TropicalSoup

Slowly slowly

I have finally finished all the quilting on both Cole and Imogen's quilts, and am just trying to finish up handstitching the binding. It's slow going, especially given how often we must lay down the needle and thread, scratch chins, purr, and nap.

If I give myself a timeout, does that mean I can't talk to me either?

Isn't this posy sweet? I was brought these two bunches of flowers today by my darling daughter, who carried them in to me separately, clutched in front of her proud beaming little face, entire root systems still attached and trailing a tiny pathway of soil through the house. (D took advantage of her skill in removing entire plants from the ground later and employed her to help with weeding). Makes my heart all a pitter patter. The mamahood bit, the weeding expertise is really just a side bonus.

~~~

(And FYI, I am also showing you this so you can some back and focus on the pretty later in this post, and breathe deeply until you are no longer emitting steam for various cranial cavities upon reading of my neglectful, shameful and generally deleterious approach to mail, the postal system, and the wantonly cavalier attitude towards what many would regard as very clear regulations surrounding subletting. There, I warned you.)

So I just had to send an email, which goes along the line of:

I just made a discovery of the most unfortunate and achingly embarrassing kind...in a bid to discover once and for all whether my sewing room has floor coverings (or possibly even a floor), I was doing some much needed post more-chaos-than-usual-which-is-usually-quite-chaotic-anyway cleaning, and there in the deep recesses of my desk, where one would rest their feet (should one have feet attached to 7 foot legs. The cavity is spacious  - I've lost entire family members under there, and am seriously considering subletting it) , I chanced upon a rather large, rather full canvas tote. Containing 7 parcels that I could have sworn I posted the last week of November. These included 4 Christmas gifts for people in locales most exotic and far-flung, one nephew's birthday present, and 2 packages of goodies for lovely women who had entered and won a certain giveaway. Oh crappity crap crap!!! Of course, S, in lieu of an address for your package, I merely had a post it note with your name and email address, so really, it's not like I was even properly organised in my disorganisation!

I'm so so sorry to have dropped the ball(s of wool) like that. I honestly wasn't trying to pull the wool over or anything (the puns won't stop! ack! help!) I'm just clearly a bit dim and what I thought I had done, I obviously hadn't. So, I'd like to apologise for being so vacant. Can I pretend I'm an artsy type and therefore blame this reckless oversight to my creative whims and artistic need to rebel against society's norms? (The societal norm to which I am referring in this case being of course, having to address packages and deliver them to the post office rather than have them shipped directly from beneath my sewing desk.)

And after that it devolved into shamelessly begging for forgiveness, sad puppy dog eyes, whipping myself with kitchen condiments and curling up in the foetal position to howl at the moon. You know, the usual.

And wth did I end up posting???? Though maybe that explains where my extra teatowels went to. Hmmm.

Ice skating, kitten food, socks and pudding. All on the quiet.

So...yesterday morning.

The first sign that things may be a tad out of control is when you are awakened by the smell of kitten food. (At this point it is only fair to disclose that D and my bedroom is almost the length of the house from the kitchen.)

So, you carefully, nervously make your way to the kitchen, only to be intercepted at the last turn by 2 small particularly rascally looking munchkins, whose intention it plainly is to keep you from seeing the kitchen. At this point you notice they are wearing socks with their summer pjs. And your son has no pants on at all (actually that bit about no pants doesn't even register until much later...it's pretty common around here.) The smell is now unbelievably strong.

You ask small munchkins what they have been doing. *Ice skating!* they respond with glee. Is there such a thing as too much glee, when discussing ice skating? Inside. In summer. Officially nervous now. Then you remember the socks...Cole and Imogen discovered in Spring that socks on tile floors make for slippery times - or ice-skating, as they refer to it. You think maybe it's not so bad after all. You should know better.

You diplomatically skirt the 3 year old barricade and round the corner to the kitchen. Ahem. There is somewhere in the vicinity of 2kgs (4.4#) of dry kitten food spread over the kitchen floor. That would explain the smell. There are also a pair of gumboots and the ugliest shoes ever (red croc wannabes with car decals - I blame the father for them). It later transpired that Cole and Imogen were giving the kittens some food when some spilled on the floor. They discovered that walking on it was quite slippery and decided to spread some more to try *ice skating*. Except that the nibbles were also a bit greasy on their feet so they grabbed the shoes, only to discover that they were too heavy and crushed the food. The socks were a great idea. Apparently.

At this point (practising deep breathing and studiously avoiding catching each other's eye lest we get the giggles and it's all over, but also not blow any tops), Cole adds *and we're having pudding...and you didn't see!!* And you know, he was right - further around behind the kitchen island there are my 2 beloved Denby salad bowls (huge things we've had since our wedding), a teaspoon in each, and pudding. In this instance, pudding is half a litre of pouring custard (anyone else crave that around Christmas or is it just me?) in each bowl, as well as half a (gigantic) tub of sprinkles. TG they couldn't figure out how to open the ice cream (and I'm sorry for cursing you TipTop when you came out with the new style lid that's a bugger to get open). And except for the icecream - which was full and had been left on the floor - the custard and sprinkles containers had both been carefully put back in their respective places in the fridge and pantry. Empty. And they did this all so damned quietly - we thought they were both still safely in the land of Nod!

So in conclusion, yay to the kids for looking after Cookie and Mahé as responsible pet carers, not so yay for destroying the kitchen in the process. 

On the up side, nothing was broken (bar a few nibbles), Cole and Imogen were great at helping clean up (well, insofar as *3 year old* and *clean up* are able to coexist) and I was so truly proud of the calm way D handled it (he was the first wave of parental assault on the ice rink and early morning diner) and you know, we have had a bit of practice from the milk-and-leather-ottoman incident a few days before. (Helpful tip: *Nice to see you daddy - don't go in the lounge!* is always a red flag!

Three is super fun, but I'm beginning to seriously fear for the survival of my furniture....the kids I'm not too worried about, those two critters are way smarter than they need to be! And in this family we seem to be having many discussions about *thinking it through* these days...anyone care to lay bets on what progress we're making?

(god, my kitchen looks so bland at floor level, maybe I should look at a permanent sprinkle installation to give it a bit of colour...)

More Gawjus

I have finally managed to get a sizeable update of stock into Gawjus - my wee store on Etsy (the above is just a sample of some of my faves!) I really need to learn how to use Photoshop properly. And not to start things like this at bedtime. oops.

I had intended to share a story with you about Cole and Imogen and their craftiness (of the non-sewing variety) as discovered this morning, but it will have to wait until tomorrow, since it it now 1.30am, and I need to make sure I am up before them...you'll find out why soon!

The post-festivities lull

Sorry I've been MIA around here...we've had visitors and people staying and lazy days in the sun and walks in the forest and playing with kittens and hanging out as a family and all the general chaos that comes with that little pocket of post-Christmas time in the Summer. And a migraine from the 7th circle of hell. Which hasn't left yet.

Rest assured though, that whilst this blog has been neglected, there's no danger of that happening to these two little treasures - Mahé and Cookie are well and truly ensconced as part of the family, and are doted on (by all of us) to ridiculous levels. And they seem to like it just fine...in 10 days, we've yet to receive a scratch or bite, no small feat given that there are a couple of three year olds in the house, and much carrying and handling and fondling. Cole and Immy are pretty gentle, but still, they're three, and Imogen in particular has taken it upon herself to carry the kittens around as much as possible....you know, to save them from wearing out their legs or something! Thankfully, our little fluffballs don't seem to mind being toted around...phew.