Things I hate and christmas but not in that order and not really in the same sentence...

Merry Christmas!
And best wishes for a fabulous 2009

Although I had mixed emotions arround the whole christmas thing Christmas day was quite stress free round here. The kids woke at a reasonable hour (7am-chicky babe was excited about the arrival of her new red iPod) , I then went back to bed for a nap. I woke up about 10ish and started to leisurely prepare Christmas dinner. Mum and Ron came for dinner about 6pm. I had crayfish for entree and we had roast rack of lamb with potato salad, a green salad with roasted pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and almonds and warm green beans blanched and tossed through fried onion and pancetta. We had fruit mince pies with brandy butter, cream and/ or ice cream. A super easy spread! This was followed with a game of poker sparked by a mini pack of cards found in one of the crackers! Mum won! She is so competitive!

My sister and her clan came up from the country for breakfast- not lunch as originally planned, on the Tuesday before Christmas. Most of the cooking had to be done the night before because alas I am not a morning person! I made stuffed mushrooms and ricotta pancakes with brandy butter and berries in syrup the night before. I found some organic sausages(that I could eat) to have with scrambled eggs and bacon which we cooked in the morning. (It cost me a bloody fortune! But no-one goes home hungry on my watch!)

Boxing day!

ONE THING I REALLY HATE:

Tangled cords. I hate them they stress me out! I don't know why but one look at a tangled mess of cords leaves my shoulder muscles cramped up and heralds the beginning of a tension headache! I decided to have a look for the printer CD to reinstall the printer and the modem one in order to fix my wireless connection in doing so I came across a tangled mess of cords many of which I had no idea what they were for!

So I spent some time tidying up the area (gathering up the empty choc milk cartons and lolly wrappers- this is one reason I am desperate to get my laptop working again) and doing this....

As many cords as I could label I did with a little masking tape tag to tell me what it is for.

They are now all sorted into snap lock bags under the appropriate headings so it won't take me forever to work out which cord does what when I want to add photos to my blog or download pictures from my phone. I just hope that my little chicks decide to play along and remember to put them back in the right bags! (Note the label on the largest bag at the back!!!! I'm too worried to throw them away just in case we discover we need them.)

Then , so I don't have to look at them at all they are tucked into a shoe box with a lid!
I still can't find the right information to fix my wireless modem connection- I am so close to going out and buying another modem just to get it going again but I know it would be such a waste of money!!! BUT I WANT MY WIRELESS TO WORK AGAIN!!!!

'Tis the season.

I have managed to get away with a bit of a change this year. Chicky Babe loves the traditional tree- fake or real (ie chopped down) is fine, as long as it is the biggest one we can afford or lift or fit in the house and it has to be covered in every decoration we can find. This year Bantam Boy and I thought it would be good to have a Christmas cactus but we thought we wouldn't get away with that so we went for an Albany wolly bush growing in a pot. After my crochet frenzy leading up to George st I had nothing to do so I crocheted the little hearts until I ran out of red cotton. I'm happy with them and it is a nice change.

There have been a number of people doing the Ten Honest things about Me tag and have posted open tags to anyone who wants to play along, I know this was some time ago now but things are hectic at this time of the year and this is the first opportunity to get to it.

Ten Honest things about me.
1: I am worried that I wont have ten things to share that people may find remotely interesting. But I will do it any way and hope for the best.

2. I currently have three messy classrooms at school. I have to move classes again this year and I decided to sort through all my stuff before just shoving it into shelves to deal with later, is a year later when I have to shift it all. The third room is the art room which I have to share as a T&E room with the rest of the school so the mess in there is not totally of my own making. My house is also a mess!!!!! I am not neat.

3. This kind of relates to the above point. I have difficulty throwing things away. I am a hoarder. I might just use that thing one day. I have no idea what that thing is but I might use it. I had a friend who used to walk around the house with something in her hand if she couldn't find a space for it it went into the bin. I watched her throw away a perfectly good vase someone had given her as a gift because she didn't have a space to store it. (needless to say I didn't buy her gifts much after that or if I did they were edible and not expensive! I don't want to reach that extreme but I do think it would be beneficial if I could be a bit more discerning with my junk.

