The creative juices have been flowing

Wow so once again it has been a while between blog posts, good thing this is not my day job or I would have been fired by now.

To keep it nice and light I just want share with you what I have been up to lately, creatively speaking.

 

I used this tutorial by Sew Jereli to whip some warm flannette pj pants for Lil Guy. I also made fairy pjs for Lil Miss but I have not been able to snap a photo of her in them.

I have two beautiful nieces who both turned 1 this year. Me, the slacker you know, of course did not even send them a gift. After finally pulling my finger out I decide to sew sweet little dresses for them. On the left I used The Hattie Dress pattern by Brownie-Goose Designs, I loved the vintage feel of this design. On the right is The Emory Dress by Sew Sweet Patterns, I just love how this turned out, so flowy. The great thing about both dresses is they will be worn for years. Lil Miss, who is 4, was able to easily put both on and comfortable wear them as tops.

 This superdude I created for Lil Guy from the Dolls and Daydreams Superhero pattern.

Lil Miss has really loved playing Superheros lately so I took her to our local fabric store and she picked out this starry sparkly fabric so mummy could sew her a cape and mask. To create these I used the Johnny Superhero Cape pattern by Fuddie Duddies.

I have recently returned as admin of The Sewing Library Facebook group and participated in a pincushion swap. This was my entry created using The Polka Dot Apron's Thread Catcher tutorial. I love the thread catcher and will, eventually, be making one for my sewing table.

 

Now I have had this lovely lemon knit since last Winter. So once again in grand SLACKER style it only took me a year to finally get around to created what I had planned for it. Which was the beautiful Elise Shirt by Violette Field Threads. This was my first real go at sewing with a knit fabric and I was totally impressed with how it turned out. I will definitely be using this pattern to make some pretty summer tees for Lil Miss.

 

 

 

I so wish I had taken a before photo of this corkboard. It started out being painted brown and used at markets when I ran a handmade business. Then I decided to hand paint it orange and was totally disgusted with how it was turning out so left it half brown, half orange with paint all over the cork as well. Today, literally just tonight, I got around to refurbing it using white spray paint, fabric and tacks. It only hung in our kitchen for, say hmmm 6 months or more, in the horrifying state I mentioned earlier.

 



Weekly Meals with Printable

Recently I created a Weekly Meals printable to use, in the hopes it would help me be better prepared. Today I would like to share this printable with you and hope that it helps with your meal planning.

To display this printable I bought an inexpensive white frame and spray painted it. The nightly meals are written, on top of the frame's glass, in white liquid chalk. To attached the frame to our fridge I simply removed the frame arm and used 3M velcro strips.

To download this printable please right click and "Save Image As" to your computer. This printable was created to fit in an 8x10" frame.

Reflections of a 30 Year Old

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me! Yes that is right on Monday I turned 31 years old (was very spoilt too) and incredibly have a lot to reflect on in this past year that saw me enter my thirties. There were a lot of highs and lows, a lot of tears and a lot of laughs.

Should I start with the highs or the lows first? Let's begin with the low so that we end on a high.

The lowest point saw me become someone I did not recognise when I looked in the mirror. Normally I am a very easy going, in control person however this past year I was anything but this. I won't go to much into as you can read all about it here. In short I am not all that in control when it comes to being a mum to two young children and a wife to a husband that works away Monday to Friday.

Not only did this cause major issues with the sort of mother I was being, a cranky, fly of the handle type but it was detrimental to my marriage too. If I had not sought the help I did, in the way of medication, I can say with some certainty that my husband would have had great cause to leave me and take the children. But I did, I did get help and am slowly climbing back up and discovering part of my old self while forging new habits a long the way.

Another major blow during the year was losing my Aunty Marilyn, unexpectedly. She was my second mum growing up. She is the reason I love to be crafty and why I love to put so much effort into hosting kick arse parties. I don't do it to be pretentious; I do it because I LOVE IT. I love being unique and creative, it is as simple as that. Something I heard my mum say this past weekend as we celebrated Lil Guy's 1st birthday is "Aunty Marilyn will never be gone" and that is true I will carry on being creative and will try to pass on that to my children in her memory.

Aunty Marilyn and I had my Year 12 formal in 1998

Hubby also lost his uncle unexpectedly and this really hit home that with our years passing so are our parents. I didn't know when that child like fantasy that our parents are immortal would fade but given these two major losses to our family it has caused that fantasy to crumble. Already my father has had a close call with his heart and thankfully he is still here to see his grandchildren grow. I just wish my parents, all three of them, would stop and enjoy life a little more. They all work far too much.

