Mother's Day - the truth in our household

Greetings all,

Anyone else completely ready to konk out by May each year??  I am, i think it's a combination of post-Easter-holiday-back-to-school mania & the chill in the Canberra air which makes my body scream for a cosy place to run & hide.  It's going to be single digits tomorrow, 9C, but still beautiful & sunshiney, that is what a love about Canberra Winter, icey cold but still looks like Summer with blue skies & beaming sun rays.  

Ok, so i thought i might share how my Mother's Day really went - especially seeing i had dinner with Julie from Handmade & i said "well, it's Mother's Day & i cried into the washing basket as the children didn't sort & put away the washing when it was the ONLY thing i wanted them to do for me all day" & she said "like you're going to blog about that".  Ha, called your bluff madam.  Not everyone has a glorious Mother's Day & having spent 10 of my 12 mothers' days with my husband away & not home ordering the children to be my enthustiastic slaves . . . it's really just like any other day - i cook, clean & care for my family. 

My Mother's Day started with my 3rd daughter saying "you really want to make pancakes, don't you" & batted those dinner plate blue eyes at me.  Then she presented me with her handmade card from school which had a poem inside . . . "Felice madri giorno mummia, amore si mumma. Non come buora cuoco come papa. Ma che e’ ok mi ancora sie grazie si" (FYI she's teaching herself Italian on the internet, hand wrote this translation into the card, then emailed it to me for good measure, as you do when you're 9 years old).  English translation . . . "Happy Mother's Day Mummy, love you Mum. Not as good cook as Daddy. But that’s ok i still love you. Thank you."  Nice touch, being told i'm a bad cook in two languages!!

My eldest daughter wrote a lovely card with some joke about housework & that i was the number one mother in the world, but her boyfriend's mother was the second best mother in the world.  She's keeping her options open.  

The middle girl had made some crepe paper flowers with straws & dug them up from the bottom of her school bag, squashed, along with a dozen school notes to sign.  At least she considers me useful.

My boy, well he made a beautiful card which read "Happy Mum's Day, why are there twice as many girls in this family as boys.  I love you anyway" complete with diagrams of boy & girl stick figures to emphasize his point.  Um, sorry mate.

So in a nut shell, i got 4 unsolicited opinions of what kind of mother, breeder & cook i am.  Did you fare better than me, be honest (or lie to make me feel better), love Posie

social commentary Sunday . . . 'celebrating Mother's Day' & IKEA giveaway winners

Greetings all,

EDIT: SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: IKEA GIVEAWAY WINNERS . . .

chosen by me - Jill at deux chiens et un garcon who wrote:
"as an old ikea employee(mid 80's) i still feel connected to those cheery sheets and doonas.  so lovely for you to offer as a giveaway.  I love sun dried sheets, warm bath to get all nice and crispy clean and then rubbing my feet along the goodness and snuggling down. Little man still loves his ealry moring visit/breast feed to begin our days.  Wishing you lots of man cuddles in the near future and for all your dreams to come true.  xo jill"

chosen by my husband - Laurel at Miss Muggins who wrote:
"I desperately need a new doona cover. I foolishly let my 16 year old borrow it (we did a swap for a week)and she got fake tan, blue pen and nailpolish all over it!  I can visualise Mr M and I snuggling in clean new bedlinen - and Miss A can keep her grubby mitts off it! ha ha!"

& chosen by the gadget, 1-93, comment 22, Mikaela at Mikaela Made who wrote:
"At the moment I'm sleeping with a coverless doona, so this would be perfect for me =P What keeps me warm? Like you Posie, hubs is good, but we also have the two labs and kitty cat snuggle with us on a weekend morn under the covers in our big bed, it is bliss! We are savouring these moments now as I guess it will all change in 4.5 months when baby #1 comes along..."

Congratulations ladies, all very special mummies & a mum-to-be, Happy Mother's Day!!  All worthy winners - a former IKEA employee; a mummy whose teenager ruined her linen; & a school teacher sleeping under a coverless donna!!  Please email me your postal address & your IKEA bedlinen will be at your place via courier shortly.
Thanks to IKEA & One Green Bean for this lovely giveaway, pleasure as always.

It's Mother's Day in Australia, yay for we mummies!!  Ever noticed that people poo poo Valentine's Day & similar "unnecessary commercial greed" occasions, yet no one messes with the day we worship our mothers & shower them with cards, gifts, jewels & flowers. 

