TropicalSoup

New additions

 

 

 

 

It seems that once we started, we just couldn't stop doing things in twos. Like our newest Campbell babies, who arrived yesterday...tiny, furry, black boy-girl twin bundles of impossible cuteness. Meet Mahé and Cookie*...and one day I may be able to get a decent shot of either or both of them, but at the moment, staying still is waaaay overrated as far as these two are concerned. Much like the other kids Chez Campbell!

We excitedly made our way en famille to the SPCA yesterday, and had a gorgeous time visiting with all the little kittens there waiting for their forever homes. It was so hard not to bring everyone home...including the particularly laidback floppy eared bunny (named Stu!!!) but in the end Mahé and Cookie really made an impression - neither of these two are lacking in moxie or an adventurous spirit!

As I write this, they are tearing around like mad things, and seem right at home. And I'm taking down the Christmas tree, having rescued many ornaments from baby paws, and little kittens from the top of the tree. Several times. It's so gorgeous having kittens again, and we are all in love.

*Mahé was named after the island on which we lived in the Seychelles, and his sister Cookie got her moniker from the vernacular term to identify someone from the Cook Islands, in honour of our time in Rarotonga.

Merry Everything, Happy Always

Hope you've had/ are having/ are about to have, a day full of glee. And hula.

Love from the Campbell clan XXX

Hypothetically speaking...

...should one read something into it if one's son keeps taking photos of laundry in baskets? There seems to be a photo like this every time I upload the pics (Hey, it's clean - that's something, right?)

Nothing to say or show today - feeling a bit dragged-through-the-hedge-ish and glum and being completely unproductive as a result. I need to decide if I'm going to make the stuff I still need to make, or just say screw it and go fight crowds for a few gifts....

And for the record, I do miss our housekeeper...ridiculously affordable housekeeping was a definite advantage to living on little islands!

Secret Squirrel stuff

(random unrelated photos that I stumbled across from 2 years ago(!!!) when we were on holiday in Sydney. Does the baby fever no good at all!)

Trying to remind three year olds of something without letting the entire cat and her litter out of the bag is tricky. Saturday was a great example of this: we were at Bunnings (a big hardware-and-just-about-everything-else store) and the four of us were working out our plan of attack. I started trying to subtly remind Cole and Imogen that we needed to go down to the other end of the store to get something for Daddy's present, but they weren't picking up on the hints. Eventually, I said *come on guys, we need to go down the other end of the store to get that secret squirrel stuff we were talking about before when Daddy wasn't here.* *Woohoo* cries Cole, doing a happy dance *I'm so excited for Christmas! I've never had a squirrel before!!!*

Poor kid's going to be heartbroken come Friday morning.

Irrefutable proof...

...that little girls learn to harness the cunning gene sooner than little boys. (That's not to say boys don't learn how to maximise that gene, certainly I have met my fair share of bigger boys decidedly well endowed in the capacity for cunning, I am just convinced - based on my own little in-house guinea pigs - that the girls figure it out first!)

This was Immy's idea - get her brother to tow her and her collection of kitties around. And the kicker - she has Cole convinced that it's a special treat for him - see that proud grin? (You have to peer through all that hair...poor little dude has had a haircut since these pics...helps with being able to see!) Yep, we are going to need to watch our girl.

***plenty of crafting going on, mostly of the secret squirrel variety, but should be able to share some soon***

Crafty Christmas

There is much crafting going on around here at the moment - almost as much as there is thinking about crafting and gathering ideas and inspiration for crafting and and and....you get the idea! Much can't be shown here just yet because they are gifts for people who may or may not peruse this blog, more still are in various stages of development/ devolution...and several haven't even made it out of my noggin yet! time to embrace the chaos that is last minute. Oh yeah, and I have about 18 people here for Christmas dinner on the day...and I really want to make some napery to festive up the place, because you know, sleep and relaxing is soo overrated compared to having festive napkins! Go on, roll your eyes - I am! (It's not going to stop me though, lol)

And add to the mix this ridiculous pile of yarn that I have to try and get decent photos of to list on etsy...and I'd really like to add some BahaCoca hats in there as well...but the light in NZ is totally different to Seychelles and so all of a sudden I feel like I can't quite get what I'm aiming for. Of course, actually learning how to take better pictures and how to use the camera properly might be the ticket, but that somehow seems too easy...and besides, where's the fun in knowing what you're doing?

Run run as fast as you can...chomp!

 

Thanks for the love guys! Really, apart from resisting the job of unpacking all that bloody inventory (more a reflection of me being me than any emotional fluff!) all's great! You know, a bit of humble pie probably isn't such a bad thing every now and again (and maybe a valuable lesson in double checking the target market of fairs etc!). Besides, moving right along, people to bake, heads to bite off. You know, the usual!

