The last day of twenty eleven

Wow, it's New Years Eve 2011. How did that happen?
What happened to February? What happened to September?

Bubba's 1st bday

I'd like to say that my 2011 completely sucked, but I can't because amongst all the bad things that happened, my lil boy was there. Bubba grew from being a newborn to a baby and is now sitting in the bath looking at me and I'm looking at a toddler. Wow, my lil baby is growing!

January saw us a brand new parents, we learnt how to burp babies, how to breastfeed, how to quickly change nappies so there was no fire hydrant (!!), we learnt that he loves the pram and loves to be cuddled whilst Dadda sits on the fit ball & bounces.  We learnt that baby vomit goes everywhere & poo explosions really do happen.
We learnt what it was that makes a family, we learnt that love is universal when it comes to babies. We learnt that having babies is NOT selfish & they bring joy other people whether it is our 70yo Greek neighbour or the 15yo checkout chick at the supermarket - the joy is widespread!

May saw us deciding to move, the 2 bedroom flat that we had rented for 12yrs was now too small. So, we thought, where should we move too?  I didn't care if we moved to the next suburb or to the other end of the Australia.  Hubby came across a great job in Hobart, he applied for it, interviewed for it & then we all visited Hobart to see if we liked it. We did. Well, it kind of helped that when we were trying to decide to move there, we were sitting at the waters edge in a town called Margate and a group of dolphins swam past - yep, we thought, we'll move down here.

So then we packed everything up & moved across to a short-term rental until we found a proper place to live.
BUT... that is when the s@#t hit the fan.... All of a sudden bad things started to happen, all coinciding with the move to Hobart. We thought we must have triggered it all. We are bad luck. But then it turned out, our move to Hobart actually helped people that were really down on their luck, we could offer them a bed to sleep in, hot food in their stomach, a person to chat too and of course, a gorgeous little boy to cheer them up.
What happened?
In a nutshell... out of the blue, I rang my mum & ask her how she is, she tells me she has turned yellow. Huh. Turns out that doctors think she has cancer. On other side of the family, my hubby's sister in law has fallen really ill.  She keeps going in & out of hospital.  Then my mum ends up in hospital for tests, they want to confirm if it is cancer. The day we were to drive up to Launceston (3hr drive each way) to find out the test results, hubby's brother is waiting in the Hobart hospital, ICU waiting room as his partner has just been admitted to the ICU.
So we have to leave hubby's brother, sitting there all alone in the ICU waiting room to find out more about his partner.  We've never felt more terrible in our life, leaving him sitting there, but we couldn't stay, mum was finding out today if she had cancer, we had to drive the 3hrs to go see her.  I'll never forget the look on hubby's brother's face, as he was sitting there, it breaks my heart to think that we had to leave him there.
Turns out my mum had cancer. Pancreatic cancer & was told she had about a year to live.
Tears. Lots of tears. Thank goodness for bubba, he got me thru that bit.
We then had to drive back to Hobart & could then sit with brother in law & occasionally visit his partner.
Mum then had to be sent to Hobart for more tests. But..
They stuffed the test up, they cut a hole in mum's esophagus, she was put in ICU too. Yep, 2 reli's in the same ICU.  
So then we end up with 2 extra people staying at our house, my brother in law & my mum's partner. It was a full house, lots of stress but bubba kept us all going.

BUT there is good news ... mum decided to have major surgery to remove tumor... turns out that the tumor was so big that it was mimicking cancer!  So yay!! No cancer for mum!  
And my sister in law? Well, she's better too!  She's at home now, walking around & even has the strength to hold bubba too! Amazing!

And not to mention that we were also looking for a house to buy, which meant we had to investigate the suburbs as we were completely new to the area, arrange to view houses etc etc.
We eventually purchased our house, we moved in over the first two weeks of December, then it was bubba's 1st birthday on the 15th December and then it was arranging & baking Xmas presents, then it was Xmas and now it is the New Year. Phew, maybe we'll get to unpack some boxes now!!  Except for the fact that I had really bad hayfever that has turned into the flu, so now I'm just sitting around feeling sorry for myself!!

So what was a crappy year, turned out good in the end!
I have great plans for next year, I'm going to destash my entire craft supplies, I'm going to try to read/use every book that we own & of course, I'm going to blog all about it too!!

How was your year?  

Bubba 'helping' to unpack!

Merry Christmas to you

Merry Christmas to you & your family.

I can't believe a year has passed and Bubba is now one years old, gosh time flies.

