Amelia's

It's Monday afternoon. 3 o'clock. We've run out of coffee. Sam is cross eyed as it is from an afternoon of office work. It's 32 degrees. The kids are cross eyed. What to do...
Mummy Bear says "let's go to Amelia's for afternoon tea!"
"Yay". Eyes uncross with the dexterity of a Russian gymnast.
Unfortunately Mielsy is having a well earned afternoon off. But the lovely Banjo looks after us beautifully. Orange Blossom Cake and iced chocolate. Ahhh...
Then home for a nudie run under the sprinkler. For the smaller tribe members anyway!
PS Sorry for republishing the elephant dung paper post. Technology. Tsk.

A Summer Swim & BBQ

Tonight Gandy invited us to join her at Hadspen for a swim and a BBQ. It was a lovely summer evening - light and warm until late.
The swimming didn't last long - just long enough to refresh anyone game enough to get in! Which ruled Arthur and I out. We preferred to stay on the bank and be the family paparazzi.
After a dip we had a yummy BBQ with sausages from Cassalinga Butchers. Chicken and feta, Greek lamb, wallaby and Worcester and pepper to be precise. The kids and dogs frolicked after dinner and we came home and poured the all into bed!
Earlier today I bought some more supplies for my Dear Bettie stationary. I made this little tag for (yet another) birthday party tomorrow. As you can see it features a handmade button covered in up cycled tweed. I hope the birthday boy likes it. X

A Dotty Kind of Day

It was a very dotty day today. Ingrid wore the new spotty skirt I made for her. We then made a REALLY yummy chocolate cake, which Sam iced with dotty sprinkles while Ingrid and I picked George up.
If you are wondering who our little friend is we have yet another house guest!! Bobby Bear from Prep Brown has been staying with us this week. as you can see Bobby has been put through his paces.
And finally, after afternoon tea we began the cubby renovation. The first job was to level the floor. We plan to take inspiration from the huts Brighton Beach. The kids have voted to paint it blue, pink and yellow. I think there may be a bit of negotiating to do!
It was a lovely day, so while Sam did the concreting and I cooked dinner the kids got the hose out and cleaned the crockery for the cubby.

Happy Little (Political) Vegemites

It's election time. Well it's approximately 219 days til the federal election. I know that we don't have a patch on the yanks - but come on people. Think about it. Has anyone really had a think about what we are going to have to put up with?
Already the Greens are taking their bat & ball and are going home. While Christine doesn't want to play with Julia, nor does she want to play with Tony. Tony doesn't want to play with either of them - he might get girl germs. Come on children.
The thing that gets me is that they are so busy pointing out the negatives and flaws of their opposing numbers, that it is really hard to decipher just what they are going to do for us should they take home the trophy.
Now I am proud to admit that I am an ABC nerd. We watch the news, 7:30 report and Q & A. Now while Aunty isn't what she used to be Tony, Christine and Julia have had their fair share of air play since the election was announced on January 12. Not to mention Kevin, Wayne and Joe. But I've had trouble working out what THEY are going to do for ME. Honestly, the amount of whining that had gone on so far would make an Eton boy blush.
So my voting strategy is this. Who ever says the fewest negative remarks, complains the least and refrains from verbally bashing one another will win my vote. I'll take a tally - starting now. Double deduction for racist and sexist remakes (sorry Tony. Not much hope for you). Triple rewards for actually complimenting one another (as IF). And then there are to party members who bag each other. Now what are we going to do with them...

More Garden Pics

Here are some more pretty pictures from our garden.

Elephant Dung Paper

It's here it's here! My tree free paper made from elephant poo! I am very excited. I whipped up these cards for the 3 birthday parties we had this weekend (I'm sure I didn't have a social life like this til I was at least 16).

Keep an eye on this space - I will be sewing my little heart out to bring couture eco stationery to my new etsy shop Dear Bettie. Although I have set it all up I will wait til I have a decent amount of stock made before I shout about it!
The last picture is of Ingrid who's addiction to face painting rivals her addiction to band aids. One of the parties had a face painter and Ingrid requested a golden retriever. Beautiful.