4. I've deleted this one several times, how do I say this one.... I've been interested in fashion and at one time I wanted to be a fashion designer. I've made wedding dresses for friends as my gifts to them. I love to wear jewellery and nice things but at the same time I resent the superficiality of how women in particular are judged for their appearance. Most of the time I don't wear makeup then I go through a makeup buying frenzy hoping that it will magically transform me and make me beautiful. This is a conundrum that I vacillate between caring and not caring on principle!

5. Although I often complain in the morning that I don't want to go to school I really do find my job very, very rewarding and it is the little comments kids make and when you finally reach a couple of kids that you feel that you've made a difference and it makes the job worthwhile. I actually felt sad that the year had ended as I had grown to love the kids in my class but I am happy to say that I 'll be teaching art again so I will see them regularly again next year.

6. I haven't used my studio as much as I'd hoped I would. Fortunately I'm now on holidays so I should be able to manage it.

7. When I was little my parents decided to go on a working holiday around Australia. More truthfully my dad decided he wanted to travel, Mum was persuaded with the help of a trip to the doctors and a packet of Valium. We set off in the jeep with the caravan attached and mum's dinner set fell out the back of the jeep and smashed in the driveway. Thank goodness for the Valium. We ended up going across the desert where a camel came into our caravan and was fed mince pies offered at arms length tentatively by our very unbrave dad and uncle. It was finally driven off by an old woman! Two wild boars stole our Christmas tree my sister (2) and I (3and a bit) were terrified that Santa would not find us. Again thank goodness for Valium!
We ended up in Alice Springs for quite some time and then we went on to Katherine where dad became a fireman. We lived next to the fire station and I used to answer the phone- It was 1970 and the NT. Our pet kangaroo used to hide in dad's boot and often refused to come out making the dash for the fire truck a bit tricky!

8. I believed in Santa for quite a long time, and fairies. I think that's why I sometimes find Christmas tricky now days since the kids have grown and I don't have to throw myself into creating the magic for them. That and not having a 'traditional' family and not having a partner. Tim is a lovely friend who helps me out immeasurably and cares for me deeply but we are not partners.

9. I think I really would love to have a partner. Not a husband or a boyfriend- a partner. That implies to me someone who shares things with you, a partner in crime, a dance partner. Yes I like the analogy of a dance partner. You have to work together for a common goal, you are dancing the same dance but each has their own steps and it's fun and exhilarating. The dance can be slow or fast. Sometimes you might get out of step or tread on each others toes but you find the beat and continue on again. See even though I say I'm cynical beneath it all I'm still a romantic at heart.

10. This one you will probably know if you read my blog with any regularity. I LOVE my kids. They are my world and my most fabulous creative work to date. I am so proud of them and have enjoyed watching them grow. I'm enjoying their company as young adults now too. So I feel I have achieved my goal of letting them grow up, this is something my father had a great deal of trouble with and I didn't want to burden my children with those feelings.

Goodness I talk a lot!!!! (That could be point 11 but you knew that already!) Ok I tag anyone who hasn't yet done this and feels like giving it a go.

Just in case I don't get the chance to blog again, Merry Christmas!

Don't leave the Grange for a special day...