We've been baking a few gingerbread men lately...and stars and hearts and other creations. (Note to self: need more cookie cutters!!!) I have quickly discovered that this recipe is entirely too delicious, which means that we keep running out of the ginger ninjas by the time they're cold, and no chance whatsoever for me to freeze a few each batch to stockpile for Christmas pressies for teachers and whatnot. Thankfully, the recipe is ridiculously easy - and not too heavy in taste, either...hence the mass munching! By the batch yesterday we had run out of brown sugar, and if you find yourself in the same predicament, I can assure you - after rigorous testing, quality control and oral inspection - that 2/3 cup of packed brown sugar and about 2TBSP golden syrup works as a great alternative to the 1 cup of sugar!

I love the difference in design aesthetics that my sous-chefs have...give a kid some icing and toppings and watch their personalities emerge!!!

crap

Ugh. Yesterday's market was a dismal bust. I must confess to considering not even mentioning the outcome here since my ego is still feeling a little bruised...markets have always gone really well for BahaCoca, and it was quite a shock to pack everything up at the end of yesterday having sold not one single thing. Really. Oh well, you win some you lose some, right? Turns out the market was about 80% 2ndhand goods - which is great and all, but clearly not the target market I'm looking for, and not going to result in great sales where everyone is looking for a 50c bargain. C'est la vie. Of course, I did get heaps of clothes fondling, compliments on the goods and the stall setup, so not all bad. oh, and what seems to be my staple at fairs and markets - many, many grannies staring intently at the hats and booties trying to figure out the pattern and how they were constructed...at least nobody asked me outright to just give them the pattern for free for once!

I have no photos of the day, since I forgot to take the camera, so you'll just have to take my word that using three vintage suitcases and a sundry collection of old wicker baskets works wonders for stall design as well as making things easier to haul to and from the car. Instead, here's this mornings harvest...happy to report these strawberries are now coursing through our digestive systems...and oh, the joy of eating strawberries so flavoursome that the juicy goodness drips down to your elbows! yum.

Advent

 

 

Well, it's a little past the 1st by now, but I did manage to get our advent calendar made and set up before December rolled around. Just. I saw a calendar somewhat similar to this one on a blog somewhere a few years ago (sorry, can't remember where or whom!) and since then have been itching to make one, but this is the first year that we are in the one place for the entire 24 days (and my love of Christmas simply doesn't extend to dragging 24 stockings around the world ...can you just imagine the state of the chocolate coins by Christmas Eve?) I just freehanded a stocking template, cut out the fabric, as well as a (guesstimated) length of linen for the cuff, and went at it. They turned out quite well, but if I were to make them again, there's definitely an easier way to construct them...in hindsight I am beginning to wonder if I was just going out of my way to make things complicated! Oh, the other change I'd make - I'd make them a little more bullet proof...being ransacked daily by a pair of three year olds with a serious lust for their daily chocolate coin can be hard on a wee stocking!!!

Since it became rapidly apparent that I wasn't going to have time to embroider the dates on each stocking, I just popped a label on the ribbon. My favourite part of this whole thing (besides the glee every morning!) are the numbers that Cole and Imogen wrote. Love love love that!!!

And I know this is getting to that rambling stage, but here's a wee funny from the munchkins: For the first 2 days of the advent stockings, they each received a little chocolate santa. Day 3 arrives and they scurry off to see what's in that day's stocking. *ahhh mama!* Imogen calls out out in exasperation, *there's no special treat in here, it's just some coins!* Oh the horror!!! I'm happy to report that once they were shown how to remove the foil cover, a chocolate coin each was actually quite a good deal!

(and what the calendar looks like now, midway through the ransacking!)

My creative space

...This week's creative space is brought to you by piles. Hopefully not of the needing-an-inflatable-cushion variety. I mean piles of BahaCoca stock for this Saturday's fair. Piles of labels, piles of clothing, piles of hats, piles of ironing and all that assorted preparation. Given that i am going solely with stock on hand, and not making a thing, you'd think I could have done this weeks ago and not left it to the last minute, right? Yeah well, clearly we've never met - last-minute-Lucy, that's me!

I'm a bit stuck on how much stock to take - I've never done a partday market before, so it will be interesting. It's also the first one since the munchkins were 6 months old, the first one that is specific (it's geared towards environmentally friendly children's products - Earthkind kids), as well as the first one where I'll be completely solo, so it should be interesting all round. And hopefully well worthwhile!

It's nice to be amongst it all these pieces I have slaved over to create though, and the time spent prepping gives me plenty of thinking space for how BahaCoca moves forward....

Plenty of people play along ...see more creative spaces over at Kootoyou.