So those were the lows, not too many but the few that occurred, they were major to us as a family and I am so thankful to be past them. We shall never forget those who have left us but we will mourn them happily and not dwell on why they were taken to early. As for my own mental anguish I will continue to fight through it and teach myself to be the mother and wife I long to be.

On to the highs, some are major and some are simply just trivial milestones that I am proud to have made;

One day after I had my 30th birthday we was thrilled to welcome our son into this world. I knew as soon as he arrived that our lil fam was complete. His birth wasn't as perfect as his sister's but it was not as traumatic as many others experience. Due to my own fault we spent most of the first 24 hours a part due to his low blood sugar. Short story, I had Gestational Diabetes with both pregnancies. First time I managed it like a pro but still had to have insulin. Second time I was more relaxed and fought to stay off the insulin which resulted in my poor baby being hooked up to an IV drip. As I said things could have been much worse and in hind sight I am so grateful that was our only mountain to conquered.

Image taken by Sara Rosetta Photography

Something most of you will not know and really until now have no reason to have known is that I had an irrational fear of driving. It was not until 2010 and moving to a quite coastal town that I got the nerve to even get behind the wheel for any period of time. Previously living in an overpopulated tourist city had me so petrified that even thinking of driving had me to the point of a panic attack. In February 2011, just 7 months shy of turning 30 I went for my driving test and PASSED first go! So that was one major but trivial milestone I achieved that I am exceptional pleased with myself for too.

Hubby quit the job he took to move us up here and has started a Mature Age Apprenticeship. Now yes it has put us into a bit of a spin financially considering he is the sole income earner and that income has now halved but we are managing. This apprenticeship will secure our future and allow us the freedom we have longed for, financially.

Seeing Lil Miss flourish into a bright intelligent child is also among the highs. She has really lost that toddler look and is now turning into a beautiful young girl who next year starts Kindergarten and then onto Prep at school, wow that spins me out. She and Lil Guy are truly the best thing to wake up every morning, even if it is a reluctant wake up and often before the sun has risen.

Image taken by myself for Alex&Grace Designs

Friendships, now I still haven't covered this with it's own post but let me just say close, long standing friendships are not something I can say I have. Don't get me wrong there are a few I call long term friends and miss them dearly now that we live so far a part but we are not as close as to call each other and chat for hours. I think technology has a lot to do with though as really we have no need to discuss what is happening in our lives when it is posted in the way of Facebook status updates and Instagram photos for all to see at their leisure. Back to where I was getting with this high, this past year I have really grown close to a few lovely ladies here where we live and I am so grateful to them even though they probably do not realise or even know why. Their friendship and support this past year means the world to me and I will be forever grateful no matter where our lives take up in the future.

So there is it my year as a 30 year old in short form and now to sit, quietly and reflect on how I want my 31st year to go.

Be sure to check back soon for a run down on Lil Guy's 1st birthday party and our hoard of visitors this past week. Here is a little sneak peak;

Wordy Wednesday

Now I am going against the grain here and forever claim today as Wordy Wednesday not Wordless Wednesday. 

Why? You ask. 

Well simply put I want to express how I am feeling this week with images I have found on the web and they contain words so hence why today can not remain as Wordless Wednesday.

Image found on Pinterest (of course), original source unknown (as usual).

Original Source Zen and Living Simply, blog post has been deleted.

Image found on Pinterest (of course), original source unknown (as usual).

The Circus Is In Town

This past Saturday I took Miss Hara to her first CQ Circus School lesson. She LOVED it and is busting to go back in a couple of weeks.

Today I thought I would share some of the photos I took on my iPhone. Please excuse the quality of the photos was very difficult getting good shots while the kids were constantly on the move.

Miss Hara was lucky enough to have two of her best friends, Miss N and Miss K there too.

 

 Miss Hara is a great little dancer but her co-ordination needs a bit of work before she starts dance classes next year. Circus School is perfect for that as it will help her with balancing and hand-eye co-ordination too.

 

This one is a bit of an action shot of Miss K using the hoolahop.

 Of course Lil Guy had a ball as well just walking, crawling and climbing all over the place.

This photo isn't the best but I just had to share as I love the face she is pulling.

My two kidlets getting up to no good.

All the girls loved having a turn on the aerial ropes. After they had a little climb, they got to sit in them and swing around before emerging as beautiful butterflies.

Miss N as a beautiful butterfly.

If anyone lives in Central Queensland, Jacinta holds classes in both Rockhampton and Yeppoon. You can find out more details by visiting her Facebook page, CQ Circus School.

I am linking up to

Organising The Chaos!

