Happy New Year!

I've said hello to the new year quietly and it seems I'm not alone. Several people I've spoken to have spent the new year celebrating at home or missing the moment completely! My poor mum is in Bali - what is poor about that?- well she has been sicker than she has ever been there ever. 

I've been enjoying myself cooking, crocheting writing and drawing.

This mess made...

some of the most delicious tangy lemon butter. 

My lemons are tiny but jam packed with juicy lemony flavour. I used this recipe for microwave lemon curd but I felt it wasn't thickening properly so after about 5 minutes of cooking I added 2 desert spoons of cornflour mixed with a little water and cooked it for a further minute.

I bought an old footstool some time ago at a garage sale. It has been used quite a bit outside on the patio when the children have friends over but it's ugliness has always bothered me. I have been meaning to make a cover for it for ages and I've finally begun. 

I found this cute little fellow at a garage sale this morning while we were out and about having a late breakfast.

Yesterday I made this little fridge calender. I used the draw a table function on word to create just the look I was after two months per A4 page and a little space for notes. I highlighted the special dates for my family and used my favourite images from my Pinterest Boards. Then I printed them on photo card and cut them out and used a magnetic clip to clip them to the fridge.

The little photo on the fridge is of my little chickens who are now all but grown. I love this photo and keep it to remind them and me that even though they sometimes squabble they love each other dearly. They used to be each other's best of friends. They were SO cute and don't even come up to the freezer part of the fridge.
Time flies! And now I am getting nostalgic!
As with most people I've been thinking about what the new year will bring. This year I plan to do more creative things ( and old familiar cry!). I am hoping that working mostly in the art room and one day as support rather than a classroom teacher will give me some free head space to be able to do some more art work more easily.
This year there are plans for me to work collaboratively with one of the universities working with students doing a masters in education with a unit about the 'artistic and creative child'. That will be both exciting and challenging for me as it is the first time I have worked with adults in this way.
This year is also finally my long service year with my babies as adults and for years I have dreamed of going to Europe when they were old enough to leave on their own for some time. So hopefully in October I will be spending 2 weeks in an apartment in Paris and exploring Venice, Florence and Rome and perhaps Spain. It will depend on how far my money stretches. So fingers crossed that the Australian dollar remains strong.
Then I have the usual new year resolutions like get back onto the weight watchers wagon. I want to be able to fit comfortably in those economy air plane seats and be fit enough to walk up 6 flights of Parisian apartment stairs!