I'm celebrating Mother's Day without the prompts, pomp or ceremony of my husband guiding the children to present breakfast in bed & behave flawlessly, but . . . some lovely mummies are taking me in for dinner tonight.  I have flowers ready for 3 super gorgeous mummies - mother of Handmade Market, mother of Shop Handmade & mother of my eldest daughter's friend-who-is-a-boy . . . this extra special lady has 4 sons, is living in a barn while they build a house in the country (this is her 4th Canberra Winter, brrrr, she has stamina & oozes positivity) + this week her number 3 son broke his arm, so she's been sleeping in a hospital bed - ONLY a mother could handle all that with grace & a smile. 

 I just adore these women, i'm talking wet-my-pants depth of laughter & our children have sleep overs kind of friendship!!  We're all mums, thrown together here in Canberra, mostly through our husband's work, left to create a community & network for ourselves.  You never know when amazing people are going to drop into your adult life, even when you're not advertising.

Wishing you all sunshine & happy memories today, a bunch of flowers (??), a day off the have-to & swap it with the love-to.  I'm off to Pilates, then bake dessert (meringue mousse), curl up with a magazine on the lounge & hear my children playing happily in the garden (read: away from me, tee hee).  Then jump in the car which has magically filled with fuel & head out to dinner.  I really find fuelling up the car such a chore, it's always so windy at service stations!! 

Remember my measure of motherhood is a full fruit bowl, mmmm, look at this seasonal goodness from the Farmer's Market.  I'm doing better already (thanks for yesterdays comments - you are the best cheerleaders in blogland, i love you!!) 

Finally, last chance to win this IKEA bedlinen, 3 sets to giveaway, drawn at 9p.m. tonight/ when i get home from dinner, just in case, i might be late, can you believe i'm a talker??!!  I should press the school uniforms & organise Monday lunch boxes now, humph.

Just because it's mother's day, please help yourself to an extra entry, to celebrate yourself or a mummy in your world.  Don't be shy or feel greedy!!  Leave a comment at the giveaway post & come back tonight to see if you're one of the lucky 3 winners at this post!!  Love Posie

PS 'twas carbonara for dinner (egg yolks) so i had the egg whites for the meringue - clear & clever thinking, i feel so alive, Autumn air, fresh produce, sewing, i'm giddy with calm.

i'm grateful for 'knowing my breaking point'

Greetings all,

Oh boy, am i grateful for knowing my breaking point.  Let me use this bed break as a metaphor for my week . . . snap.  No, i didn't snap, i'm very patient & calm under pressure, but a child's bed snapped (the children all got new-expensive-to-last-to-adult-investment-beds & mattresses only 6 months ago, argh!!)  I've had a few niggles of annoyance building so i've taken action & struck another job off my list-of-committments . . . the P&C . . . farewell volunteer work, meetings & fundraisers.  I've always enjoyed the P&C, but it's time for a break. 

Previous breaking points/ wake up calls have included . . . hitting a huge kangaroo at midnight between a must-attend-family-event in Sydney & a must-attend-Tournament of the Minds contest in Canberra the next morning; parking tickets; being burgled; & most recently . . . the neighbour's wall jumped out to clip & blow my tyre, so a creepy tyre repairman could announce in front of my children "you really f***ed the rim, i'll have to bash the s*** out of it to fix it, that's $400".  When i lose focus, crap happens, expensive crap, often insured but still crappy!!  I loathe being distracted, unfocused, over committed & rushed.  This week we almost lost a fish as i forgot to clean the tank, not on my watch little fishy!!

This year i've reduced my work load by culling my on line website, closing my wholesale label Edna&AliceMay (i had products in 50 stores around the world, did you know, i didn't until i counted) & only scheduling 6 markets in 2011. Working at Shop Handmade makes me happy, especially with my husband away (read: adult contact) & doing big markets are a blast. I've been going to the gym & increasing my cooking skills - i want to spend more time doing these positive things, which benefit me & my family.

 I don't have time to hunt down facts & figures for reports or begging volunteers to stand behind a school BBQ.  I don't have the need to please & i do say "no", i find the work easy, but dealing with negativity for free??  If this bed didn't break, i think i would have banged my head against it - it's how i felt last weekend, a new term looming with unresolved P&C stress. 

