the photographic print emerging from the chemical  bath.

Here's a selection of photos:

This is a "cop out" post. Pictures instead of words. There's nuthin' of reading and considering 'round here lately. I'm doing my usual "escape" reading. Young Adult fiction. Quick to read, no strain on the brain. So many extraordinary YA books out there (oh, I'm so glad). Gary Crew, you're splendid.

When I was breast feeding the twins I read the entire "When the War Began..." series (John Marsden). Breast feeding is terrific for catching up on reading. Once the bub is latched on...it's hands free. However, many were the times when I fell asleep and was caught dribbling on my shoulder by the older kids. More dozing than reading went on, I reckon. The fog of those first couple of twin years...I'm not sure it's lifted, actually. Could be an excuse, possibly.

Mouse Bus

All these little mice (been cut out for a while) got sewn up on Thursday.

Clare and Ally've been playing with them, this is the mouse bus.

Lovely to watch the small fry play, a pleasant interlude from teen wrangling. 

I was at home on Thursday supervising Leah's suspension from school.For truancy, last Friday with a bunch of "mates" and on Wednesday she took herself around to a year eleven boy's house for the day. It was in chasing up the students who were absent on Friday that it was discovered Leah wasn't at school on Wednesday. She had stayed overnight at a friend's house in a town not far away and was definitely dropped of at school that morning.

Our attempts to locate her mired us in a web of deceit. Leah claimed to still be where she slept over due to missing the bus in the morning...each friend she claimed to be with was accounted for at school...her friend's mum was going to drop her off, but wasn't there for us to speak to...denying saying anything about being kicked out of home and living with a foster family.

I later had much more revealed when, rightly or wrongly, I found her phone and went through the inbox/outbox messages. The frantic texting that went on as they all tried to align their stories and cover their backsides was sickening. The messages to and from the boy Leah was with disturbed me. It ain't good to be with someone who texts you saying, "Say my name and you're wrecked".

And then the message to one of her mates, "I've been f***ing kicked out of home, I'm with an f***ing foster family".That explains the school wanting to know if Leah still lived at home.

The Secondary College discovered that thirteen-year-old Leah was at a year eleven party in yet another hearby town on Saturday night, went nowhere near the friend's I thought she was sleeping over at (that lass was at a different party). I guess I've just assumed she'd do the right thing, took her word for it, and trusted her - been spoilt by Linsey and Giles.  To the school's credit, they've had a lengthy discussion with the boy about the "appropriateness" of a seventeen-year-old/thirteen-year-old relationship.

I now wonder whether Leah was where she said she was the times she texted me asking if it was ok to go to so-and-so's place after school, or to sleep over...

After she finally came home it was to pack some stuff because she was going to live at a friend's house. My husband took her down to a local family support agency (rather than DHS) to see if someone would talk to her more objectively than we could about how fostering actually works, that it doesn't mean you front up to a mate's place and move in. Leah learned that there were no places for teens in this town, therefore a foster placement would need to be found elsewhere in the state (that chills me). She stayed the night with an aunty after it was suggested it might grant her some thinking time to do so. We also got a referral to the LINX program operated here by the local community health service. This program endeavours to prevent family breakdown due to teenagers running away and the like. My sources say the adolescent/ family counsellor is very good.

I just feel I can't trust my girl any more. It's a horrible, horrible feeling. Worse than the stony silence, the glares, the curling lip.

I know she'll grow beyond all this. Sometimes I see glimpses of what I like to think is the real Leah. That lovely, sparkly girl that I adore. Keeps me going, it does. Keeps me trying. Keeps me hoping. I think it will sustain me these next several years. Heck, roll on the development of her frontal lobe!

To The City For A Day

Off we went on the train - husband, twins and I.

At the last minute I took A Life by Design by Siobhan O'Brien (biography of Florence Broadhurst) to read instead of the planned Katherine Mansfield, The Collected Stories. The former book was more compact.

