Chicky Babe not my baby any more

While the cat has been sleeping on the couch, bed, chair like this....

I have been very busy with work and then last weekend I was quite sick and had a couple of days off work. I am feeling much better now, but still fed up with summer I've had more than enough of warm balmy nights!

I didn't sell my pears or my crow painting but my small little painting sold in the silent auction. The proceeds of the silent auction went to the children's hospital.

It was my little chicky babe's 18th birthday yesterday. She's all grown up- well mostly. She is having a picnic in the park tomorrow to celebrate and I had to make her a cake in the shape of the Tardis. It reminded us of all the cakes I made for them when they were little. I made so many different cakes including elephants, bananas in pajamas, furbies, dinosaurs, Mario riding on Yoshi, roller skates and even Harry Potter. The lead up to birthdays were an exciting time deciding what shape cake mama would make. Bantam Boy once requested a blue dinosaur picking daisies with a orange gorilla. When I said I wasn't sure if I could manage that he replied "I have faith in you mummy you can do anything you put your mind to." Ahh don't you love the absolute belief your little children have in you!

Because my oven is broken (yep! it no longer bakes things, the stovetop works but the oven is cactus! A very sad state of affairs, ) I had to buy a plain sponge cake in a packet to make her cake.

 1:Trim the bits off the side, use these to create the roof of the tardis and the light on the top.

 2:Put a thin layer of icing on the cut sides first to stop the cake crumbs from making the final layer of icing all crumbly. Using an old bone handled butter knife dipped into hot water makes the job much easier and gives you more control of the icing ( I use a packet of pure icing sugar with a couple of tablespoons of butter whipped up with just enough milk or water to make a fluffy icing that will get a slight crispish layer on the outside as it sets making further decoration easier.)

 3: smooth over the icing layer with a butter knife dipped in hot water, mark out drawing lines with a wire cake skewer or a bamboo one these lines can be swept clean with the knife if needed.

  4: Add final details. I used to use a piping bag with a fine nozzle but now days they have outlining 'fudge' in little squeezy tubes you can find them with the cake decorating things in the supermarket. Very easy to use!

Chicky Babe was very happy with the result and was inspired made a dalek cake with the left over cake and icing, she did quite a good job.

I can't believe  that I now have two adult children. One of the women I work with said well that makes you old then.Thanks a lot! I don't think old even though my eyes are beginning to refuse to focus in poor light when trying to thread needles and I am starting to get grumpy with stupid people and wonder where manners got to. 

I have to confess that as I stood choosing a card for my darling daughter I started reminiscing as I read all the mushy cards and I began to cry at the card stand! How embarrassing! 

PS:

Chicky Babe says I can still call her my baby girl. :)

A story with two happy endings.

Yesterday I was in a bit of a fluster trying to gather together enough ID for Chicky Babe so she could apply for her learners permit. It was hot and I've been feeling out of sorts emotionally for a week or so. We had to drive hither and thither. Firstly we went into the licencing centre with her birth extract and student ID and her bank card, None of these were acceptable. She needed her birth certificate and something that had her name and address on it like a bank statement or bill of some sort. She lives at home with me - hence I get the bills and she doesn't work so she hasn't had any activity on her bank account that is in her name (the other one is in my name in trust for her) So off we went to the births registry office to get a copy of her birth certificate and then to the bank to sort out what to do with her statement. Because there had been no activity on it since the last statement they couldn't print one off. So we had to deposit a small amount into it then they would be able to print it off the next day.
While we were near the shop we did a bit of grocery shopping and got name tags for the cat and dog. From there we went to another shop to buy the most recent Dr Who magazine Chicky Babe is hankering for. It is at this point that we realise that my cards are no longer in my purse. My licence, visa and access account etc.
I felt sick. I haven't lost my cards like that since...I can't remember when! (Bantam Boy has done so frequently!)
We were desperately retracing our steps and I was thinking that I would have to cancel my cards when my phone rang. It was Bantam Boy. A woman had just left our place she had found my cards with the address on the licence and delivered them to our house.
She did not leave her name or anything so I am unable to thank her but I was really touched by her good deed. You so often hear of things going badly and dishonesty in our world it is nice to hear a story with a happy ending. I'm sending her all the warmest of best wishes I wish I could let her know just how grateful I am! Maybe I'll post a note at the shopping center.
Oh and this morning we went back to the bank to collect her statement and then to the licencing place so Chicky Babe could sit her theory test. She now has her learners permit and we have had our first driving lesson. Don't tell Bantam Boy but she is easier to teach than he was. Apart from staying on the right side of the road during this time she doesn't argue back at me if I tell her something! Phew!

Keeping in touch..

That is exactly what Bantam Boy has done this month.

 He sent 1680 text messages,

I think that perhaps about 3 were for me and the lion's share was for his girlfriend!!!! I however pay for his phone, this is something I said I would do while he was on his holiday to make sure he would be able to ring at anytime he needed without having to worry about running out of credit.

