Shiny Things... er... Tuesday

Ok. So perhaps I've misplaced some Blog Mojo right now. It's been hot and humid and headachey and... mildly tiring.

Presenting: Shiny Things Tuesday.

I tried to take some pics of my fabric stash. I had halp.

Millie & Lucy plotting their escape to Vegas together.

Millie suggesting some home decorating ideas to Lucy.
Lucy quite clearly doesn't give a toss.

Every night after I wash the dishes I set out our morning cups.
L-R: Coffee, tea, weetbix.

Millie is very pleased with sitting in a big girl trolley.
She swung her legs back and forth and grinned at everyone.

My friend Kate Gordon has a new book out.
I am SO proud of her. This is book #3 for her - I remember
when we would man the counter at the bookshop together.

The sunset from my house. I adore the colours we see here.

Sewn pleats for a secret project...

Millie at the pool, shoving as much banana in her
mouth as humanly possible.

Beautiful Lucy is beautiful.

A finished nappy clutch bag for a special lady, Sarah.
AKA my first sale! 

What's been shiny in your week?

FFS Friday

• We moved Millie in to her own room last week, and we finally moved out of her new room back in to our room. As soon as we did that she started sleeping 8-10hours without waking. Why didn't we do this sooner? FFS.
• We move back in to our room and I close my eyes preparing for my first full night's sleep in 18 months. I cannot sleep. I miss the Millie Sounds. I spend the night trotting back and forth to her bedroom to hear her breathe. FFS.
• Now we're all sleeping the cat has regressed and needs to wake me several times a night to tell me that she's hungry. I kick her off the bedside table several times a night. On occasion I storm out to the kitchen point to THE COMPLETELY FULL FOOD BOWL and go back to bed. FFS.
• Every single time Lucy the cat is all 'OH MY GOD. There IS food in the bowl. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.. where'd you go?' FFS.
• I found a travel pack of Swisspers Cucumber Facial Wipes in my drawer and they have become my new crack cocaine of an evening. I have two left. I dropped the packet in the cat litter this morning and forgot to pick it up to wash thoroughly until I saw Lucy using the litterbox. Oh. FFS.
• Bogan Neighbour Update: their dogs bark a lot. Their cars are horrendously noisy. Nothing new, really. FFS.
• Millie has begun to shake her head when she
  a) doesn't want any more food.
  b) does want more food.
  c) doesn't want to feed.
  d) does want to feed.
  e) knows that she's touching something naughty (i.e. the bin) and we will tell her 'no'. We're working on how to nod now for yes, but until then my mind reading skills are still in high demand. FFS.
• She also points at everything and says 'That'. Except when she's pointing at Lucy, then she says 'Cat'. When she doesn't want to go to sleep at night she lays in my arms and points at my nose, my lips and my gums. When she's pointing at my gums, and making contact with my gums (ow!) I'm oh so tempted to bite her finger. Sounds awful, doesn't it? But it's a reflex reaction and whilst I haven't nipped that pointing finger I'm tempted to so she'll never scratch my gums again. FFS.
• Mr S and I shared a bottle of wine last night for the first time in two years. Between wanting to have a baby, being pregnant and breastfeeding 24/7 I hadn't had a decent drink in a long time. It was bloody lovely and we had an ace time sitting on the deck watching the sunset whilst Millie slept inside. I am however mildly more tired than normal. I suppose it's a form of a hangover? More coffee please. FFS

• 

  Yum!

  

  View from the dinner table last night.

• Millie is dropping feeds left right and centre and I fear my days of eating a chocolate bar a day a lot may be on the downslide as my metabolism begins to slow down after being hyper-productive. Hmmm. FFS.

Shiny things tomorrow. I'm hungover mildly more tired than normal.
Go and see Sarah to read her ever amusing FFS Fridays and see the link up list.

