sytycs 8

yep 8 weeks and im still here

ok this week was about colour blocking...heres my entry...but its only pretty fluffy around the term of colour blocking so we will see how that goes

i love the photo of my girl but...she is so photogenic and beautiful...oh hang on im her mother i know lol

she is such a funny little thing...tells the worst jokes and cracks herself up everytime...its safe to say i smile and nod but her father laughs along with her lol...too funny

we had a funny conversation this morning

we were talking about jobs people do, daddys a chef, mummy is a teacher just like linda (preschool teacher etc) what would u like to do lilly...i want to be rapunzel...yep as in let down your hair

i repeated my explanation of a job and asked again....answerdoesnt change i was in stitches. we told daddy this afternoon and he got more out of her...you see rapunzel paints and dances all day with a little bit of gardening on the side. ive got no idea how she gardens in her tower but there you go LOL

ok i probably wont post much now until late next week

ODE to sara who has successfully pushed through our internet order so i expect my modem by maybe wednesday next week. im so thankful to her for that as i was getting no where fast.

mason family im so happy that you are all home safe and sound all at home together. a huge thing u have all gone through these past weeks. wishing chelsea a fast recovery now.

ok all...i will be back next week some time with i hope all sorts of news and photos to share

im going to spend the next few months taking you all on a tour of our beautiful new home as we set it up and change some furntiure to match our 1870's antique home! stay safe everyone

MOVING DAY

hi everyone
we r in the mists of moving up the street
from monday looks like i will be without access for about a week
i will do a proper update before then..:)

toilet training

well its beginning to look like that time in toddler world!! she is over 2 and its warming up. keen to not make the same mistakes we did with lilly we decided we would not purchase pull ups (im sure thats why lilly didnt get it..what was to get it was still like she was wearing a nappy), but last time we also didnt think much of store bought training pants u know the ones with the thin foam layer...that does nothing! so i ended up searching modern cloth nappy sites thinking maybe that was what to do when i found this pattern for home made training pants http://www.geocities.com/songshirah1/?200811 ive so far made 4 pairs. we would like a dozen or so, they r pretty straight forward to make, but i will next time make the crotch part just a little wider to make the elastic casing eaiser to stitch. i couldnt get ripstop nylon out here, but its basically a shower curtain so we went with a fabric shower curtain. and i reused our old flat cloth nappies as part of the padding. this way is no cheaper than buying them, but hopefully its a better product that will at least hold one wee and last better. i remember lillys foam crunching up after a few washes and having to buy new ones hence the not using them all that much...seeing as that cant happen with these ones and they look like they will withstand lots of washing...these ones r made from polarfleece like the pattern says, but i might have to look into something more summer for dec and jan...i will report on how they go.
nothing better than straight from the oven fresh homemade bread roll. i was blowing on my fingers as i cut them open they were so hot. i get 10 rolls mediumish in size from my loaf of bread that i have blogged about before. i love that they turn out crusty...YUM...we had some for lunch but they will make hamburgers for dinner tonight.this weeks so you think you can scrap entry. had to have fabric x 2, handmade embellishment, 3 photos 2 different style of sewing and 75% had to be stitched down. well there is more stitching here than i know what to do with. 2 different materials - stems green pokadots and some heather bailey folded like ribbons with ricrac and zigzaged down. the orange blobs r french knots and there is some backstitching. the flowers r handmade.

9 days until we move..u would think i was be stressing, but no, im not living in a sea of boxes either oops..hmmm dont know if thats a good thing or not lol. we r starting to move the smaller things from tuesday but. so i guess that will help..:)

heres my apple (granny smith) in flower.
its full of flowers, in fact we will have to pick of some i guess if they all start to be apples. we have an apple tree here in the yard we didnt know about so im expecting the apple sex happened hehe....but we also have an apple tree at our new house we didnt know about too...so that willl be 3 apple trees woohoo, the one we r getting is older so i hope we get some apples off it, dont know what sort it is but.

nothing else much going on...we r going to try putting some seed potatos down in a new old style garbage bin on tuesday to see if we can get a harvest seeing as its getting late to put them down, im going with the fac tthat its still been quiet cool here until this past week and that they will be ok heh...but i know nothing im just guessing really.