Since being on the mediation (see Caution: Emotional Pile Up In Progress) I am reconnecting with my inner Neat Freak.

One of my major hang ups at the height of my depression was the chaos around me. It caused me to have major anxiety issues and our home became a dumping ground. There was piles of crap everywhere. Whenever I got the urge to do something about it I would take one look around and be so overwhelmed I would slink back to the couch to procrastinate about it some more, hence never actually getting around to it.

Within a week of starting the anti depression meds I was on fire organising left, right and centre. I got quite a lot accomplished and it felt amazing, so liberating. Though it was short lived as once hubby was sent away for work again I allowed the house to crumble in a heap, myself along with it. I picked myself back up again and found The Organised Housewife's 20 Days to Organise and Clean Your Home Challenge. Some of what Katrina has in the pre challenge tasks I already have in place some what. Thanks to the timing of this challenge though I am working on make our routines more concrete and finally getting back to having this house run like a well oiled machine. Here some are photos of what I had done prior (sorry I neglected to take before photos) to the challenge beginning;

 

In our kitchen we have two large deep drawers, in the bottom one I keep all the baking trays etc. Before the meds (B.M) this draw was a disaster. 

Thanks to some nifty plate stackers from Kmart for all of about $5 each I was able to stack a lot of the trays and pans.

B.M. the plates and bowls would slide all over the place in the top draw. They slide no more with the use of a Kmart plate stacker for our plates and a Can Shelf for the kidlets bowls and plates. 

A nice tidy (aka OCD Neat Freak) oragnise pantry is the result of a Facebook Free Weekend (FFW). I am in love with our great is and I have done so much more baking since. I really should take recent photo as this was also taken prior to my Clean Eating : My Way.

Once again B.M. I had rushed out and bought whiteboards and corkboards but never got around to putting them up. They both need a nice coat of bright paint and it's on the TO DO LIST, I promise. This is such a handy little area to have in an other wise big wasted space next to the fridge and above the garage bin.

Keep watching for more posts on Clean Eating and of the 20 Day Organise and Clean Your Home Challenge by TOH!

I've been cooking!!!!

Not too long ago I stumbled across Wholesome Cook, via Itty Bitty Bites Brisbane, and I was blown away by the fact that Martyna had a fantastically awesome e-Cookbook, My Whole Food Philosophy, available free for a short period. I mean in this day and age there is not much that is free in this life and after being stiffed by a dodgy clean eating "diet plan", not so long ago, I was just amazed that Wholesome Cook was being so generous. You can now buy this e-Cookbook for only $6.99, here and if you use promo code: nomorejunk you will receive a whopping 30% off!

Back to the reason for my post, currently Martyna is running a Blogger Comp running where she is offering a $100 Amazon voucher up for grabs and all you have to do to enter is blog about cooking from her e-Cookbook. How could I not try to win such a great prize when I have been keen to cook one, actually all of, her recipes since I downloaded the book.

After flicking back and forth I decided to go with one of the more easier recipes and boy am I glad I did as I did not pick a fantastic night. Normally hubby and I work in sync with each other, one baths the kidlets while the other cooks (and normally washes the day's dishes).  Not last night, last night hubby was installing a new radiator in our car so it was up to me to bath and cook. Anyway I picked the Baked Spring Rolls and they were YUMMO!

I apologise now for the terrible photos, as mentioned before I was in a bit of a rush.

 Of course I took the more convenient route and went with store bought BBQ Chook. I have never cooked with Duck however I fully intend to give it a go soon though. With the BBQ Chook I decided to combine the Vegan option and add the Rainbow Salad mix. As was no surprise to me, hubby wasn't able to get Rainbow Salad mix at our local Woolsworth so it was the Fine Coleslaw mix, containing a bright mix of Cabbage and Carrot. Still a very tasty combo with a few added Coriander leaves.

To serve with the spring rolls I had store bought Sweet Chilli Sauce and homemade Honey-Lime Dipping Sauce from shape.com. The sauce was so simple to use and was very tasty.

TIP: When working with Spring Roll paper be sure to keep the paper sheets on a damp tea towel as not to dry them out. If they dry out, even a little, when it comes time to roll the spring rolls the paper will easily tear.

All in all I would recommend this recipe to anyone. My children (3.5 and 1 year old) scoffed them up with Lil Miss advising me that she would like them for her kindy lunch next week, awwww.

I really hope you check out Wholesome Cook. Martyna has so many other delicious looking recipes on her site that are not in the e-Cookbook, such as the most recent; Chilli and Beer Barbecue Pork Ribs which I know hubby will be itching for me to make.