TropicalSoup

Gainfully employed...

So, I have a new job, and after an entire week of it so far, have to say I am loving it! It's a homebased, work-the-amount-that-suits-you, computerbased gig that's just up my alley. Oh, and actually legitimate!

I'm now an internet researcher - and get to answer questions like *will I end up with Brett or Eddie?*, the quickest way home from Tesco's and the plot to Midsummer Night's Dream. Of course, there's plenty of requests about sex and bodily functions, and my inner 11 year old is just fine with that. Add all that to my natural tendency to hoard odd and otherwise irrelevant trivia, and it's all plenty of fun. And they pay me!!! woot!!!

It's handy being able to work from home as I can fit it in when the kids are at Montessori or asleep, and I can taper it off a little when we are no longer paying two mortgages (sell Wellington, sell!!!!) With the time difference, during the day I get all the fun questions from people sending them in the middle of the night, often 3 sheets to the wind. The only downside so far - it's slightly addictive, so I tend to spend all my computer time working rather than perusing beautiful things. That, and my damaged finger aches from being held off the keyboard. It could be worse.

(oh, and the blue whale? He's the owner of the world's largest penis, at 10 feet. See, inner 11 year old and all...)

My creative space

This weekend's Creative Space is brought to you by a quilt, a ruler, a rotary cutter and many bandages. Last night I finished quilting D's birthday quilt (finally!) and started trimming the edges. I was so busy making sure the ruler was straight and even I forgot to check all my fingers were out of the rotary cutter's way. They weren't, and I sliced off a little of the tip of my right index finger. And all manner of bad words flowed. And a fair dollop of blood too. Hurts like stink.

Thankfully, it's the top of the tip (under the end of your nail...I sliced that off too) rather than the pad, but man oh man. It's about the size and shape of an Eclipse mint. Sorry, I've just gone and given you all a great visual now, haven't I? oops.

Apparently it should grow back, and I'll get it checked out by the doctor tomorrow to be sure. Meanwhile, D has had great fun coming up with as many *finger* and *tip* jokes as he can. I went to bed last night with my bandaged finger wrapped in a teatowel and shoved in a sock to try and keep it from getting banged about...D affectionately referred to me as the club foot Yeti. I've warned him the rotary cutter is still around...lol.

Six

Atticus Thornton Hugh. My beautiful wee boy with copper hair. Our firstborn. Today would have been your 6th birthday. How can it be only 6 years? It's hard to formulate the memory of a time when you weren't part of my reality, a part of our family. I miss you horribly still. I know I always will. But I also know that my life is slowly growing bigger around the black ache of losing you, and I know I am incredibly lucky to have had you for as long as we did. 

And you know, there's this amazing gift you have given us that goes beyond the short time we had together in reality. You have two amazing young siblings who talk about you all the time, and are constantly trying to wrap their wee minds around the concept of having a brother but not having a brother here, something that is tricky enough for your mother to grapple with, never mind a three year old. And they adore you, they really do. I love the conversations we have about you, and how you have been accepted so naturally into our wee family by these 2 little people most closely related to you, yet who have never met you. I love that Imogen told me she and Cole are extra special because they have a cloud angel brother who looks after them and not everyone is lucky enough to get one of those. And the way they have figured out that we each talk to you in our hearts since you can't hear us from all the way up there in the clouds (that's your little brother!) And the way they talk about you to anyone who will listen as if having a sibling who has died was the most normal thing in the world. And I guess for them, it is.

Tonight we had a wee celebration in your honour - mud chocolate cupcakes and pebbles, with plenty of candle lighting and blowing out. We love you baby Atticus. I ache for you every day, but I know you are safe and well and loved. Very very loved.

Nope, Not Suspicious At All, Not Even A Little Bit...

(pic from June 2009)

Cole just walked past me. "Mama," he says, with his best you-couldn't-possibly-resist-this-face, "I'm just going to the kitchen. But I am not going to go in the pantry and stand on the step and help myself to some food." Cue mouthful of pearly whites. And sister calling out from kitchen: "Coley, are you coming? I'm hungry for crackers!"

Then much giggling.

Nope, not at all suspicious. lol. Have I mentioned how much I love this age?

Things that make you go hmmm....

