to do

To prove that I am an eternal optimist, I have recently bought the most divine yarn with a view to knitting something for myself. See that it is sleeveless? A summer top. This summer? Hmm.

Before I can get started, I have wholesale orders to finish by early March, plus I have all but hit the submit button on a couple of market applications. My first ever markets. My fingers are shaking as they hover over the mouse. Not sure if markets will be my thing. I'm not really a social animal and don't know if I can be "on" for hours on end.

In the mean time, I have to be content with just reverently stroking this yarn (Sirdar Sublime Baby Cashmere Silk in Artichoke). One day, my sweet....

*Ravelry details here and here.

more from melissa

Beautiful new photos from Utah based photographer, Melissa Niu. Not only did she take the photos of this beautiful little girl, she gave birth to her too. Now that's multi talented.

It's photos like this one below that make me think about growing my hair long. I do wish I could wear hats like this, but when worn with my super short hair, I look like I'm having chemo.

This model is only 14 and although I don't wish I was 14 again (the angst!), 24 would be good. Spaghetti straps, no bingo wings. Those were the days.

birthday boy

As Ethan's birthday falls on Christmas Day, he is destined to always have a birthday party some weeks before the actual event. His celebration of choice was a trip to the bowling alley with some of his friends. After the bowling, they had a play on the arcade games. It seem his motorbike riding style is heavily influenced by the stunt riders we saw at the Royal Show.

I find that every birthday party has at least one kid who acts like a turd. This year we had two. The whingey, whiney, uber competitive child who through a tanty when he didn't win; and the smarty pants, I can swear and do everything better than you kid. Horrible children.


Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate butter frosting. Yum. The two that got squashed on the car trip were served up to tanty kid and smart arse kid. I enjoyed that.

***

Other things, in short.

More baking, this time, iced gingerbread stars to accompany teacher gifts.

School report season. It's nice to have it down in writing that they are indeed clever and well behaved boys.


Tree decorating. No accidents this year. Yet.

my place and yours: 5 minutes peace

There's a funny little room just near our front door, whose intended purpose has always eluded me. It has a wide opening onto the front hall and on the opposite wall is another wide opening to the dining room. Too small to be a formal sitting room and bigger than a hallway, it doesn't get much use.

We have two large, soft leather couches in there one of which is currently serving as the "warehouse" (read: dumping ground) for two home based businesses. The other is under a window and is the perfect spot to grab a few minutes' peace. The little lamp table at one end makes a good spot to park a cup of coffee or a glass of wine to complete the time out.

When this fails me, I retreat to the vegie garden to pull out a few weeds and check on the progress of the current crop. See that? That's our first crop of beans. If you call 7 beans in total a crop, which I do.

The basil was planted as a companion to the tomato plants as apparently it deters an insect that damages tomatoes. Unfortunately the basil has been tucked into and it looks like the companion needs a companion. Oh dear.

This week's theme was brought to you by Pilgrim. More My Place and Yours, including lots more places to grab Just 5 Minutes at Mikes.

winners are grinners

After the disappointment of making the final last season, only to lose, this season's win was sweet.

You know where it's going, don't you?

They do.

they grow 'em big in mt waverley

I've mentioned before how much I love the flowering gum tree in our front yard.

We seem to spend a lot of money servicing it, more in fact that on my car and that's saying something (Volkswagen - German for "reliable, and costs a shit load to keep that way").

Last week we had a Arborist visit to give the tree its annual trim and check up.

I was somewhat taken aback when he exclaimed "whoa, that's a big butt." I was about to take him to task and explained that I had in fact lost weight and would thank him to keep his observations about my figure to himeself, when I realised he was talking about the tree.

He went to tell me that the tree is quite old and "would be twice as big if you lived in Mt Waverley."


I wonder if it is just myself and the family or would the tree also would have to move to Mt Waverley for that to be the case?

in the garden

The return of the warmer weather has seen renewed activity in the vegetable garden.

It may be a vegetable gardening cliche that home grown tomatoes taste the best, but like most, it is one that certainly has an element of truth. Having home grown tomatoes was one of the prime reasons we put the vegie garden, so it was with no small amount of excitement that we planted four tomato plants a few weeks ago.



This summer's crop, all going well, will include tomatoes, beans, beetroot, spring onion, lettuce and pumpkin. The herb section now includes rosemary, basil, thyme (shown above), coriander, chives and parsley.

Just above the front door, a local family have been building their new nest. Like builders everywhere, they didn't clean up after themselves.

The fig tree is laden and it is about this time of year that I make my annual pledge to pick the figs before the birds get them. Let's hope I have better luck than last year, when my "give them one more day on the tree" plan backfired dismally.