I do wish I'd taken my first choice, though. Even with talking to small fry and husband the Florence Broadhurst book only lasted as far as Warragul on the way back (two hours to go - what a waste of reading time!). Fortunately I had the catalogue from the art exhibition we went to - the purpose of the day trip.

What was it? Modern Britain 1900 - 1960: Masterworks from Australian and New Zealand Collections.

It was all I hoped for. So many wonderful works. And my knowledge of all this art history stuff is so patchy. But now I have a smattering more.

John Bratby's Windows, Paul Nash's Sunflower and Sun, I admire the work of Augustus John, but I reckon he was a revolting man, Charles Holmes' Black Hill Moss, Winifred Knights' The Marriage at Cana - it was all so good.

Good, in spite of the whining , "Can we go now", small fry. Good, in spite of having some sort of "weak and shaky" low blood sugar attack (yes, I'd had a good breakfast, taken on the train with me: slices of already toasted ciabatta with hummous, and two nashis). These "attacks" have happened a couple of times a week ever since I can remember.

My paternal family history is rampant with type 2 diabetes. I have a fasting blood glucose test regularly. My brother, eighteen months older than me (he's 45) was diagnosed type two last year.

"Where are the pictures?", you say. Our small point-and-shoot digital camera has gone AWOL. I have suspicions of its whereabouts, but...must wait. Or perhaps it's been lost or stolen.The DSLR is too bulky to carry in a handbag, probably why it's still here. And will remain so, I don't allow the kids to take it places (too expensive to replace).

The Neighbourhood House art class hasn't started up for the year yet. I havn't lifted a brush or pencil since that class ending last year. I think, therefore, that I'm not a true artist. They're the ones who have  to make art in spite of everything else. Families and relationships are neglected.

Well, I ain't one of those. I think, perhaps, I'm a maker. I make stuff. My new title: Maker of Stuff. I like that. Long may it remain! Official forms: occupation - Maker of Stuff. I think I may have had a revelation. Goodness.

You may find pictures in my next post. I have been furiously reupholstering chairs.

To post without a picture is weird.

Hop Buds

After several days now of teen wrangling I feel, well, you know, jaded. It was a quiet pleasure to photograph the hop buds on the balcony this evening. Sometime soon must be a year of blogging for me. I remember taking photos of hop flowers and posting about it.

Within me is a completely horrible rant about a child of mine. Coffee with my best buddies (earlier this arvo), indicates fifteen or sixteen years is a time of change. My own experience bears this out.

I'd like to fast forward three years or so, but there's no opportunity, then, for her to come to grips with rubbing along with all sorts of people, accepting their shortcomings and strengths. Developing empathy would be very useful as well (sadly, not apparent as yet).

Strong desire to be somewhere else. Liklihood - nil. Equals, get on with it, I suppose!

Good Company And Crafting

Linsey, the small fry and I stayed with a good buddy at St Andrews last weekend.

Linsey had her first experience of city driving and did really well. It's not easy for a novice to keep an eye on traffic both sides of the car, in front and behind as well as things like traffic lights, road signs and so forth. I don't think I stressed too much, although I do remember saying, "Brakes!", rather loudly once or twice.

I made sure our visit to St Andrews included a Saturday. Can't miss the excellent market held there, no way.

Following a lengthy browse at St Andrews market we took ourselves to Fitzroy for a look at the Rose Street Artist Market. Such talent, such beautiful goodies. My husband rang while I was there (computer glitch at work) and I crowed about how I was surrounded by wondrous things and hadn't spent a cent. Well, in the next five minutes a bought an etching of a magpie by Bridget Farmer! Heh, that'll teach me.

My buddy is keen to bring the fiveandtwo the business out of recess, so we had coffee and crafted, sipped wine and crafted and just plain crafted. The perfect activity for a good catch-up. I swotted on the sewing machine the day before leaving, nothing like leaving it until the last minute. But I then had a pile of things to finish with hand sewing and stuff, plenty to work on for sure.

