reunions

is it rude to comment on how skinny someone is now after not seeing them for 20 years?
i bumped into a girl last week in a packed lift at work. was on my way home after brushing up on cpr skills (in case a mouse arrests) and i hear my maiden name called from the back of the lift. here is sue who i was buddies with at uni (in rural nsw) and who i haven't seen in 20 years! she was always tubby and a bit dishevelled - but fun! god, i hope she never reads this! my first comment in the full lift was o my god, look how skinny you are!!! i sooo meant it in a nice way. she took it well. but my mouth wouldnt stay closed and i just couldn't stop commenting on how skinny she looks. i have put on about 10kgs since she saw me, so she is probably telling her man i look like crap. in my defence, in uni i used to buy esprit shorts from the kids department - they were cheaper there too. poor uni student days where beer and hot chips were staples. i was quite small now i think back. someone is laughing somewhere now though, as all that beer and greasy food has caught up with me. and i am not the one laughing!

i am off to a school reunion dinner in may. it has been 23 years since i saw most of those peeps. apparently all the previously hot chicks are now fat. and the dorky boys are now the investment bankers living in singapore! wtf!! my best buddy and i are up for the laugh though. i never made it to the 10 year reunion. we had just had our first baby and it was a long trip from darwin. and lets face it. there was no way i was turning up looking like i had blown myself up with a bicycle pump!

any funny reunion stories out there??

fabric fun

today i visited funky fabrix at mitchelton. they are online here too. quite a treat and i left in a daze. not what i expected but worth the trip. i picked up some fat quarters which i will show off tomorrow. in typical 50% fashion, i have absolutely no project in mind but i chose some i wouldn't normally look at - you know, like a challenge.....i feel a complete disaster approaching! i also admired some softies and have decided to give one a go...someday soon.

tomorrow i have a christmas lunch to attend...long story...looking forward to it though. i am meeting up with 3 scottish friends so i will probably be needing subtitles by dessert. they talk quicker when they are together. they are fun though. and we get to use the naughty words we reserve for outside of home.

and speaking of naughty words - thank you so much nerida for making me smile with your opening wtf on friday!! blog land is newish to me and sometimes (well mostly) i write as i see it. i have been sensoring myself a little in case i offend all of those clever designy crafty peeps who probably never swear. i was a little nervous about my wtf in one of my recent posts....and i substituted girly bits when i really wanted to say clitoris....was not sure about the rules. i feel so much better now. if i offend, i am sorry...you can leave me off your christmas card list. really not sure why i worry. nobody is probably even reading this!!

back to craft - i just saw this in my current fave colours. cute i thought. i love stuff like this. i am a bit of a dork like that.

bed awaits. i have just packed up my year 8 boy for camp for tomorrow. he is off to the sunshine coast hinterland for 3 days of fun. it has been a whole year since i smelled the last bag he brought home filled with muddy damp clothes. yeah for me. i am sure he will have fun and i am no longer nervous about these things. a bit surprising for me....

mondays suck!

mondays are hard for me. i often work weekends, so never feel like getting up mondays. especially when i got to bed at 1am and it is cool and raining....like this morning.
cf flies to melbourne today for 3 days. he gets to do room service, drink wine, eat out, do wanky work stuff and unpack again. he goes cool places like india, indonesia, png, thailand....melbourne, sydney...you know...real big cities and countries with culture and amazing food and experiences.
me, i get to be lazy around the house and craft all day long if i want to. i dont work while he is away, so just fun and games for me this week!....i do miss him though...i miss the little chats too...he thinks i will run out of words one day.......i know i still have plenty in my tank. he'll be so relieved to know that.
hoping your monday is more motivational than mine.

hey cannot wait to hear how my sister's market stall went. she is the really cool one who hangs with the hip crowd in the rural mudgee wine region. she is the superwoman of the family....and very crafty. i wish i had her energy.....more coffee required!

noosa booty

i have just returned from a day at noosa and the little towns around that area. just a day for me to enjoy. no kids. no man. just me and a magazine. it is my sunday as i am working the weekend.

time to recharge by the ocean.

i picked up this booty at my fave shop there - signature on hastings. gorgeous shop, overpriced (well some things), great eye candy but up-themselves owners/managers. the typical 1990's too cool for school over middle aged sort of peeps. you know what i mean. too much noosa sun, too many fake diamonds (big rocks) and look down their noses at the likes of me with my pale, hairy legs and non-designer rags.

dont get me wrong. i adore noosa and think it has gotten so much better in the last few years. more down to earth than before.

anyhow, love the shop. the big shells are for a future little display (that i am yet to figure out) and the votives are such pretty colours and look to be hand made. pretty.

have a great weekend....