I had to go to a funeral today. It was my godfather, Rob, he passed away on Sunday, he was in his late 60's. He was pretty much your quintessential Aussie bloke. A bit of a chauvinist, loved his footy. I remember being quite alarmed as a little tacker at the way he would yell at the telly while watching the footy. Anyway he had been ill for some time and finally passed away. His daughter is 8 and a half months pregnant- I was 8 months pregnant with Bantam Boy when my dad passed away aged 48. So I found today difficult in many ways. I wanted to tell her to look after herself because it is a time fraught with conflicting emotions. You are full of hormones, grieving yet at the same time you are joyous at the arrival of your baby. Also there is the sense of injustice that they have been taken before they get to see their grandchild and the sadness that the child wont know their grandfather. I know Bantam Boy and Pop Bob would have got on like a house on fire, Dad really would have understood BB and it is a huge shame.
At one point during the wake a bottle of Grange Hermitage valued at about $300 apparently, was opened. It was something that Rob had been saving for a special day. His days ran out and he never enjoyed that wine.
So today's thought is enjoy those special things don't save them away day after day, today is special, everyday is special.

Hooray

Bantam Boy has the all clear with the mysterious skin spot as posted earlier today (see below). Quite harmless and easily fixed. Thank goodness.

Now a photo fest here are some images of the evening on the verandah at school and of George st too.

An Evening on the Verandah

A view down the verandah. (token children's art placed near the front the rest was pushed right out the way down the back past the bar where there was very little light!)

Children's art. See what I mean about it all being placed too close together and not particularly well- I fought my "control freak" urge to change it.

George St Festival


Primavera 2 -neck garland

Primavera 3 -neck garland
chunky red floral necklace

HANDbags

more HANDbags






even more HANDbags

My stall

another view of my stall

the view from my stall

my friend's ceramic stall, with groovy christmas tree.

good and bad

Just a quick note again. My computer is still not up and running properly. I need time to sit and figure it out which I have not had for the last few weeks. Today I have to take Bantam Boy to see a skin specialist as he discovered a spot (in a place that rarely gets any sun exposure) that the doctor is extremely concerned with. This was on Thursday and the doctor immediately rang the specialist to ask for the next available appointment for him, this has been playing on my mind badly although I am doing my best not to alarm him and there is not much we can do until we see the specialist.
Yesterday was the George st festival. It went very well. I sold $655 worth of stuff and ran out of business cards. A lady called Songy took some photos of the day and some of my things are featured on her website. It was a lovely day and the time flew by, and I'm pleased to say my aunt didn't copy my bags- according to Bantam Boy, as I was too busy to look around. He said that there was nothing that compared to mine, if she did they didn't look any where near as good! God bless him. Although a complete stranger said she had been to the Bazaar (a very upmarket, posh market run by the fremantle art centre) and she had not seen anything as creative and innovative as my little HANDbags. A very nice compliment!
Many people asked where else I sell from and some asked if I had an on line shop. Maybe......

Lightning post

My computer is still on the blink and I have too much to do. But I really needed a blogging fix so I'm on another computer making the rounds of a few of my favourite blogs. I miss my blog friends and I have come to realise that I actually use this as a means of relaxing. Although I do need to find a balance as I could quite easily spend hours lost in the web browsing at all the fascinating things people do and not get my own things done. Here's a quick run down.

Almost finished reports.

George st market is on this Sunday (Hoping my aunt who is also having a stall at the same market and was looking very very closely and photographing my HANDbag at a family get together is not going to copy them and sell them at the same time as she jokingly said!- you know how you come away thinking hang on what just happened there? And I wouldn't mind so much if they were similar but in another town or whole other country but two or three stalls down could be a problem!)

Went to see Bloc Party with Bantam Boy and his mate- I sat on the hill crocheting until the sun went down. One occasion where I was thankful for daylight savings. The venue was over an hour's drive from home and at the end of the evening thousands of people were trying to leave at the same time. We waited 40minutes in the car park (paddock) before we could join the queue to get out. Bantam Boy had a ball. And I being the "random talker" as described in one of my very first posts I made friends with a woman who had driven up from Busselton to take her 17 year old to the concert and who I've made plans to join in march as we wait patiently for our 15 year olds while they watch their Cold Play gigs (fortunately this one is an all ages gig and we can just drink coffee and chat nearby)

Would love some sleep, just managing to get through what needs to be done.

Feel much better now... (This was supposed to be short!)