Diary swap 2009

dont forget today is the last day to sign up for the swap
i will get details out to people over the next few days

family fun day

we have gained permission to have emily at the park and in the softfall again woohoo...in fact it was encouraged, all that holding on and climbing! we found a great park in ballarat that reminds me of kidsspace at chermside and it was great for emily, steps and stairs to the slides so she could easily handle the climbing part without to much effort. how cute r they going down that slide together.
miss em...best photo i have had of her in an age!!! no smile but...everytime i asked her to smile she would say the word but not smile lol
this one is always smiles a plenty....and here she is just being her...i love this pic best one i got all day and i only had one chance to get it too.



hmm what else...i got some strawberries to make a patch with...and a green seedless grape vine to grow over an arch way too...and we r still looking at ways and products to build the veg patch out of...anyone got any good EASY ways to do that?? dan wants to use bricks eventually but its sort of a long term plan and one that we will do bit by bit. we dont want treated pine for the veg beds...so then its dollars...dont know still looking. the granny smith apple has blossoms on it...but only time will tell what will happen with that.
13 days until we move
6 until we start moving some of the smaller things up there
woohoo!!!!

so you think you can scrap 6

ok this weeks theme almost saw me pull out. i didnt know if i could do it, but u know since i got it on the paper and ive rewritten it and read it now a few times i havent cried since?? im sure there will be more tears but for now i take the cheap therapy!
the theme...journalling (about something sad..eek), only one pattern paper (bo bunny doubled sided i used) had to have 100 words or plus and have handwritten something on the page.
the journalling reads:
one moment, one decision, one split second and life as we know it changed forever. Ive asked these questions of myself a million times and more. WHY were we there? at that moment WHY was there a truck reversing when its illegal in the snow and WHY wasnt emily in my arms?? WHY WHY and it doesnt matter how many changes i make to the story on THAT day disarster was going to happen to us.
I know how lucky i am that emily is alive and well. Im all to totally aware that things could of been so very much worse on that day. That truck did so much damage. Emilys arm was damaged, the type of damage that lasts a lifetime. We were all emotionally damaged I HOPE NOT BEYOND REPAIR. but I was and still am ROCKED to the core. I will never understand WHY this happened. What was the purpose??? WHY??I didnt need reminding to look after my children, I already knew i was blessed, they are always the focus of our life. So WHY?? what was the purpose of this? Emily doesnt deserve to carry this her whole life, so WHY? and so continues my unanswered question... WHY

this stuff is in my head and heart all the time. this was a great way to get it out. but i also feel like a bit of a heal when u read some of the journalling in the gallery, while it doesnt take away from what happened to us it gives me a little more perspective i think...hard to explain...i guess i was left with she is still here and pretty much ok, get over it sort of feeling....i know i wont ever get over it...but im thankful that i could have her in the first place and that we didnt ever lose her.

an emily update: i havent done this for a while. my girl had her hand therapy transfered to ballarat to a wonderful lady called jen. she has a little boy not much younger than emily and i sometimes think this makes a world of difference in whats happening. when we left the hospital we had a list of exercises to do with emily..they quickly became agony for us all as she didnt like it and screamed the house down until it was over...and when u r spending 5 or 6 minutes like that 5 times a day its wearing!! anyway enter jen. and a big change to home therapy. its all play based and manipulating what she is playing with...woohoo!!! this last two weeks...a bag of rice for playing with a pouring and digging in. we r on the look for turning toys too. emily has alot more function back in her hand and arm too...its still slow and and its still limited but we can see huge improvements. some wrist turn...its so slight but its there when she picks up a spoon and pours the rice. her thumb is starting to strengthen slightly too which is helpful for getting her pressure garmet on! an overall improvement in fuction. she still wants to write and draw with her left arm and always tries it first then changes when she cant move her arm and wrist, but i watched her the last few days get that wrist and hand in nearly a good enough position to make a mark on the page.....I HAVE HOPE. i hope it continues for her second surgeon accessment, but at the same time I HOPE kind of that they deal with the remaining surgery soon.