I was not happy. His sister scoffed and said "He's such a girl!" She was secretly pleased because her 600 odd text messages in one month has now paled into insignificance next to BB's effort!

He has been missing home dreadfully- and this is the result of that.

So glad..

I am so glad I have been fortunate enough to take some time of work to support Bantam Boy through his TEE exams. I have been making a cooked breakfast for him, preparing his favourite meals at a reasonable hour and making cups of tea ,lunches and snacks. I've been able to drive here and there and run lunch into school for Chicky Babe. All without any stress. It is my job at the moment, just being a mum and I am enjoying it thoroughly. I have time to pay attention to the little things I enjoy, like the shadows on the wall in the hallway in the late afternoon sun. I have two of these little dolls given to me by a friend.

I've had time to create a Halloween costume for Chicky Babe, who is in her own words "So Cute"
I made the tail she did the hat. I love that I am still making 'dress ups" for her even though she is 16 and a half. When they were tiny I made them dinosaur costumes- little hooded t-shirts with spikes, teeth and tails. I often took my little dinosaurs shopping and could hear other children begging for a similar costume. I used to whip them up when friends came over to play. This led to the belief my children held for quite some time that Mum was capable of whipping up anything that was required on short notice, especially for West Aussie Day at school. I want a frilled neck lizard costume, I want to be a black swan, ...a jar of Vegemite, a tropical butterfly, Captain Stirling. At one stage I gave up buying normal clothes because they spent most of their time dressing up.

And I've been exploring the net, planning my Thailand trip, booking hotels and finding things to do and places to see. Also I've been trying without immediate success to set up a paypal account and try to purchase crochet patterns and pay for hotel booking deposits online.

Very Frustrating....but I'll get there.

Chicken and egg.

I used to be able to fit time for my own art work into my life but lately I just haven't got the head space for it. I would have thought that having the kids get older was easier, but right at this minute they seem to require more attention-not in the same way as when they were babies but pretty much the same intensity. I have reflected that late teen children seem to be like 3 year olds again in terms of parenting because they are moving from child/teen to adult and they feel ready to do all sorts of things yet they are not fully independent yet so they rely on you for your help but they reject it at the same time. Rather like when they wanted to dress themselves at three but could not quite manage the buttons.
I have decided not to do the George St Market this year as I am going to focus on getting Bantam Boy through his TEE. It looks like he won't get to keep his extra reading time (for his mild processing disorder) so I need to make sure the home is as stress free as possible. (In human biol. they took their blood pressure everyone else was normal and his was 150 over 80, the doctor thinks it is stress related, i worry because my father had outrageously high blood pressure- he had an over active adrenal gland and this made him stress more or feel stress more rather, so I worry about my boy.) I have applied for leave during this time and it has been approved. So I am going to dedicate myself to being a full time at home mum for the two and a bit weeks of his exams.
So I am tired and out of sorts and have not ideas of what to make/paint/do and don't have the energy to do it anyway. But I know it revives me so it is kind of chicken and egg stuff, I don't know if I'm blocked because I am tired or if I'm tired because I'm not doing any art work! May be it's a bit of both.

Colds, conflict and Crochet.

I've spent much of the last couple of weeks unwell with a bad cold, crocheting and arguing with my soon to be 18 years old son!
the argument revolved around what an uncool mother I am as I am not prepared to serve/provide or condone the consumption of alcohol by his underage friends (He repeated a year in grade one so most of his friends are 17 0r even 16.) Finally after much angst we have come to a kind of compromise, instead of a party of 100 of his closest friends we are now having a family and friends party of about 40, where I will serve light beer and light champagne for the adults.
I suggested a 'mocktail party' but one of his friends laughed at the mere suggestion of it and she asked him if he was a 12 year old girl. (Maybe I will make some mocktails anyway just to stir them up a bit.)
I feel really old because I am absolutely amazed at the expectation and reliance on alcohol and the fact that they don't even remotely try to hide the fact that they are drinking. 'In my day' we would sneak a drink or two and be afraid of getting found out!
Well at least we are talking again now.

I had three days off work and after a day in bed and almost two days of having no energy to do more than sit on the couch (and attempt to remain logical in the wake of the onslaught of a very determined teen) I went to spotlight and grabbed some wool...

Some 100% good old Australian Pure wool...


made in China!

I blame my cold and therefore my foggy brain for not suspecting this before I got home with a name like "Basics 8 ply" I should have guessed. Oh well it kept me busy for the weekend and for the monday that I had off from work also. I completed all but 10 of the 42 squares between saturday evening and monday evening. Then it took the rest of the week to complete the remaining ten. I finished the last one tonight and have now got them all blocked and ready to arrange before I sew them up. But I think I need to make more because it is not quite big enough. Maybe I'll sew it up and just add a row at a time until it is the right size.



I am finding it quite addictive- I'm thinking of the next crocheted rug project already.
(I wish I could become so obsessive about exercise or housework - maybe not quite as obsessive as that but a little perhaps would be useful!)

What's the time Mr Wolf?

