Making Stuff And Losing Perspective

Spent the day making myself a dress (more from the $3 fabric bargain shop!) and I did kind of like it - it has darts and fiddly bits even! - until I tried to get pics this evening. Ug. Getting old is shocking. Had to get Geeky Husband to turn the flash off, and still struggled to get something bearable. I did think it would be quite a comfy summer slip on, but I totally lose perspective when I sew and then start to panic I look like a mad old lady. I dunno. Needs a wash the straighten out the wrinkles before I decide if it's okay. If only I could do that to my face too.

Oh Look, I Know, Two Posts In One Evening

. . . will I never shut up?

Excited though - this is what I did after I finished my blog post. Yay, Betty taught me to copy. . .

Captured

L8 was home sick, full of cold. I tried to capture him in pencil, and while it's not very him, it does look quite miserably cold-y I think.


P8 is captured in hair. This is what my own little mermaid looked like when I started to get her undressed for bath:
I also managed to get the sparky around to fix our lights and put up the new one to replace the hideous thing that has been in our bedroom since we moved in. Now I chose it because I liked the look of it - kind of industrial lotus flower. However the lady at the shop almost tried to talk me out of it, telling me it wouldn't give out much light. Yeah yeah, I said, it's a bedroom. I don't care.

Then the electrician saw it and warned me it wouldn't give out much light. Yeah yeah, I can see that thanks. Do it anyway.

He put it up. It's rocking.



Um, but it really doesn't give out much light.
Still, we're going for the bordello look. If you are gonna cavort around naked (okay I don't often do that, but if I were to, I'm guessing it'd be in the bedroom) then bad lighting is surely a pre-requisite?

We'll just call it that Dutch word for cosy that you need heaps of spit to pronounce, but I can't spell.

Just So

no-one can ever look at my blog and accuse me of prettying up my life in order to make them feel miserable and inadequate like Facebook does - look, here's the rat we found when we went to put the rubbish out this morning. He's got a wee snack of rat poison there to keep him happy now the rubbish bag has gone.

But he does also have a wee paper doll to play with, so you could in fact call that way too crafty and fabulous to be honest. . .

Lego Vs Barbie

This is what I found when I went into P5's room this evening. L8 explained it was lego vs. Barbie.

I don't think the pink one stands a chance.

Also this is really interesting. I was asked the other day if I was going to cave and join Facebook. I could be really staunch and say NO WAY, NEVER EVER, RATHER HACK MY OWN HEAD OFF WITH A RUSTY PENKNIFE, but that's just asking for trouble eh? But the article does reinforce my prejudice against it. Facebook makes you sad. And wastes your time. And makes grown women feel crushed by almost schoolyard slights. Nup. Not for me.

Nesting Baskets

Thanks to Sharonnz for the link to the pattern to make these. It was irresistible to me, and while I couldn't find burlap, I did find an end of line fabric sale which made these totally cheap, if not nasty. They look less wrinkly in real life, which is more than can be said of most people.


I will give them an iron right next after seeing those pics though. L8 has already put dibs on these for lego storage, so I'll need to start whipping up a batch for P5 too I think.

It's All About How You Look At It

Yesterday I finally did the perspective drawing in my drawing book that I have been putting off for about a month. Done. And then I read this bit, which was cool and interesting. Check out those two rectangles:

They are (I traced one and checked) exactly the same. It's all about how you look at it. That's what I'm trying to teach my son at the moment. And like most things in parenting, it's teaching me a lesson too.

So you could say, looking at these pics, that I'm a bad influence.

Or you could say that I'm letting her get it out of her system.

That's why although today was a spectacularly bad day really on a number of fronts. . . meh. It's a first world problem you are sitting in the dark because your light system is bung and the electrician never showed. And your car rust turned out to be spectacularly bad and cost double the quote. And your really good business sale fell apart.

Better stop because I'm trying to look on the bright side, but it is a leeeettle bit depressing. I'm sure there are some silver linings there though. If I can just look at it right.

Nice Pants

Bog Standard, And Not

I don't know why the phrase 'bog standard' is ever used. Today I discovered bogs are far from standard. I bought the wrong one, even though I had the whole S or P trap thing covered. Apparently there is more than one variable to be wary of in the loo world. Still, after a day of stress and a shopping trip with a helpful plumber, I have a new loo. Only it's not standard, so I need to repaint a bit. But my door opens now, so yay, that's an improvement. As well as the whole flushing thing. (Did I mention I had to buy a whole new toilet because the flush broke off and they couldn't find a replacement? No? Well, yeah. That.)

This boy is also pretty non-standard. But he's good at lego.

Not so good at sounding normal when I tell him he can talk on the video.

Um, sorry for giving you a picture of my toilet today. Perhaps not normal is a family trait?