Behold, finished items:

The felt pups are from ages ago, the dachshund just needed some buddies for the photo opportunity.

I was trying out patterns from this book:

These in particular:

Apples galore. Quick to make with a sewing machine. Sew, stuff, sew up the stuffing hole. Done. The stalk is leather thonging which, fortuitously, I found many metres of at the op shop only the week before! The stalk I sewed in with the last seam. Easy.

From this book:

Minus the beads in this (not very good) photo.

A pair of hedgehogs (echidas?):

From this book:

Horses from fabric. I don't think they "work" - poor choice of fabric perhaps. The felt ones are better, I reckon.

And, finally, this fellow, who's yet to have eyes and nose. Already claimed by Linsey. Very happy with him. Made from scraps of linen and some really soft wool bought from that recent bountiful garage sale.

And this is the book the pattern's from:

More are cut out, including one of these "sleepy" ones. Sleeping in its own bag. Very cute.

One more page from the book:

Hmmm, perhaps you've noticed my current penchant for Japanese craft books? Bounty of last year's Family Tax Credit. What use are they if you don't craft from them. These little projects are mighty good for using up scraps of fabric. You know, those tiny pieces of wonderful stuff that you can't bear to toss.

One panel of an apple (or pear) uses a miniscule amount of fabric. Also the dachshund and the car. More for the mousey-doggy animals.

An extremely productive weekend. It's definitely easier to be productive not being surrounded by all that household stuff that needs attention!

Generosity

Guess what was waiting for me when I got home from St Andrews on Sunday? A parcel containing this:

It's very inspiring. And check out that wonderful parcel tape.

This was therein as well:

A pom-pom bird kit made by Bex herself - the sender of this lovely parcel. The birds end up with fluffy pom-pom wings! Clare and Ally are going to really enjoy making these.

All this for a felt mare and foal, and instructions for making more.

Thankyou Bex!

And today: the first day of school 2008. Clare and Ally were ready by 7.30am. The other three took rather longer. I suspect this early readiness is a one-off like last year. Tomorrow - back to their usual dragging the chain. The small fry are in separate classes for the first time. A decision made after talking with their teacher last year. Clare and Ally were baiting each other and fighting in class! Disruptive as you can imagine. Summer school holidays throw my routines out of whack entirely - must remember to pick them up...

Linsey's wearing a green T-shirt because Years 11 and 12 don't wear a school uniform. She begins her final year of school, now where did that time go?

St Andrews post is in the pipeline.

TT

Well, TT stands for teeny tiny. Linsey's got herself a car.

An extra small Suzuki SV880 so I'm told. Registered as a panel van. A two seater with "room" in the back - not much I can tell you. Engine capacity 0.8l, 3 cylinder. Yeah teeny tiny!

These pics were taken by Linsey (and  buddy) with her polaroid camera. Boy, since she bought the polaroid camera about three years ago she has taken some extraordinary photos. And then she saved and bought a Holga camera. She uses this less because it is a film camera and therefore more expensive to get the final result. The attraction of the Holga camera is that it's a really crappy Eastern European product and the results of taking photos with it causes random effects. "Oh, I didn't really mean the light to leak in the back of the camera", "Oh, that wasn't really meant to be a double exposure". Stuff like that. Usually unexpectedly good.

Anyway, the girl has been no trouble to teach to drive. I won't say it's not stressful - it is. This weekend we're tackling some city driving. Oh heck, that'll be stressful. We're going to visit a good buddy who lives in St Andrews, so really, it'll be city driving without traffic snarls - I hope. We'll be in the Tarago, which is a big car: the car she's been driving until Teeny Tiny came on the scene. Used to it a bit? Gosh I hope...

Funny that the letters on the Teeny Tiny numberplate are UUO = Uh Uh Oh (look out she's on the road!). Hahaha.