TropicalSoup

Crash is 50! (or 12 1/2, depending)

Happy pretend Birthday this non-leap year, D! Glad your physical went well...those are tough medicos!

I love D's expression as the diagnosis is handed out...I think it was something like no coffee for three days!

Inspiration

This little you tube clip has been around for a while, but it never fails to inspire, to make me smile, sing along, and practise drawing!

I hope...

...that Cole and Imogen never grow out of finding the wonder and glee and fun potential in every moment, even in the ones where you have to look a little harder past the everydayness to find them.

...I have a feeling that our gorgeous youngest will never grow out of this look (I foresee an awful lot of this face in my direction, actually!)...

...but I'm hoping with time she moves past her love of plumber's crack. Fingers crossed.

My creative space...

I'm playing along with Kootoyou's creative space this week.

Today's creative space is part reflection, part public service announcement. We made playdough today - bright orange. With purple glitter. I can't remember where I first found this particular recipe (probably in an ancient Treasures mag from when my niece was itty bitty), but it's a keeper, and makes great dough in a jiffy, that lasts a good long time.

The recipe is as follows:

1 cup water

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2tsp cream of tartar

food colouring

Mix it all together over a low heat until it thickens to the point of being very difficult to stir. remove from the pot, let it cool slightly, knead for a few minutes, and voila - time to sit back and enjoy the adoration heaped on you by your playdough-loving youngsters!

(If you want to add glitter and whatnot, do so at the kneading stage because glitter can melt. Trust me on this.)

A snail!

The public service announcement part? Well, if you run out of regular salt (or only have enough for half of what you need), rock salt works just fine as an alternative. But, you may like to grind it first, or you'll get little granular bits all through your playdough - you can see all the granulary, textural goodness in the photos.

(Kirsty hosts *my creative space* every week. To see other creative spaces, or join the fun, head over here.)

A really hairy frog with a booger

That's the title l'artiste gave this piece when she enthusiastically finished it last week. I love it!!! And I'm planning on embroidering it onto a cushion for D as one of his birthday gifts - it will work well on the couch in the music room/spare room (the *magic couch* is a sofabed...hard to fit a full bed in with a drumkit!) and give D something to grin at whilst banging away. I'm thinking I'll just reproduce the main frog in the picture, though the little one-legged dude is pretty cute too...maybe he needs to make an appearance somewhere...The big question though - do I add the booger (the purple booger is coming out of the frog's red nose. Not sure what the brown thing is...hairy mole?) or eradicate all nasal mucus from the embroidery?

(I can't decide if I'm delighted or concerned that embroidering snot is an issue in my life!)

In praise of dirty faces

I've been feeling quite sentimental about time today, about its tendency to race by rather like a freight train, and I'm conscious of all these extraordinary little moments that get lost in the everydayness of my life. And how Cole and Imogen insist on growing and changing constantly - I love each new change, but I'm not ready to farewell each thing the new replaces.

I've been feeling the pull to pay extra attention to every little moment that brings me joy, even those joys I tend to overlook. Like watching my kids eat. There's something so joyful about watching young children eat something they love, something made with love for them (and often with their help). There's no neat and tidy pecking...it's a free-for-all, where every available tool (cutlery, fingers, intense suction) is used to help you enjoy the moment. To savour the flavour. Kids just really get the concept of enjoying the moment, and it's a lesson I am going to keep trying harder to learn. I love that I don't have a photo of Immy eating with her eyes open...because she always closes her eyes to relish each moment. (And you know she really loves it when she sighs as well!)

And an extra cause for mama-happiness - watching my boy load spoonful after forkful of (identifiable!) vegetables into his mouth, telling me all the while how delicious it is! He just decided one day last month that he likes fruit and vegetables again, and after 18 months of having to be a master of deception, it's great to be able to be open with the veggie love once more. Of course, having the ultimate veggie lover/fruitfly  for a sister probably helped the process a little too!

Grrr

Funny how things have a way of packing up on you when you're working to a not-too-distant deadline. I have spent the morning working on D's birthday* present - after finally making a decision about it last night - only to come to a very rude halt a little while ago when Queenie the sewing machine just had a fit. I think something's become stuck in behind where the feed dogs are connected to the rest of the under carriage thingummy (oooh, impressed by my astounding grasp of technical jargon?) because although they keep going up and down as they should through the cycle of a stitch, there's no back and forth motion that feeds the fabric through. And no amount of cleaning it out or playing Macgyver has helped. So now I'm off to the Bernina centre with my fingers crossed that it's something so ridiculously easy they can do it on the spot. Because otherwise the mechanic isn't there until Thursday. And then the deadline is starting to get ridiculous. Eek.

*D is a leap year baby, so we'll be celebrating his *pretend* birthday on Sunday. It's a significant one though, of the half-century flavour. My old old man! ;)

Spiderweb boy

When Cole and Imogen had the opportunity to have their faces painted, there was no holding them back. And no hesitation, either, for Immy in what she wanted to be: a pink pussycat. Naturally.

Cole wasn't quite sure what he wanted, though when the artist suggested Spiderman, it sounded appealing. (We have a lot of dealings with spiders,  the kids and I, and it's been fascinating seeing the different types around here. Spiders generally don't bother me, and that is even less so after a few years in places where you can find ones that rival a dinner plate! I'm so thrilled that the kids aren't squeamish with bugs and insects. Of course, mice and rats were a huge drama overseas too, and I'm definitely not so comfortable with them!)

My favourite bit about the facepaint though - Coley has no idea who Spiderman is, but raced around telling everyone delightedly Look at me, I'm a spiderweb boy!

Here small child, have a bullseye for your head...

It just occurred to me when I was taking this photo that these looked rather more like felt bullseyes than they do froufrou hair clippies. Maybe I shan't pass that tidbit on to the recipients....

I made one of these wee clips for Immy to wear to a party on Saturday since her outfit needed a little something (beyond the 3-year-old twinkle, pink painted kitty face and sparkly toenails!), and - whilst I was at it - one to prettify the wrapping of the birthday girl's present, and got a ridiculous amount of compliments on it. (which is always nice) And then after the mum of one of the little girls at montessori asked if she could buy some off me, I thought I should make some more. (These are all getting given away as gifts, bar a couple for Imogen).

I thought I'd post them here in case anyone's looking for a quick, mindless hairclip solution...just a few wonky circles of felt, a button on top, stitched all the way through with embroidery floss, and attached to a clip. Done. A bit of cuteness without too much fluff and not large enough to elicit any of the danger of that orbital planet thing that happens sometimes when ribbons take up more space than head. 

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Thanks for your love and concern the past few days- I'm on the mend! Turns out the bug was actually just my blood pressure having an apoplectic fit (picture it as a toddler in full tantrum mode), so now we've got that just about sorted and I'm starting to feel decidedly human again. Hooray.

Ugh

I seem to have some weird bug at the moment, upset stomach, bone-deep tiredness and the constant not-quit-a-migraine-but-making-a-good-effort headache. (Just reread that list of symptoms and nope, not pregnant!) So I'm around, just not very productively. Gawd I hope I shake this soon, it's all getting very frustrating, or at least it would, if I could summon sufficient energy to be frustrated! And I have a whole slew of half finished things to show you, too! Meanwhile, enjoy this pic of how my little assistants help out on the tired front...sheer dedication to the cause, that!