This is the photo of Bubba taken at Myer, yes he cried at first
but was easily distracted with Santa's bell.

And yes, there was a normal 'stare at the camera photo' but I chose this, I love how he's trying to 'whack' Santa with his own bell!

Amongst the unpacking, I'm busy making Rocky Road & Seedy Mustard for Xmas gifts - not doing the buy gift thing this year, there are only so many 'useless' gifts that you can buy people!

And I'm thinking ahead to next year, wow 2012, sounds like a year that we'll get invaded by aliens (but I hope not!).

I have lots of things in mind for next year, good things, busy things, fun things!

Until we chat again, have an awesome Christmas break, eat lots of fun food, be merry & be safe on the roads.

Love Rie.

At the moment...

Life is a way too cluttered at the moment for me, for us.  Having just moved house, we have boxes everywhere, but what is worst, we have half open boxes everywhere as we try to find things such as.. where is the picnic rug, where are the screws to put the bed back together, have you seen the sunscreen, where is the alarm clock and do you remember which box the remote control went in...  All those sorts of things.
The kitchen is a disaster but I can find just enough space to cook & bake.  I've managed to bake Bubba a Carrot Cake for his birthday; a real one for the grown ups & the same mixture minus the nuts, icing, eggs, dairy & soy for Bubba & his best buddy - as his best buddy is allergic to eggs, dairy & soy.  BUT what surprised me, is that the recipe still worked minus the eggs... weird huh!  ... so 'why do we use eggs in the cake' was the question during the weekend! 


The kitchen is 'finding' itself, I'm trying to 'listen' to what the kitchen is doing.. it seems that the oils & condiments are finding a home to the left of the stove & the foil, baking paper, plastic bags etc are finding a home on the right of the stove.  Hubby, of course, thinks I'm mad & should just put stuff away and sort it out later, but this is my mad method & it seems to be working!

We also handed back the keys to the rental property on Saturday too.. no more renting! Yay!  I did go for one last walk down the backyard & found the Cherry Plum tree was ripe with fruit, so I picked a small bag ful to make into jam... I could have picked bags full of them, but hey, I just moved, I have only 1 empty jar and no kitchen space!!

In crafty news.. not much is happening here!  I'm still trying to finish Bubba's Xmas stocking, but I'm not going to stress if I don't get it finished, he's only 1 & he's not going to notice if he doesn't have a Xmas stocking or not!  BUT will all the moving, I am completely embarrassed by how much crafty stuff I have.. I have way too much! In fact, I think that next year, I will try, yes try, to finish off as many projects as possible! So instead of finding a storage space for an unfinished project I can find homes for finished crafty items instead!!

On Saturday we had a little birthday picnic to celebrate Bubba turning 1.  He spent most of the time stuffing as much food into his mouth as possible!  

And on Bubba news... he's weaned himself off one breastfeed - his morning tea booby feed & he's now only having one nap during the day... he's done this all by himself!!  He refused to have a nap on Saturday (the morning of his picnic), he must have been too excited and he didn't have a morning nap on Sunday either as we walked around Hobart as he was too busy chatting away in the pram...  So he solved my dilemma on how to transition him from 2 naps to 1!! Clever Bubba!!
And for some cuteness that isn't crafty at all, this little video is of Bubba just this morning, 'helping' me unpack the fragile box....  I walked into the loungeroom & Joe was having fun unpacking the box!!!

That's me for today, phew, I didn't mean to say so much!  Have a fun day where ever you are!!

Pecan Pie

I made a pecan pie. Yep!  I'm so proud of myself, I'd always wanted to make one & it worked & it was uber yummy!

You can make one too... I used this recipe, it was easy, quick to mix up & so yummo. 

This pie is going to become a family favourite!!!

 

and the winner is....

The winner of the book Textiles Journeys is...

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:6Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Which is Trudi of Maude&Me.


Congratulations Trudi, I'll send you an email for your postal details.
Thank you all for entering the SMS Giveaway Day, hope to you there again next year!!


BTW.. once again the Number Generator is showing the max of 100 but I assure you it did select the numbers from the range 1-67, it's just for some reason when I copy & paste it across 100 always shows!!

Today and then tomorrow

This time last year I woke up with contractions, I then had contractions every 10 minutes all day long until 6pm when they suddenly jumped to 5min contractions.  I then made my hubby jump in the car, drive to KFC and buy me chips because that is what I wanted... I wanted chips & I needed to eat if I was going to get thru this.  He didn't want to go, he was worried cos now the contractions were coming so often... but I made him go.. it was the quickest trip he'd ever taken (but he promised me that he didn't break any road rules)....