emo bib

ok, so there must be some little emo baby in skinny black leggings out there somewhere...in melbourne perhaps?? is the black a little too much?? i can see one of the veronicas sooo needing this when one of them has a baby....did i tell you i met them on a flight to canberra last year? jess (the bicurious one) gave me her autograph and was sooo sweet - very rock and roll and tinier than my 12yo....better leave my star spotting to another post.
no need to nappy san the pumpkin stains out. hey, it took an hour. the family didn't go hungry while i wasted the evening....
the sunlight is hiding and the flash doesn't help my camera ability. excuses excuses.i know.

budgie resus

we have a pure white budgie. he came with nine lives. i don't think i am good with birds...
he used to come out and have a fly around. we have a cat now, so no flying freely around the house.
some of his (my) mishaps include....

• flying into a full bowl of vindaloo, being washed under the tap and remaining orange for months. actually , that was pretty funny....for CF and i.
• during a trimming of his toenails, i accidentally cut a piece off his toe. as a piece of side info, apparently birds don't need pedicures...anyhow.. loads of blood lost, panic, ring sister with man vet in house - her advice - buy another bird as this one will die. bleeding continues...CF suggests googling "bleeding budgie toe". helpful advice suggests dipping foot into corflour - hey presto, haemorrhaging bird cured. well, he did go into shock. i had to confess to youngest child, i have probably killed the bird giving it a pedicure. we prayed and he lived.
• bird having some ouside time...windy day...large cage gets blown off table and crashes to the ground. cage falls apart and bird sits dazed with cat about to pounce. bird saved by quick thinking CF and a tea towel.

i will stop there or you will be ringing the rspca to have my bird taken off me.
i am so much better with the children! honest!!

cpr - the funny side

i know, cpr is very serious business. but i have to tell this real story that happened a few weeks ago...
my friend/colleague was driving and saw a strapping young (35yo) cyclist collapse from his bike on a busy road. she pulls up, assesses the situation and commences cpr. a vet pulls up also and she offers to assist. all good (well relatively). my friend is doing the cardiac side and vet giving mouth to mouth. ambulance arrives 15 minutes later. vet cleans teeth and the girls debrief together in the gutter....vet admits to only ever having done cpr on a mouse before - wtf??? a mouse?? firstly, who resuscitates a mouse? and secondly, how would you resuscitate a mouse??
i am hoping my sister with the vet man in the house can answer this.....
all turned out well apparently for both man & mouse!

red & black

pink for girls is great but what about some red and black? i love black - it is slimming, easy to accessorize with and it reminds me of melbourne. everyone wears black there! no bad coffee there either....just saying!

not that babies need to wear black for any of these reasons.....but i do think red and black make a cool change from pink....no?
so, in my crafty wisdom and because i have absolutely nothing to do today (total lie), i just made this.

because my sewing machine somehow doesnt like sewing on knit fabrics, the machine stitching could be better on the reverse side. my little appliques are hand embroidered. the thought of teeny tiny stitches on the machine would send me mental. nothing wrong with mental either by the way.

and i have figured out how to get rid of the date on my camera - another pat on the back for me.

this is the test model, so i had better chat to my machine for the future. and i think a bib would look cute too.



my photos might improve soon if i figure the next tricky plan out.

jewellery

i have found this fab designer just up the road from me and i cannot wait to buy something.....mother's day wish list will be left around the house shortly. hint hint boys! go and check jo's site out. i was excited to find her so close to home. and she has a sense of humour. and she understands we love her stuff but need to save for a special piece like this. they are very affordable though. i cannot decide which design. she keeps being creative and coming up with new ideas!

craft love

i have been sewing cushions of late....like these. nothing complicated. a square and a zipper. yummy fabrics bought when the aussie dollar was riding much higher. lined up for the photo on one of my new sofas. the space needed some life.

friday was a visit to ikea for my coffee and side tables...now for a rug.

markets

thanks to nerida at craftjuice for the brisbane mathilda market info. i took my mum who was visiting from canberra and managed to pick up some cute little fabric cupcakes filled with lavender to use as drawer liners. I can add them in to a little christening gift for gorgeous josie mae! I had already purchased the cute birdie sewn print to frame from here. now we are all set.

i wish i had time and energy to start a market stall. i must admit i went along to check out what other peeps do and how they display their wares. i think CF may actually kill me if i even mention the idea of setting up stall....so many ideas, so little time.

on a brighter note - i have lost 2.5kgs in 4 weeks. this is a great effort for me. i have managed to avoid the gym (gyms are so not for me), damage some very delicate girl bits riding a man bike, buy a sports bra(a first) and lived to tell these tales. as i can no longer blame pregnancy for my flabby body - my boys are 9 and 12 - i have to put the effort in. menopause is becoming a familiar word around here. more on that later. i have to read the books!!