I've had a few cheeky requests in my time, and I'm always slightly gobsmacked when someone at a fair is admiring a handknit and shares that they can also knit, so could I just give them my pattern to knit up instead of them buying from me. And it happens. A lot. Or, you get people who come and inspect the hats soooo very closely for 10 full minutes, and you know they're counting stitches and rows (because you can see their lips moving!)...

But this...this one takes the cake...and most of the bakery!

A lady I know from in Wellington - we weren't close friends but were both members of a textile guild and knew each other enough to say hi and how are you and the kids sort of thing - just contacted me. (it's the first time I've heard from her in over 3 years). She knows about BahaCoca, and is planning on starting her own knitwear business, mostly selling at the craft fairs around the Wellington region. Good on her. Except...the reason she rang me? She remembers my hats and said how she thought they had such a nice shape, so could I just email her my patterns to use for her hats? To sell. Under her name. As her creations. The patterns I devised and wrote from scratch and road-tested until perfect. Oh, and for free. You know, as a friend. Umm sure...actually, how about I knit them up and sell them for you and just give you the money?

It's so bizarre I'm not even sure what to think...Such a rude, bizarre, disrespectful and perversely complimentary thing to be asked. Though I am starting to give more serious thought to maybe moving into selling my patterns...

Bottom monsters

Sometimes, Mondays can be hard. The week ahead stretches dull and grey and endless, devoid of brightness, colour or humour. 

Sometimes, you may want to turn your back on Monday...

...and give it the bum's rush.

(The bottom monsters were made about 18 months ago, with fabric and felt chosen by Cole and Imogen. And almost too much help from them both on the sewing and stuffing parts...bean bag beans are evil runaway beasties. But, they do give the bottom monsters a particularly pleasing texture!)

Pater familia

Imogen likes to start the weekend off right...by making sure Daddy is comfortable and has everything he needs..

The worm has turned...

...actually it's the weather that has turned, but for reasons known only to my grey matter, I keep thinking of the above phrase. I know we moved back to NZ in winter last year, but that was such a dramatic change (Friday: hot sticky sunshine at the beach in Seychelles, Sunday: bleeding freezing back in Aotearoa, interspersed only by 30 hours of aeroplane AC) that it almost feels like this is our first taste of cold weather. Or maybe 3 years of tropical sunshine has just rotted my memory-retention. Entirely likely!

And whilst there's a definite chill in the air now, I admit to quite looking forward to watching and enjoying the changes...I've missed having definite seasons, and the kids are really looking forward to leaves turning colour and falling. Of course, they're also utterly convinced that we're going to be snowed in this Winter, and I'm trying not to break their hearts with the news that Rotorua doesn't usually get snow...instead I'm trying to distract them with the ski fields and snowy abundance a mere 2 hours' drive from here. I think we'll definitely need to take a couple of day trips down to Whakapapa later on.

And with the weather, comes the renewed need for knitwear...Cole wanted a skateboarding hat (I love that kid...he can't abbreviate to save himself...he rides his bicycle all day long, never his bike!lol) and I obliged with an old pattern I wrote ages ago for a hat for D, which seems to fit the bill. I just adjusted the stitch count and length to fit Cole's (slightly) smaller noggin. Thankfully he likes it! I was also mucking around with a cowl pattern, but Cole was insistent it should be a hat circa ski bunnies 1986. Completely unimpressed that there was nothing pink and sparkly straight of the needles (she got a new hat last week!), Immy volunteered to model the hat and cowl...little stinker!

Ahh, it's nice to have the needles out again (even if I do sound like a nana when I say that!)...and given that in the car this morning requests were made for all manner of knitterly goodness, I daresay they'll be busy this Winter!

(And can I just savour the moment where my children are utterly convinced I can make anything out of anything and do so in 3 hours or less...tell me this lasts?!?)

Smoke and mirrors

I've been working on a couple of secret squirrel things lately, which is why the blog's been somewhat lacking in the crafty pictures. I'm hoping to share them soon, just feeling a little gunshy about posting them before time.

Of course, the other reason for not posting pics of what I've been up to is because 97% of it is still in my head! It's annoying to be so consumed with crafty thoughts all the time, and yet get to the end of the day and see you have very little tangible work to show for it! Need to work on rectifying that!

Do you find your designs and work gets stuck in your cranium too?

How do you manage to force it out into reality?

Attention Universe...

...mama's still in the market for a job. Or failing that, a paycheck would suffice! :)