My Crafty Space

After living in this house for almost three years I finally have a proper crafty space. It's taken a few weeks of procrastination and messing up the house but it's there.
Mr S has again proven himself to be a Highly Tolerant Husband and he actually suggested we turn the dining room in to my craft room. Bless!
We went to the tip shop (surprise!) last weekend and found this quirky little side table that had awesome shelving on top of it. Mr S pulled the shelving off, attached it to the bookshop, and voila! Sewing machine storage, like it was made for it!

Machine storage

Here we have the bulk of my craft bits and pieces. The top right hand corner houses my meticulously organised labelled tubs. We have 'thread and scissors', 'felt', 'ribbons', 'sewing kit', right through to 'misc crafty crap'. The cane baskets have fabric in them, although one houses interfacing and patterns. Down the bottom you have my letterpress kit with my Epic 6 die cutting machine.

Storage

A different view of the room, books to be returned and a
baby helper.

Another view...

THE view.

HDR of in and outside. I love this room.

There you have it. I have a beautiful view, a light filled room, loads of storage and a big beautiful table to work on. What does your crafty space look like?

FFS Friday / Shiny Things Friday

Here's a double dose of FFS for you, after I forgot about last week's post...

I've been a grumpy grumpy lady. Post holiday blues, dirty house blues, just gots the blues. Week before last ended with Mr S saying 'Oh, what's wrong? You get angry about everything I say to you. What. Is. The. Problem?'

• Mr S is a tidier. The Sunday before last we tag teamed Early Morning Millie and he went back to bed. I found him shifting piles of stuff (mine) into the dining room. I'm pretty sure my eye twitched because it was My Stuff that he'd moved. Stuff that didn't have homes because our house has no storage. Stuff I was not ready to deal with. FFS.
• I stepped over it all week in a passive aggressive protest then it got to me. I threw a mini tanty on Sunday and Mr S & I went gangbusters. I am now the proud owner of a Craft Room, that happens to have a dining table in it. Shiny Thing/FFS.
• Millie has evolved into biting and hitting. Uncool. FFS.
• We've had a week of Millie hysteria if we
  a) leave the room.
  b) take dangerous items off her tiny person.
  c) look at her sideways. Tell me it's just a stage. Please. Dear. God. FFS.
• Thanks to the Home Routines iPad App I have turned into a washing up and general daily housework freak. Why a freak? I like to tick off the stars in the daily routines app. I NEED APPROVAL. From an App. FFS.
• I've never spent so much time scrubbing the high chair. I feel like it's all I do and I let Millie eat in other places because I don't want to scrub the high chair again. FFS.
• Lucy the Cat has new fancy dry food. Mr S works in a pet supply shop and buys Lucy premium food now. She's a much bigger fan of the new dry food than the old one, to the point where she picks out the new food from the bowl and leaves the rest of it. Then she told me all about it 5.20am, which was precisely 25 minutes after I went back to sleep. I want to have a conversation with Lucy about starving cats in Africa... FFS.
• Mr S has been using my computer more frequently recently because it's always on... and it's got Command and Conquer on it. He commented about how untidy my desktop is and how many tabs I have open in Chrome and how could I ever find anything? I gave him the finger with my eyes. FFS.
• This week I parked in the central Hobart parking garage and went to work. Upon my return two bloody great big poodles voiced their opinion about the dust all over my car and it took me a few moments to remember that they were locked in the car and couldn't bite me. Then I realised they were locked inside a car. The windows were down, but what sort of pet owner leaves their dogs in their car whilst they go shopping? FFS.
• The Bogan Neighbours (tm) are still featuring highly. Their staffy was out again, and though it stayed on the BN's property it growled and barked at us from across the road. And growled and barked louder at Mr S when he went to shut our gate to protect us from this manic dog. Why? Millie was frolicking in her pool. No dogs, thanks. FFS.