 I need more time up my sleeve to put out 'fires'.  I actually don't like being busy - there is a difference to being a high energy person who gets a lot done each day . . . i like to do things properly & enjoy them, not rushed or half hearted.  I also believe there is a big difference between responsibility of committments (self imposed have to type things to keep a family running) & stress (beyond your control).

First 'fire' . . . this Charlie&theChocolateFactory grandparent style bed sharing situation . . . i'll undo the bed frame & march it into Harvey Norman to demand a new one.  That's this weekend, i wonder what 'fire' i'll have to 'put out' next weekend??  Please not the washing machine, car, fridge, vacuum or dishwasher, they are my lifelines.  But if there is something, i'm available.

I marched into Shop Handmade on Monday & declared my plans to reduce my committments, to find Rachel had made us curried egg & cucumber sandwiches for lunch, glee!!  Then Julie invited me to Mother's Day dinner so i didn't have to make my own, joy!!  True friends, they read your mind, they know when to deliver & help before you do. 

So this weekend i will finish my P&C reports; tax; buy groceries; cook & bake; housework; yoga & pump; write letters; answer emails; press uniforms & sew market stock.  This is an 8-day-weekend right??  I feel so much better when my life is up to date, under control & smooth, just saying outloud "i'm at breaking point" it's not failure, i think it's success: identify what needs to change.  I don't like losing my sparkle, i'm sure i'm not alone in my desire to take control of my time & energy.  More Gratefuls at Maxabella Loves.  Love Posie

EDIT: Woke up feeling energised & stress free.  This time next week handsome soldier will be here for a whole 9 day holiday (yahoo).  Don't miss this IKEA giveaway either, drawn tomorrow, ah, Mother's Day!!

things i'm loving 'cooking from the heart'

Greetings all,

Brrr it's getting chilly & soup is one thing i can cook really well.  I planted my pumpkins too late for the season & my magic-cinderella-carriage-sized-pumpkins-dreams never fruited.  Sigh, better luck next year!! 

Anyway, to share with Paisley Jade's 'things i'm loving' this Friday . . . these delicious pumpkins came from the weekend's Farmer's Market, two types of orange (let's call them Butternut & Queensland Blue, i am most likely telling lies, they're the only varieties which come to mind).  Onions, celery, seasoning & stock, how simple.

 Toss in food processor, any excuse to involve KitchenAid apparatus in my cooking.

 Then into Le Creuset to warm & serve.

 I was the most keen - my children all took spoons directly to this pot insisting they didn't feel like soup, then tucked into delicious ham rolls with real butter.  So next time i feel like cooking from the heart without the chopping, cooking or clean up, i have 3 frozen portions to reheat.   

It was all washed down with freshly squeezed orange juice - efficient use of the food processor of course.  It was everything orange for lunch on Sunday.

What's your favourite hearty homemade soup??  Love Posie
PS Have you entered my IKEA giveaway, good luck, drawn Sunday night.  

my creative space 'cubby house bunting'

Greetings all,

Another Thursday, another Kootoyoo creative space to kick me into action.  Tomorrow i have 250+ gifts to prepare for the school's Mother's Day stall, so making some outdoor/ cubby/ doll's house bunting has been a welcome project.  Armed with scissors, pinking shears, ruler, blunt pencil (why can i never find a pencil & when i do they are blunt & the sharpener is missing??) & about 18 of the prettiest Mexican printed oil cloths a girl could hope for.  I picked up another 15 prints while on holiday in Brisbane, at Beach Vintage (thanks Simone!!)

 I had visions of ric rac edges & lined flags, but that can just add to the variety of the range in the future, for now, keep it simple!!

 Working with material that doesn't have threads is so dreamy.

 I zig zag stitched them onto pretty ribbons.

 Et voila!!  Fit for an outdoor cubby house.

 This is the mini version, these flags made up from remnants from cutting out the larger flags (that's the nothing-is-wasted-patchwork-quilte in me).

 Added a bit of nostaglia with some post it note clouds, perhaps a distraction from the poor lighting effort, i just wanted a quick post.

 I think these would be cute in a doll's house, non??

