Today

Today I'm feeling a million things, middle aged, happy, young at heart, warm, unmotivated, cheerful, slightly down, satisfied, lucky, loved, busy, relaxed...and on it goes. Oh the burden of being a Gemini. Funny how you can feel all those different things at once isn't it?  I'm just going to try and ignore myself a bit, honestly, I do carry on sometimes...

It's easy to be distracted. A hungry cockie, stealing the chooks scraps just about flew into my head this morning.

My birthday skirt. One of two. 

Lovely, adorable skirt. Australian made, merino wool,

The love affair has begun.

Books, have you discovered the Book Depository yet? I'm hooked.

Free postage gets me every time.

A birthday read which I have just started. It's not quite grabbing me yet but hey, I'm patient (and middled aged, grumpy, happy...oh shut up!)

My new, wonderful cushion which I just love and adore!! Can you see it there, nestled on the couch? I received it in Vic's cushion swaporama, from the very talented and super sweet Zippy Zippy! It's one of those special things that is destined to be with us for a lifetime, gee it makes me smile. I'm thinking too of our little niece Tova, who turns 5 today! How I wish we all lived near each other so Rosie and Tova could play, so we could share cake and celebrate together.

Do you like my new painting? It's finally paid for, and home where it belongs. "Amigo's" is the work of local artist, Moya. Love.

Two other little doggies have been distracting me today with their fancy pants hair cuts. Who would have known Daisy was really a white dog??? Amazing what a bath and a bit of a snip can do.

Max is such a handsome devil. Here he is, pondering his upcoming birthday (tomorrow) and all the treats he so rightly deserves.

Messages in my Inbox..they are driving me crazy!!! Are you getting them too?

"My name is miss Adera Mohamed.I wish to communicate with you through this medium and i hope my meeting you will not offend you in anyway.I will like us to know  ourselves better,so we can exchange pictures too.Moreover i have very Important issue which is giving me lot of concern to discuss with you for assistance.Thanks for your understanding,i will be expecting to read from you soon.
Yours Adera."

Rack off Adera!!

So there you go! I haven't shown you the other distractions, dirty dishes, food prep, washing, forms to fill out, chooks to feed, etc. Better go and tend to them now. Hope your inner voice is being kind today, and not to muddled up.

The sun is shining here and the week is off to a good start. See you soon lovely friends xo

Weekend away...

Hi there! It's Sunday night and I'm slowly coming down to earth after a weekend away from home.

I'm trying to get my head around the washing, the constant calls for MUM!, 

the spilt drinks, the thought of the school run tomorrow,

the meal planning, the reality of

everyday life. 

It is lovely to be home with my sweetie pies, 

but I sure did enjoy stepping out of family life for a couple of days. I highly recommend it!

Here are ten things I loved about my weekend away. 

1. Typo! (see above) Loved it, especially the Scrabble letters..

2. Hanging out with 5 ace mates,

chatting, eating, relaxing.

3. St Kilda, lots of good food, the Stokehouse, quirky shops, the beach, the street life,

And these two sweeties, what a cute pair!

4. The city.

 the new Myer, cake & coffee, pre dinner drinkie poos,

water wall leaf art,

& the Block Arcade.

5. Get Low, starring Robert Duvall. Loved it!

6. Mamasita!! Wow, what an amazing place, 

yum, yum, yum!

7. Some quiet time. Yep, some solitary, knitting, sitting in bed, reading the papers,

taking it easy time. Ahhhh... :)

8. The beach. Need I Say More? (except it wasn't really yellow...)

8. Zoning out. Not having plans. Seeing what happened.

9. Not making snacks. NOT COOKING AT ALL!

10. Best of all, hanging out with five really ace friends. All different, all fantastic,

all very much loved and appreciated.

Can we go away again next weekend?

Hope you all had a fun one too,

see you soon lovely ones xo

Lately

Just when you're feeling a bit worn out, not the greatest parent in the world, when you're feeling a bit flat about life along comes a picture & some words that mean so much.

Lately I've been looking for comfort, finding it in many different ways.  My kids, who sometimes drive me crazy, are also the source of such comfort and joy, their love makes everything ok again. It's cold and windy outside but here at home I'm warm inside. I've been reading,

 thrifted books,

knitting Rosie's cardigan, loving the flow, the feel of the wool and

the beautiful bamboo needles, a gift from my gorgeous Mum.