10 years

10 years to the day
strangely a friday night...i would like to say for sure 10 years ago was a friday and im only guessing it was..the memory is a little foggy!
i met the man that was to become my husband. actually i had met him about six months eariler, but it was a one off type penny didnt drop meeting. lol
this particular night strangly i think i knew i had met someone that was going to change my life. i remember leaving the uni night club early that night without saying goodbye...i was scared of what i had found.
we have been through alot in those 10 years and some of it i would change if i had the power too (as in anything from the last 4 months!) but we always come out of everything together and mostly stronger for it too.
i cant imagine life without dan and the adventures we have had. i cant imagine life now without the family that we have created.
happy anniversary
cant wait to see what we do in the next 10 years.

this is us on our 8th wedding anniversay in jan of this year
and in the early days....we were engaged in this pic (but only just)...it was the end of 1998.
we got married at the very start of 2000.

cooking, growing and cuteness

well i think these r lettuce...coz i think they will be...but still waiting to work it out lol
beans, snowpeas, corns and a few other things today. will have to wait on identification there. the beans and snowpeas and the corns will be on potted tomorrow to get a bit stronger, and may come out of the green house too. and then in the ground in 22 days or something like that
cucumbers here, pumpkin and 2 tomatos r up today too.
also have some lettuce that i know is lettuce, and basil another cucumber and pumpkin in the other reseeded seeds. looks like i will have pumpkin and cucumber coming out of my ears!

how cute r these two, walking hand in hand through the wild flowers in our backyard. would u believe its only been 2 weeks since dan mowed! would of done it the other day but it rained one day and then his next day off we were in ballarat for emily. this week i HOPE
ooer YUM!!! cinnamon scrolls
this was super easy to do
i found the recipe here
http://eatmeblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/day-39-cinnamon-scrolls.html

A SWAP

i would love to organise a swap

this is what i have in mind. a 2008 diary swap.

i was looking at diarys the other day, the cheapy shop ones for just a few dollars and thinking of using my remembered sewing skills to making something nice for 2009. and then thought what a great swap.

so this is what i propose.

if your interested email me djon7593@bigpond.net.au

this is what u have to do:

email and join in before the 15 october. if we have enough people i will send out partner details by the 20th.

swaps will be due in the mail by the 30th november

your swap will need

to have a diary no smaller than 10cm by 5 cm as a guide, be covered in a quilted top, or altered with paper. make sure that its going to last for the year. then add in a few things to spoil your partner with.

thats it

im also thinking of organising a secret santa type swap, email if your interested in something like that too

ROUND 5 - The Finals

well im in the finals of so you think you can scrap

i think the finals will go on for quite some time yet but.

this week arty/freestyle

oh im not a freestyle scrapper at all

its safe to say its just not me...ive tried it before and feel a bit of a spaz when i look at my freestyle pages. i like some of the pages out there in freestyle land, and some i dont understand. but its all inspiration to try something new.

this week as well as being arty/freestyle

we had to have funny edges - i have embellishments hanging off everywhere

use paint - i flicked paint with my finger

handwrite or make a title - i drew the no and then cut it out

thrift something from around the house to use. - i used masking tape - not orignial i know and i used the pull from my diet coke can as a photo turn down the bottom.

i like the overall page, i dont think its finals material but its missing something to me just cant put my hand on it but.

all is not lost

in the seeds i thought i would lose
we have and counting
edited to add
2 strong beans
1 strong snow pea
2 strong sweet corns
plus 5 little little green things that i cant work out what they r just at this point. i will let u know!
2 cucumbers
1 butternut pumpkin

this weekend i will pop the beans, snowpea and one of the corn in a pot of their own! So they continue to grow well, getting ready for my new garden bed...in 25 days! not that im counting much

heh
yes i sleep
not well and usually very late...sleep has sort of been missing for me since emilys accident, i dont know if its going to get any better any time soon. but thats ok its just the way it is for now.

im still learning (learning as im doing really) on the garden front. i have read about lots of things to try on some sustainable living blogs that live organically for helping with pests and fertilzer etc that we will be trying and i bought an organic gardener book too
here r the blogs i visit usually daily
http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/
http://crazy-mumma.blogspot.com/
i use the links these ladies have to get about and look in sustainable world.
all the blogs i get lead to from these too are a wealth of information on all sorts of things from the garden to the budget and craft and cooking and canning lol..i could go on and dont forget soulemama too...link in side bar