fiveandtwo

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.

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.

Sewing

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday! This:

And this:

From the lovely Victoria, whose blog I enjoy. Lucky me is all I can say. I read a plea for love heart fabric on her blog and, having some, sent it off.

Unfortunately not before I'd cut up most of the doona cover...Here is part of it.

More is cut as lining for two jackets yet to be sewn up. This top, and the next two are from this book:

Really pleased with these. The small fry even consent to wear them!

I'm also pleased with this pinny.

The pattern was from a copy of the Japanese magazine "Come Home!" The little girls like this less unfortunately. A form of peer pressure I suppose. A little friend of theirs slept over last night. She arrived with "Bratz" pyjamas, slippers, dressing gown, pillowslip and overnight bag. I was speechless...Also the pickiest eater I've ever encountered. We had pasta for tea - "I don't like this, it's disgusting", repeated at intervals between pushing the food around her plate. "I only like pasta with sauce", I was unable to glean what this sauce might be. This  morning it was, "I don't like cocoa", "I don't like your vegemite", "I want a piece of cheese". I guess the cheese was unpopular too, because I saw her feeding it to the dog. Man, it was all quite stressful!

Here's a bit of light relief - some normal eaters doing a spot of baking.

And finally, the purses sewn up while I was away. I was rather ambitious cutting out and have this many again to sew up!