Enjoying...candles warm, inspiring, soulful, dreamy, sweet hummingbird candle light.

Watching...son & daughter ducks, growing up. Where they ever really those tiny fluffy babies? I love my ducks and chooks, they make me so happy.

Enjoying...beautiful wine, dinner out with my honey at the Farmers Arms. Lovely.

Making...two cushions for a special blogger. I hope she likes them.

Oh, gosh! There was just a knock on my door and guess who was there?!

 Charlotte! She has driven up from Melbourne to surprise me,

as it's my birthday today :)

Pink tulips, lunch with Mum & Char,

a special dinner tonight with the family,

chocolate pudding for dessert.

Life is good,

see you soon,

lovely

friends,

xo

Posting

How's your week going? Mine's been a bit up & down, I seem to be a bit of a tired old chook lately. I'm finding that I'm not so motivated to blog, maybe it's the time of year? I am weirdly enjoying the cold weather though, like I always do at the start of winter. Give me a few weeks and I'm sure I'll be complaining about it..! I was going through a bag of bits today and found this sweet butterfly brooch that Amanda made, I love it! Just the thing to brighten up a grey, wintery day.

And these gorgeous screen printed tops made by my beautiful friend, Kate. They are destined to be posted off in a parcel to...

some loved ones, who shall remain nameless.. in case they happen to be reading this post! 

And in the same package I will pop this dear, sweet doll, made by Ms Ric Rac herself. She is  just the most gorgeous doll (Jodie is too), I love her little bag and I wish I had a coat like hers. 

I bought this little sweetie pie two Christmas's ago, stashed her, lost her, re-stashed her 

and found her again!

Wow. Do you ever do that? Hide something so well that you can't find it yourself?

So what else has been happening?  Lovely Sue, a new friend from school, is encouraging me to knit a cardigan for Rosie. I wonder if I'm brave enough, it's been a long while since I took on what for me is a BIG project. I'm a tiny bit excited..now I just need some wool!

And today I started posting a few things on Ebay to sell, 

one of which is this rather snazzy Boden coat that I bought a while ago. It's a delicious

velvety red/pink colour and so soft & warm but just a bit too big for me.

Anyway chooks, I better go. Dinner to make, kids to monitor, we have a house full this afteroon,

and Rosie & I need to check for eggs before it gets dark.

Our little Silkies are laying which is great!

Their little smooth eggs are amazing,

thanks girls!

Bye for now lovely friends,

see you soon xo

Giveaway winner & Grateful Saturday

Saturday is ballet day, as you know, and it is fun but also tiring. I'm always a bit cranky when I get home as it's a long day & there is a fair bit of driving/snack making/organising/referring involved.  (I really need a few minutes (ie half an hour or so) to collect myself, to regroup, to unwind. But this doesn't usually happen so I just keep on trucking!)

 The girls love dancing and I'm happy to support them, it's fun to watch them improve, to see them being active & creative and making new friends, away from their home town which provides so much for them too.

I know we are lucky that we can afford to give our kids these opportunities, not every one can.
And while it's important for me to be home with the kids while they are young, not everyone can afford this either. So today I've been thinking about and feeling grateful that I have the life I do.

Meanwhile, yesterday I was all ready to post about the winner of my recent giveaway but Blogger wasn't playing nice.  Daisy got bored waiting and we both got a little hot under the collar. But we hung in there and Daisy put up with my raining number confetti down on her, waiting for one to land on her head.

Possibly a rather unusual way of drawing out a number but it seemed to work! I'm thrilled to announce that number 19, lovely Lisa has won the little butterfly bunny!! Yay for you Lisa!! Can you please email me your address and I"ll pop her in the post asap.

Thanks to everyone for their comments on the giveaway post. I loved hearing the little bits & pieces about you. People are so endlessly interesting,

and we all have a story don't we?

So it's Saturday night and it's been another frosty, cold day.

We are having a roast tonight, wafts of deliciousness are winding their way through the house,

and I'm feeling nice glass of wine calling my name.

I hope you are nice & warm & cosy,

wherever you are. And thanks Maxabella for hosting today :)

See you soon xo