Shiny Things Friday
We've been playing House Tetris since Boxing Day and I think we're almost done. By 'We've been playing' I mean Mr S has been moving things and making piles. By 'We're almost done' I mean I have gone through many piles of stuff. We are due at the Tip Shop again today.

Ski bunny in err... January.

I finally finished her skirt. It's super cute! (and will fit until she's 4.)

I lost her in the house. I found her talking to her friend in the mirror.

Hi sweet tooth! Neapolitan marble cake with childhood style strawberry
rot-your-teeth icing. Delicious!

Laydeepants and I had our Laydee Day on Sunday and sewed all day. Blissful.

This is what I finished on Laydee Day. It's called the "Shazza Apron"
and I made it for my mother-in-law for her birthday.**

Millie & I on our walk to Lymington foreshore this week.
I love the thoughtfulness in her eyes here.

Part of the Craft Room. All the labelled boxes make me nerdily excited.

It's Lucy's 6th Birthday today. We love her lots and lots and lots.

No words needed.

 We have started moving Millie in to her own room. All of her stuff is in there, she's been in there for three nights... so have we. We will move back to our room tonight I think...
I have surprised myself because I was all 'YEAH BABY IN HER OWN ROOM BRING IT ONNNNNN!', and Mr S was wise to me. He said 'I think we should sleep in there for a few nights, so she's comfortable... you too.'
On her first night in there I went into our room to get a book and started howling (hormonally, of course). I realised that she'll never be a baby again and she'll never sleep in our room again.
However, today I am wise to myself and I cannot wait to not hear every snort, snuffle, fart or sigh. But I think I will secretly sneak in every now and then, just to hear her breathing...

Millie's bedrooom in progress.

Her Secret Santa romper from my online mother's group. So. Cute.

**Lucy and Sharon (my Mother-In-Law) share a birthday. We are sometimes guilty of remembering one birthday because we've remembered the other one...
The funny part of calling Sharon 'Shazza' is that she is half-English, half-Scottish, so her accent is very Proper Australian... a la a 50's newsreader. She calls herself Shazza and it's hilarious.

I missed Sarah's conversation so very much while she was away. Go over and see her here at Dear Baby G to see her Post-Bali FFS. Do you even *get* to have a post-international holiday FFS? Hmmmmm.

One I half prepared earlier...

I wrote my FFS Friday on Friday. Then something happened, then something else then something else and I realised this morning I didn't finish it or post it. Nor Silent Sunday. Because life, y'know, gets in the way of best laid blogging plans.

So today I give you a photo of what Millie and I did today. A walk to Lymington, snack and drink by the foreshore and walk back to Cygnet. Divine.

Texts Between New Parents #2

9.35am
Mrs S: Hi Hi, can you please bring home some cake? *

10.02am
Mr S: You want me to make cake?
Mrs S: I was going to have a lovely bit of cake w/coffee & there's a tiny scrap left. I swore there was more this morning...

10.44am
Mr S: There waaaas... :-O
Mrs S: <text silence>

11.02am
Mr S: There is one piece left. I will keep it 4 u. Because I am an excellent husband.
Mrs S: Correct. And, I'm guessing you want me to make more cake.
Mr S: <text silence>

*This was the calm version of 'Millie has finally stopped screaming and gone to bed, I thought I'd sit down and have a BIG FAT HUNK OF CAKE to make myself feel better. Instead there is a tiny dry sliver of cake left. WHERE IS IT? I KNOW YOU TOOK IT.'

When Millie got mail...

Back in November Millie & I finished our breakfast, threw a little tanty (Millie), washed our dishes (me), wiped one's face (Millie) and headed out to check the mail. And that day there was an Express Post Parcel all the way from WA.
When we opened it we found this:

'Curious Mum... CAN YOU OPEN IT NOW?'

And inside was a beautiful hand made dress from Maggie... who at 7 months is a dab hand with the sewing machine. I hear that Sarah may have helped...

Millie was very excited to see the dress.

And inspect it thoroughly.