I ate my chips amid the contractions. I rang the hospital. They asked how I was handling the pain, I said it was bearable... they told me to call again when then the pain got too much... I was like 'huh, I can handle the pain & your making me stay home?'. But it was ok. I rang them again at 9.15pm and they told me to come in!

Bubba Joe was born at 3.30am... I've forgotten all the pain, the angst, the worry, the pain, the stress, the pain.... It really is true that when they put bubba in your arms the very first time, you forget about the labour!

Ok, I'm tearing up already. I was crying on the weekend just thinking about him turning one.  Ok, too many tears, I have to walk away for a few seconds now.

Here is photo of bubba in the hospital, he's having his very first bath, he was 2 days old here.

And below is a photo of bubba taken just last Thursday.  He was 'helping' me unpack, he found his box of toys & was having fun throwing them on the floor then he found his water bottle in the box...and apparently, unpacking is thirsty work!

We'll be having a picnic in the Hobart Botanic Gardens on Saturday, just us 3 with another couple & their 10mth old baby.  Bubba loves trees, so we chose the gardens for that very reason.

Oh, the tears. I thought after having the baby the tears would ease up... but they haven't. Ugh.

Oh well!  

Giveaway

Your chance to win this fantastic book...

It's the Handweavers, Spinners & Dyers Guild of Tasmania book called Textile Journeys.

The book is a limited edition & not easily available in stores. I received a copy of this book for my birthday & thought that it was such a great resource, I hunted one out (took me 6 stores to find it!!) & purchased one for you. 

It has the history of the Tasmanian guild, stories, hints, tips, techniques & patterns.

It shows you all you need to know about fleece, spinning, weaving, dying, knitting etc etc.  

It's like having your own instructor in your book shelf!   

All you have to do is leave a comment, remembering to leave a way for me to contact you in case you are the winner!    
What to comment on??  You can comment on anything, maybe you'd like to comment on the Universal Craft Blog Directory - have you added your blog to it - yes no? Maybe you'd like to tell me about the weather? Or maybe you'd just like to tell me about your lunch!

Entries close 16th December 2011.

International entries welcome.

Good luck!

I'm joining in with the Giveaway Day with Sew Mama Sew!

Fabric Squares

I've received the fabric from the Craft Buds charm square swap and the squares are awesome!

There are 2x28 charm squares that are 5inch square...

Any suggestions with what to make with them??  I was thinking maybe an apron for my new kitchen.... any ideas for free patterns or what I should line the back with???

Extra house shots

Here are some more odd shots I took from the new house.
The first is from the small tin shed (yay for a shed!), love the stickers on the wall!!!

 

In the second shed (yes, my hubby is adoring the 2 sheds), we found an old vintage dresser! 

And I'm just loving this passionfruit flower - so pretty!!!

Sorry for all the photos.... it's just all so new & exciting this home ownership thing!!!

Vent

Somethings been bugging me lately.  I go to sleep with it on my mind, I wake up and I'm still annoyed by it. So this is a vent.  

Shame on you, yes you, the person who 'stole' my idea, claimed it as their own & is now making money from it.
Shame on you, yes you, the person who has a very popular crafty blog too, who I used to admire as I thought you had a lot of get up & go.. apparently, you have other peoples get up & go.
Shame on you, yes you, the person who claims that other people 'bag' them off, I used to be on your side, but now I see why someone may do that.
Shame on you, you made me want to quit my blog. 
Shame on you, I hope that you get bitten by 1000 mozzies & find a cockroach in the bottom of your coffee cup.

This is the second time that someone has made me sit back & wonder why I blog, some people are just deflating, ya know what I mean?  
The first time was a few months back when I wrote a post about how hard it was adjusting to life as a mum & as a stay at home mum, would you believe that 2 days later that someone put a post up on their blog saying that they love being a SAHM, that it was easy for them etc etc etc.  When I read that post, I cannot describe to you how crap I felt, that maybe I was in fact a terrible person because I didn't find it easy & that I shouldn't blog & that I shouldn't even be a mum. Well, shame on them too, you should never, ever, ever, ever, make someone feel bad about themselves - that is just wrong. Shame on you.

Ok. Hmm, that does feel a little better, venting off some steam does help.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope you don't have any people out there that make you question about why you blog. I decided, the reason why I blog is for myself and if you guys want to come along for the ride then that is fantastic, I'll open the door myself & welcome you in, but please don't say bad things to my guests or any other person otherwise I'd be forced to spill hot tea down the front of your crisp white linen shirt!!

