chaos

this was inspired by this ad for a contest at designer digitals. it says it all really.

wedding dress

When i was 7, there was an enormous fancy dress party in the local town hall. It was practically compulsory to turn up in your best fancy dress gear. there were none of these new fangled pre-made costumes and certainly no hire place nearby. So it was up to mothers to do their best to outshine everyone else's little darlings.

Mum, it has to be said, sacrificed all for me. Out came her (fairly expensive, big city purchased) wedding dress. It had beads and tulle and crystals, lace and all the trimmings, it was a beautiful piece. She must of had some inkling I wouldn't come close to fitting in to it when it was my turn to be married (correct) so I got to wear it at a much earlier age.

Off came the excess netting around the bottom and a few pins (not too many though - she was very slim when she got married), on with the veil and first prize for me in the under 8 section (some sort of build a bug game if I remember correctly). I remember walking around the shire hall in a huge circle with a heap if fairy's, cowgirls, clowns, and of course princesses. There was one other bride so there was some confusion when the prize was read out, but I triumphed - hooray.

off training wheels at last

Waiting for the wheels to come off

last minute instructions on braking (still has no idea, but likes to go fast so who needs brakes anyway?)

Too easy!



Henry lost all confidence on his bike over summer. We attempted to take his training wheels off then but it all went wrong (too many stacks) and that was IT!! No More Riding!

Geoff, clever man that he is, took Henry out to the bike tracks at Stromlo Park. Nice wide open track, don't have to worry about running off the track or crashing into people or any other worries that can occur on the bike paths around home. Matt took his bike last weekend and they spent a lot of time just getting used to riding again (with training wheels still on, but quite high up).

With the help of a little bribery (lego of course), We went out to Stromlo again yesterday - perfect weather, and Henry did one lap with trainers on, then Geoff took the trainers off, and with one push, Hen was off. He did half a lap, and then decided he would quite like to run for a while - so he and Meaghan headed off at a jog around Deeks track. Geoff and I followed at a more leisurely pace...

After a couple of kms, he was back on his bike and did a couple more laps and declared himself , very loudly, as THE EXPERT.

For some unknown reason, he nearly fell asleep in the bath later that night.

happy birthday emma

(the leaves aren't covering anything up, just there for balance - I promise)


My very cute niece turned 2 on monday, a very good excuse to get the sewing machine out to make these. The owl is a pattern from Melly and me and the little cat (very easy) is from the first softies book.

excited

I have finally got my scanner.

I suspect Geoff just got sick of me (and the kids) making 'it will never happen' remarks constantly.

now I just have to figure out how to get the results I want
(so many setting options).

here is my first page from a scanned image, more to come (from cute baby me to the horror that was the 80's - all good fun)

happy mothers day

I finished this bag last night and I have to say I am very pleased with the result. It is a bit bigger than I thought but still ok. It has a nice little pocket inside for my phone (always a problem finding that in previous bags, and is big enough to carry a camera, drink and purse. The straps are long enough to comfortably sling it over the shoulder as well. The pattern is a pleated beauty bag from Bend the rules sewing book by amy carol whose blog I am slightly addicted to.

Hope you all have a happy mothers day, I went with Geoff to pick out my present today as it was a largish present that I have been waiting for , for as long as I can remember. More on this on Monday. (plus the present I have made for my niece that has yet to be sent, too cute ).

happy May

My new desk top - from the shabby princess blog

this is for a colour inspiration piece at digital designers.very pleased with it.
(you can check out my gallery at their site here)

Busy day with Geoff starting his new job in Woden, as well as getting two more reluctant kids out the door. they both had yesterday off - Meaghan had swine shoulder and Matt had swine stomach. Geoff was also home yesterday with his one whole day off (minus a couple of hours to drop off laptop etc) between contracts.

as both older kids were feeling sorry for themselves I dropped Geoff off at his new place then on to the other schools, not too bad this morning and there is a great feeling of satisfaction knowing I would have an empty house for the day.

As usual I didn't achieve much, but printed off some stuff for mum for mother's day and then shopped and had a rare lunch with my husband - very grown up, as well as catching up with the lovely April who I haven't seen for an age.

Swimming for henry this afternoon as well as a meeting to decide Meaghan's year 8 electives for next year - I'm only just used to her being in year 7, this is way too much planning in advance for me! (eep - just found out that was last night, best make some phone calls!)

perfect day

I love canberra in autumn (when the sun is out and the wind has gone anyway). I took these photos on my bike ride around the lake today. Can thoroughly recommend circling the lake, walking or riding.