Such a beautiful red dress! However, weather circumstances prevented wearing of such a beautiful dress. Until now.

'I LOVE IT MUM.' **

'It's perfect Mum, easy to move around in.'

She looks so beautiful in red.

'Perfect for a Monday drive in the country.'

Thank you Sarah & Maggie. We love it.

**This face is known in my family as 'Kendall Face'. There are thousands of pictures of all of us doing this face in pretty much every photo. I'm glad Millie has at least two genetic links to me, because she's all Daddy!

FFS Friday / Shiny Things Friday

My first whinge for the year! But that also means the first gorgeous shiny pictures for the year too.

Mr S and I have changed. New Years Eve rolled around and we were both so tired we couldn't find the energy beyond having a couple of drinks and watching shitty TV. We brushed our teeth at 11.45pm in preparation for being in bed at 12.01am. FFS.


Millie has reached another developmental milestone and is now far happier to eat Big People Food. This means no more wrestling matches with a spoon at mealtimes, but also comes with the added bonus of food EVERYWHERE. And eating takes FOREVER. FFS.


The weather got hot here. So hot I refer to it as Stupid Hot. It was 29oC in our bedroom for two nights consecutively. Ergo, Millie couldn't sleep. Ergo, none of us could sleep. FFS.


Not that we ever sleep anyway. FFS.


I grumped about the house on Tuesday in preparation for going to work on Wednesday. I grumped around the house on Wednesday morning in preparation for going to work in an hour. I grumped in the car all the way to work. I grumped up the stairs, I grumped my computer on, I grumped through my emails and then I checked my diary. Horrified, I ran out to the leave calendar. Yes, you guessed it. I'M ON LEAVE UNTIL MONDAY. FFS.


My boss politely suggested that as it was my own fault for going to work I might like to do some work whilst I'm there. FFS.


I did. FFS.


Millie has finally taken a dummy, and I find it less stressful (for me) for her to have a dummy in sometimes during the day. Why? I'm not worried about what she's eating. No matter how clean my house is, she can always find something dangerous to eat. She's smart like that. FFS.


Last night I picked up a Christmas toy that had a bell sewn into it to find the bell missing. I immediately panicked, then reasoned with myself that she must be ok because she's not crying or not breathing. Then I wondered if Mr S would notice if I picked Millie up and gently shook her to see if she jingled, then I rehearsed the conversation I would need to have with Mr S in a moment about the missing bell... only to go and find him and say 'Mr S... the bell....' and him to say 'Yes. I took it off.' Oh. FFS.


Bogan Neighbour Installment: they appear to not own a stereo/radio/music blaster inside their house, only in their doofy cars. On New Years Day we had bad doof doof (because Mr S and I like good Doof Doof) going from 8am. FFS.


Sarah, Hippy Brad, Maggie and troops are going on a holiday to Bali. I don't really feel the pull towards Bali, but MY GOD I'd love to go on a holiday. FFS.

Shiny Things Friday

Lucy likes pats.

They're becoming firm buddies.

A Mum-sized bag. I'll be putting these in my shop for sale.

In the Stupid Hot Millie & I got the pool going outside.

Can't stop sewing. Another Apron.
I love this material and the colours so very much.

Big people food. Ridiculously cute.

Heartbreaker.

Out for a Monday drive. She drives good.

Making a bag for me! Fell in love with this fabric and bought up big.

Peaches everywhere! That is a 3kg box for $12, and another box of seconds for $5.
Winner. Straight from the farm gate - they are amazing!

I bought a button making kit. Deliriously excited.

Sarah told me about Hairy Lemon. It's bloody brilliant.

The final product! I love this bag - a post to come shortly.

The finished apron. It's for a 1-2y/o and super cute.

Misty view across the paddocks this morning. Mist on the mountains, the river and the dam. Gorgeous!

The only time in your life when leggings are pants.

Have a great weekend everyone!