But I do realise that there are some people out there that cut in front of you in the shopping queues & jump ahead of you & nab your car spot that you've been waiting for.... so in the comments section, please feel free to vent & add your own 'Shame on You' !!!

BTW... thank you for all the lovely comments about me moving into my very first house!  I absolutely adore the new house, I woke up this morning excited after our first sleep in the new house, walked into the very messy lounge-room & found Bubba happily sitting there on his Dadda's lap - this is a home, my home & it feels great!

Home Sweet Home... Yay!

This is it, our new home!  Here's a quick tour of the house! Yay!!! (Yay again for the 1000th time!!)
Front entrance...

Bubba exploring the lounge to the kitchen...

  

My new kitchen & the pressie from the Realtor (cool!) & the view from the kitchen to outside.

 

The outside... a grape vine & big potato patch.

And the roof!

I took a ba-zillion photos, but I won't bore you with them all!!!  Can't wait to move in!

Progress

Here's a current shot of how bubba's Xmas Stocking is growing.

It's a slow work in progress, but I have until Xmas Eve to finish it... 
The shape is starting to form, as you can see I'm still in the process of joining the 'foot' onto the 'leg' length.
If I have enough of the fabric, I'll do the same hexy's for the back. 
Any suggestions what colour to line the stocking with?

Vintage Sheets

Now that I've moved to Tasmania, I can afford to go into the thrifty shops! Yep, that's right, I said I can afford too... when I lived in Melbourne, I lived in Hawthorn and the thrifty shop stuff were expensive, I mean, $12 for a single bed sheet, $15 for an old vase etc etc... It was actually cheaper to go to Target to buy the stuff new!
But now back in Tassie & Tasmanians know what thrifty is. Yay!
So whenever I'm in town, I pop in to the thrifty stores and I've started vintage sheet collection.

Whatchya think?! 
Oh, and by the way, I can actually fit the pram into the Tassie thrifty stores, the ones around where I lived in Melbourne, I had to leave hubby outside with the pram cos it wouldn't fit in the shop!!

Keys

It's official, my husband & I (!!!) are now home owners!
Yes, first time home owners!
Woot Woot!

We looked at heaps & heaps of houses, he'd like one & I'd hate it & vice versa. I was starting to think that after 15yrs together we didn't have anything in common any more.
Then one day as we were leaving the supermarket, I looked across the road & said "there's a house for sale over there".  I looked it up online & we made a time to look at it the next day.
As soon as we walked into it we love it. The house felt like a home, our home.

The funny thing is that it isn't a house that we ever pictured ourselves in, but as my mum told me, "You'll know it as soon as you walk in"... I have to admit, I was beginning to doubt her advice!

Three months later (we asked for a long settlement due to our current rental lease) and I have the keys in my hand!  
Woot Woot!


Photos to come!!!

and the winner is....

Wait, not winner but ........ WINNERS!!

Yes, there are 3 winners in The Lovely Crow giveaway!

And the lucky winners are:

True Random Number GeneratorMin:  Max: 

Result:

41  BettsPowered by RANDOM.ORG

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: 

Result:

160 AnonPowered by RANDOM.ORG

.. but they are contactable!!

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: 

Result:

65 TonyaPowered by RANDOM.ORG

Congratulations to the 3 lucky duckies! I'll contact you via email with details on how to claim your prizes!

BTW...I don't know why the True Random Number Generator pics are showing min 1 to Max 100, when the Max is 232 - weird, don't know why it's doing that but I promise, the numbers were drawn from 1 to 232.

Stuff it!

I just walked out to the garden to hang the nappies on the line, when I suddenly realised, that I was in the garden. Yep, I know. Not the smartest cookie in the pack! But I realised that we will only be here for another 2 weeks before we move, in fact, it's less than 2 weeks now.  So then it will be bye bye garden, bye bye flowers and bye bye spectacular view.  

And here I am sitting inside, stressing about trying to make Xmas gifts for everyone & missing out on the garden. So Stuff It.  I'll buy them all boxes of chocolates, packets of cookies & cartons of beer and make presents next year.

So if you want me, I'll be out the back, on a picnic rug with my son.

Chat soon!

BTW... it's not like the hand-made presents are overly appreciated by the recipients... So I'll just 'bust a gut' & finish Bubba's Xmas stocking and buy the rest  gifts!!  Do you ever feel the same?  Do you feel that your hand-made gifts often go under-appreciated??
Oh.. and the view??  Here 'tis!