It's after 2am or 1am we are about to start daylight saving again. I hate daylight saving I spend the whole summer feeling jetlagged, I just don't seem to be able to settle into it. I know people will say it's just a state of mind and it's just a number but here's my justification. It gets really hot here in Perth and I don't have air conditioning at home (or work for that matter) so I rely on the Freo Doctor to cool the house down in the evening. Now it comes in about 5ish pre daylight saving and takes a while for the house to cool down so it's about 8 or so before I even feel like thinking about cooking a meal let alone eating it! with daylight savings that means we don't eat until 9:30. I am also notoriously bad at going to bed early, I am most alert and quite productive around 12am to 2am and struggle to wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7:30 in order to get to work by 8:30 (More like waking reluctantly, pressing the snooze button and dragging myself out of bed.) So now that means I have to get up much earlier than my body really wants to. Also because of my reliance on natures cooling system I find that the coolest and therefore best part of the night for sleeping is those early hours of the morning of which we lose an hour because we have to get up! One of my friends said that it was great to have an extra hour of sunshine in the evening to go out to the pub etc. To which I replied she was obviously married because she obviously didn't have to worry about the harsh reality of sunlight, darkness is much more flattering! How am I going to get chatted up in stark dayight. It was something she had not thought about. Anyway this was not the theme of this post....
I have moved into a new phase of parenthood, I am sitting here having crocheted 3 flower necklaces while waiting for Bantam Boy to come home from a party, at which he will be consuming alcohol. He is pretty sensible and he and I had a discussion about drinking today prior to him going out. He has been at parties where he has experimented with drinking but hasn't got badly drunk. He expressed his concern about a couple of friends who have over indulged and embarrassed themselves, this is a comfort to me that he has this attitude. However I am still sitting here wondering what time he will be home (I'm not good at this I forgot to set a curfew, Tim dropped BB and his mate at the party so the other boy's mum will bring them home when they are ready. I thought it would be at a slightly more reasonable hour! Tim said they were talking about 3am!!!!) I don't think he has a key. At least he's not driving about to these things! It was a fancy dress party - Mexican theme so I made both boys a poncho to wear, they looked great. Really simple 2m of fabric with a T shape slit cut in the middle for the neck and then a fringe made by cutting 1cm strips along the bottom edges then knotting them. All 500 of them!!!!
Hmmmm now it's 2:30........what else shall I do.....

Tuesday teacup is half full & the studio is safe!

My current favourite morning coffee cup. I recently bought a coffee machine and coffee grinder so am treating myself to a delicious morning flat white. This particular cup is delightfully round and somehow has a real 'mother' feeling, round, smooth yet.... I have typed and erased about three or four descriptions here. It is kind of reassuringly round and maybe earthy.

Good things and bad.

The good news is my studio is safe! the plans have been approved and now I can continue to work on it with confidence.

Cute little double doors...

lead onto the patio where the sun streams in through in the morning...

Most of it is windows or glass doors with a skylight in the roof, which means it is light and airy even though it is quite small- cozy rather.
I've bought cupboards to go in it, the idea being I will store all my bits in one place, a shelf for printmaking stuff, another for jewelery making, soldering etc & beads, one for painting and for my clay, molds & modeling tools. The best bit will be being able to start on something and leave it until I can get back to it with out having to pack it up!

This side faces out onto a small paved area, my private studio garden- well it will be, I can already see it. It has a raised limestone garden bed where I think I will plant some vegies and I'll put in a passion fruit vine to block out the view into the neighbour's house. It gets quite a bit of morning sun, a lovely little spot to soak up the sun. Well it will be lovely- eventually!

Well that was the good news. The bad news.... Chicky Babe sent 664 sms messages to her friends... in 1 month. I pay for the kids phones as a part of their pocket money. I pay $20 a month on a plan for $50 worth of calls. We can call each other for nothing because we are all on the same bill so that works well. She now owes me $130. I also had to be the 'parent' and take her phone off her for 2 weeks. I hate having to be the "bad cop" but that's parenting I suppose. (an old fart at the party and now a disciplinarian mother! All in one week! My kids are generally so good I haven't had to do this before really. Not bad considering they are 15 and 16and a half.)

Actually, whenever I have to growl at my kids I find it difficult to do so without laughing. I know it was bad that she abused the phone privilege, considering we have had this discussion when she has gone over the limit on a few occasions before. Usually only by 10 or 20 dollars but 664 sms's that's so outrageous it's funny. Why don't they call each other and actually talk, rather than have a text conversation sending 10 texts in under 10 minutes! Yes, I am definitely an 'old fart'.

The other bad thing was my car overheated and cost $400 to repair the broken radiator pump! I'm trying to save for my Melbourne trip! The fortunate thing is, I have a lovely mechanic who was able to fix it today and will let me wait until pay day to pay it off. I enjoyed the walk home from school this afternoon and I can still keep my dinner date with a dear friend who lives on the other side of the city. This lady has been my friend since we were in year 10 - 1981! 27 years!! I just did the math... gosh, I am fortunate to have this friendship that has stood the test of time. That is another good thing.

Yes my cup is half full.