Mexican Standoff

Meet 'The Snoog'. We bought him from an op shop a couple of years ago for $25. Our only regret was not buying his friend (a slightly more up market edition priced at $35). Thankfully as the kids have matured they seem more capable of sharing and taking turns. Oh but how quickly things can change.
Sam and I once went for a lovely country drive down The Huon. Back in the good ol days (before kids) and we had a lovely quiet lunch, went for a walk and so on... On the way back we took a different route - a mandatory requirement for any day trip with Sam behind the wheel. As we wound down a country road we came across two bulls (one black Angus and one Hereford), standing in their respective paddocks on opposite sides of the road. Pawing the ground, nostrils flares eyes practically rolling back in their heads with frustration of having two fences and a road between them.
The relevance to this serene picture of two happy kids on The Snoog to the bulls? Well shortly after the photo was taken communication broke down and the children were unable to come to an agreement as to whom would pedal. It's been one of those days (and this was taken at 10am) and Mummy Bear had had ENOUGH. The children were sent to their rooms to have a think about how they might play together nicely and how they could speak to each other using their nice voices. Only, because they share a room Ingrid was sent to my room which is across the hall.
Imagine my surprise when I went to check on them. Each were sitting in their respective doorway pawing the ground, nostrils flaring, eyes rolling back in their head....

5 Reasons Not To Leave Your iPhone Lying Around

We have a budding photographer....

Welcome Finn

Welcome Finn. We look forward to watching you grow.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day! We will be celebrating when Sam comes home. But for the rest of you may that special person in your life spoil you rotten!

I Found My Sewing Machine!

Yippeeeeee!! The world is ok. Yesterday I spent some time sewing and listening to the Dixie Chicks. Ahhh could life be any better.....(George had the day off school so I had my own personal film crew!!)
I finally got round to fixing poor Zac's pants which I promised Nadia I would do a month ago!
After George's finished filming he did some building with my old blocks. Ingrid gave me a personal ballet concert and uncharacteristically Arthur had 2 sleeps! What a day!

Bless Me Bettie

Bless me Bettie for I have sinned,
I hereby admit that I cooked pumpkin curry with homegrown pumpkin and (ooh ahh gasp) store bought curry paste.
I could say that it was the fact that Sammy has been away for 2 weeks, or that the littlest of the team has rendered me 3 hours sleep a night.
I could blame the new ballet teacher, who's bolshy Bolshoi attitude took me by surprise. (I'm sorry, I'm not going to pick the kids up from school 10 minutes early so Ingrid isn't 5 minutes late to ballet. You say 'it's not as if they are in matric' - I say 'this isn't the Royal Ballet School. Start your classes at a decent time lady'!). Or that I was strangely disconcerted by her enthusiasm for my daughters talent.
I might blame the fact that I was thoroughly distracted by the fact that one of my dearest friends was in the middle of a 40 hour labor. Or that I recently received one of the most amazing emails from one of my most amazing friends. She has dragged herself from such a bad place and I'm so proud of her that I've drafted no less than 5 reply emails. None seem worthy of her story.
Or maybe I had one ear on the croupy / asthmatic cough George is displaying and wishing (more than ever) that Sam was home.
But in hope of saving myself some hail Bettie's I'll be honest. When I wrote my shopping list yesterday I had no intention of doing the usual thing of making a batch of paste and freezing the rest for a rainy day. I wrote 'curry paste' on the list. Why? Cos I couldn't be fagged. Sorry.

Garden Goings On

Yesterday we harvested our first pumpkin. Actually it was our 2nd as we gave the first to Nadia & Ianthe as we still had 'Leighlands' pumpkins to eat. Tonight we are having home grown pumpkin & chickpea curry. Yummola! We also gathered some of our tomatoes. While I was harvesting I took some photos of some of the pretty things in our garden too. Enjoy!