A Couple Of Old Obsessions And A New One Too

Knitting: Finished my Nimbus. It needs blocking, but I'm a bit meh with it. The yarn looked lavender-hued in the shop, but looks decidedly grey now, even with the purpley button. Also I did a small size since I have no shoulder or boobage to speak of, but forgot I was giant lengthwise, so I should have added a few inches to the length of the body and arms. It's supposed to be cropped, but think it'd still be cropped on me with another 2 inches. Still, cute enough over a swingy dress?
Stripes: Thanks to Sandra for the Twisted Sister link. I now have stripy tights just like P5. V. happy as my last pair were biting the dust holes-wise.

Lana Del Rey: I've only just discovered her, but I seriously am in love with this song. She's almost definitely a new obsession coming on. . .

Cool Cats and Smart Cats Too

P5 made her Cool Cat Drink (AKA berry smoothie) after dinner.

She gave some to her bro

even though really it was made for Big Lambie.

And squee! Both got 100% in the school spell-a-thon.

Ah, The Perfect Day

for spring cleaning.

We might as well be gypsies - small girl cleans while Daddy is out the back getting some R&R with his geetar. I swear I took these two pics at the same time. Go the productive small child!

I also had a perfect play in the garden. I planted some dahlias and under my cat fortifications (yes, still having a horrid time with neighbourhood cats, grrrrrrrr) I discovered a veritable salad waiting for us. Not bad for a kinda ignored winter garden.

And of course pudding is a prerequisite for any perfect day. I made this up so it's not very picturesque, but it worked. P5 and I made good old Edmonds yoyos, crumbled them and topped it with berry coulis and shaved chocolate. Mmmm. Was good.

Went

to check out the newly opened Wynyard Quarter on a stunning winter day. Look! Our own beautiful harbour:

And cool playground: (Unfortunately everyone else in Auckland had the same idea so the playground was positively heaving in a way you don't usually suffer here in NZ.)
Still, we managed to find space:
or join in with everyone else in the city:
We have our own colourful pavements:
and our own bridge that splits in two to let boats through:
Now that
is a city highlight.

Writing

P5 brought home her first filled writing book. That's a big day. I love the first writing book. This is page one:

And now:

It's kinda out of focus, but in P5-spell it says Me and my brother went for a sleep over we slept in sleeping bags I really liked it the next day we got presents.

And well this page I just love for the pictures. Me in bed on my birthday (the curly iron bedhead is fabulous in the real picture) and a chicken saying pok.

Which is apparently inoweing when it wakes her up.

Speech

It's speech writing time for L8. Eeeek, I remember speech week as a time of gut-squelching horror. Happily, L8 seems unfazed.

His speech is about not killing fish. I'm not quite sure why since the topic is based on manaakitanga, but I'm not about to ask since he's finished writing it already. There are some sensible bits I promise, but lots of gems too. This bit is my favourite:

I have three mane ponts of why to stop killing fish.

1. Fish can be pets

2. We culdent have sonar without them.

3. Thay are living things so we shold treat them like that.

Over 100 000 fish get killed each year. Instead you could get fish for pets. Here are some resans to*

*fish make good pets because

1.They are inexpensive

2.you can buy more than one so they have a companuon.

Let's go back to my first reasun, fish can be pets. Fish are good pets because thay don't bite and thay arnt nosi.

Compassion, sure. Spelling not so much.

Encouraging the Glass-Half-Empty Child

Dinner conversation this evening went something like this:

Me: If you think you can do something, then in time it's almost always possible.

L8: [pauses for 1.7 seconds to think] What about not pooing? Actually I think there are far more impossible things than possible things in the world.

*sigh*

It's Official And Also Cold

The official 2011 school photos, that will plague my children throughout their growing years as they shrink in horror from their younger selves and many missing teeth, have arrived.

I like them though.

I also like this video of the unusual snow events we're having.

I'm Back

As you can imagine, Sydney looked a bit like this:

this:

and also this:

It's jolly cold being back home. But nice too.

G'Day, Fair Dinkum And Throw Another Shreemp On The Barbie. . .

This time maybe? After the ash cloud disappointment we are attempting to head off to Sydney for a girls' weekend again tomorrow. Hurrah!

Until then, I leave you with P5 rocking her new tights.

Why don't they make them like that for grown ups?

A Day In Which

L8 got a beesting on his neck. You can't really see it because the headmaster sprayed Stingose on it, and that worked really well.



And both L&P made chocolate and vanilla biscuits after school. Many original shapes emerged, but mostly it was about the fun of the process. The results look scarily like poo. Actually that was probably the intended result knowing my kids.

Yeurk.

So this is only funny if you've known me for ummmmm about 23 years. Hee.

If not, maybe you just got yourself some seriously sound home loan advice. Ahem.

P5 is

first aid

for my

soul.