making a list & checking it twice

Greetings all,

Seeing a lot of last-minute-Christmas-wrapping-decorating-baking-shopping posts going on in blogland.  I'm almost there in the wrapping department, just double checking all the neices & nephews are covered & goodies express posted today (love prepaid bags!!)  I'll see many in Sydney after Christmas but some gorgeous pesky ones still have birthdays this week & require birthday gifts which i believe should be seperate & on-the-birth-day!!

 Thank goodness for handmade, for many reasons - handmade gifts are unique, original, special, beautiful & . . . hard to pick the price of (super handy for the how-much-did-my-sister-in-law-spend-on-my-child-this-year corporate types!!)

 Check out the detail, i love this Karin's work - designer Sum of Mum at Shop Handmade.  Our Health Minister bought some too, hope that hasn't spoilt her nephew & niece's gift surprise this year!!  Knowing zero of my family members read my blog, i know i'm safe.  

Have you ever seen such such realistic felt bananas in your life??!!  I'm hungry just looking at these, Sunday Brunch anyone??
So apart from the teenage nephews, are all getting a vintage Tshirt from America, i'm done, all sorted, just the wrapping & tagging to do.  Oh & a huge 196 piece patchwork quilt for a customer this week.  Sew sew sew.  Have happy weeks everyone, love Posie

ever run out of fuel in your car, i've joined the club . . .

Greetings all,
OK, so one of the dumber things i've done in 17 years of driving . . . with my reserve fuel tank not pumping into the main in the Landcruiser 4WD for a couple of months, i've been living off one tank & until now, haven't mismanaged the distance i could get on the fuel light!!  I thought i'd wait until i was halfway between children's parties in Canberra & Bowral, with 4 children sugared up on lolly bags, as the perfect time to try it.  I know, i said dumb!!  Better yet, i did it in style . . . with a dying mobile phone & just 2km from the service station i was going to fill up at, next to the Big Merino Rambo in Goulburn.
Small mercy that i literally konked out at an emergency phone & pull over bay where the children could play & wait patiently.  I was advised there was a 2 hour minimum wait, so i mentioned i had 4 children . . . the operator asked "did you say 4 or 5 children??" & i responded "does it matter??"  I waited 3 hours, hmmmmm . . .

So i put my feet up, relaxed & watched the children catch tadpoles, go exploring, make nice with the new German Shepherd teddy i bought my son yesterday & waited to see who was first to misjudge their leap over the creek & fall in.

One by one they'd come back to the car for a rest, warm up, blow some bubbles (only time i've ever been glad that bubbles were included in a lolly bag) & i have to say, there was the moral dilema of whether i use the water bottles i efficiently packed for the trip, to wash their sticky lolly fingers or save them from dehydration!!  I loathe lollies, i loathe sticky fingers even more.

So while i pondered life's big questions - who is this French VC that this rest stop is named after, i should research him; i really should polish my boots & take better care of them; what is Bear Grylls real name; which of my children will end up the tallest; did they ever find Miranda from 'Picnic At Hanging Rock'; my husband would never run out of fuel; my husband would never have a flat mobile phone battery; why doesn't anything ever go wrong when my husband is around; i should lose some weight; i could just doze off to sleep in this sunshine; why did my eldest daughter happen to have the SAS Survival Guide on her (thanks Sindy) & say so matter of factly "mum, i knew you'd have us stranded one day & we'd have to survive somehow". . . before i knew it, the NRMA man was here with fuel. 

So i put it to the children, should we continue to the party (for my nephew) & arrive 3 hours late, or go home??  Well there was no way they were missing out on seeing their cousins or telling them their harrowing tale of survival on the side of the Hume Highway, so we journeyed on.  I had used the last breath of mobile phone battery to call my sister to explain my situation - yes, i called her before the NRMA, you know, priorities & out of courtesy.  Very glad we did, 'twas a lovely post-party-early-dinner with the family & smooth 200km trip home. 
Let this be a lesson to all of you, the fuel light doesn't come on just to look pretty!!  Love Posie

Anyone for tennis??

Greetings all,
An innocent invitation to a 'boy's sports party' had me thinking "how can i make it more glamorous for my daughter??"  I know, we can make it fancy dress, she can go as Maria Sharapova of course!!  This outfit $14 from Target + $6 Nike Sweatband.  I was going to make pom poms for her 'tennis socks' but drew the line at perhaps trying too hard??  Non?? 

So i typed up a SHARAPOVA to iron transfer across the back of her $4 Tshirt & "Singles Champion, Oscar's Birthday Grand Slam 2010" across the front (Oscar is of course, the birthday boy).  My first attempt at iron transfer in ages, i need practise!!  TIP: type up in Word, then cut & paste into Paint & flip it, for the mirror image printing!!
I can not tell you how many hours it took me on the internet to find such useful advice, remember, i'm on a new inexpensive basic laptop, as the burglars took my fancy one with InDesign, PhotoShop etc on it.  I'm clutching at straws with my software here.

A selection of my girls' ribbons from their school athletics carnival.  They didn't hand out all the long distance ones, so there are more blue ones coming.  I promise i was an unbaised time keeper!!  My boy has to wait 2 more  l  o  n  g  years before he's old enough to race competitively!!  FYI he did win every novelty race year 1 held, but look at who he has grown up chasing . . . my husband & i were very sporty too!!  All this glory has them competing at North Canberra this week, from 800m at the crack of dawn to the relays at the end, longest day ever!!  I especially love watching the long jump.  

Are you like me - you do a quick once over the house before you go to bed, fluff cushions & straighten up paperwork . . . look at the surprise my son left on the lounge.  Like a Babushka explosion!!

My children having a Saturday night treat in jammies!!

Have lovely Sundays everyone!!  Love Posie