I'll be making a long version with the larger flags for our BBQ area, just for fun, something for my husband to shake his head at while he cooks.  Love Posie
PS i'll be back to link Kootoyoo in, i'm stuck & can't access her blog right now
EDIT: link seems to be working, poor Kirsty, living on the edge with her blog connectivity.
This bunting is not for the mother's day stall, i'm just doing up wholesale & inexpensive organic soaps, chocolates, soy candles etc & making them look a million dollars for profit to the P&C.  Amazing what a bit of stylish packaging (cello, raffia, washi tape, tissue paper) can do.
Finally, don't forget the lovely IKEA giveaway i have live, next post down, enjoy & good luck!!

snuggle down with this IKEA G I V E A W A Y

Greetings all,

It's IKEA G I V E A W A Y time again!!  Yahoo.  As Australia starts to get chilly in Autumn, it's snuggle time.  What better way to embrace the looming Winter months than with some pretty new bedlinen??

 Remember that really fun IKEA sleepover i was lucky enough to attend a few weeks back, sleeping over night in the bedding department at the Sydney IKEA store . . . well i can assure you the bedlinen is beautiful, comfortable & well priced too.

 The good PR people at One Green Bean & IKEA would love to offer 3 sets of ALVINE KVIST percale bedlinen sets to my followers.  Each set includes a queen 200x200cm Quilt Cover & 4 Pillow Slips, valued at $89.  Yes 3 to GIVEAWAY.

Make sure you're a follower of this blog & leave a comment at this post, simple!! 
Extra entries if you advertise this giveaway on your Blog, FB or Twitter too. 
Lucky winners - all 3 of you - to be drawn 9p.m. on Sunday 8th May (Mother's Day) - a nice back up gift just in case you don't fair well in the Mother's Day gift stakes!! 

I'd love to know which room in your home this beautiful bedlinen will liven up & who will be snuggling down under it.  How do you stay cosy in Winter - under a doona, next to a roasting fire, hot chocolates . . . I can assure you, i miss my husband more than ever in our brrrr Canberra Winter, he's my giant hot water bottle & chief hot chocolate brewer.  Good luck, love Posie

social commentary Sunday 'stalkers & security'

Greetings all,
On my drive home from Brisbane, i popped into see my brother, his wife & 4 children, in the country.  We were talking about blogs, on line profiles & their children on FaceBook.  They don't mind their children on FB as two are in boarding school, two are at University, it's a way to keep in touch, although children can naively advertise where they go to school/ university/ socially + full names & birthdays (5 points of identification).  I won't reveal on my blog my husband or children's names or any of our actual birth dates, schools, uniforms + i delay actual times of events involving my children (like sports) to maintain their privacy.  If my husband had his way, i wouldn't have a blog or images of our children.  Anyway, i asked my sister-in-law if any of their teenagers (all social, smart, sporty) had suffered at the fate of stalkers??

She said a resounded "YES, every single one of them".  From varying degrees of on line FB stalking directly, indirectly via 'friends' FB pages & yes, finding out they had been broken-up-with-via-a-FB-status-update . . . all the way to one hunting their eldest son down in Europe!!  This nephew is a catch, friendly, handsome, elite athlete, studying medicine . . . troubled girls find him.  His high school girlfriend was attacked by a girl who was having an imaginery relationship with him (??) & other crazy stalking incidents followed.  What is that saying about a woman scorned "hell hath no fury"??  These are teenagers with hormones, imaginations & the internet!!  We've seen in the news, through real-life-dumb-actions-by-sports-stars . . . mixed with on line social media, professional reputations & careers can be crushed.
We don't plan to allow our children to have FB or on line profiles until they are adults & aware of consequences on what can happen to your information in the big bad world.  I'd rather promote actual telephone calls & seeing friends as their social entertainment.  Once they are home, that is family time, limited emails & internet, no mobiles & no on line chit chat time wasting rubbish which can wait until school the next day!!  Surely with the volume of homework & assignments my children have in junior high & primary school, there isn't enough time for anything other than sport, eating & sleeping when they are full blown teenagers??
I asked my brother if his children were clued in that everything on line - not necessarily on their own profiles, but anything about them in any social media capacity - were they aware it's there forever, for future employers, friends, partners to see & judge, for stalkers to piece together where you live, play, party etc??  What about a new boyfriend who turns out to be jealous psycho & check out your history of parties, holidays & love with ex-boyfriends??  OMG, does anyone think about this??  My brother said teenagers have no clue, they don't think about it, it's teenage impulse of here & now, must share everything immediately & no thought for future consequences. 
Even on our sweet-mummy-crafty-type blogs where we innocently post about holidays, births, events & funny family stories, people can follow your child's history & who knows what crazy things they might use it for, manipulation, connection, research.  I think about this every time i post & try to be vague about details.  Christy from Little Betty was telling me at Sew It Together all sorts of weird sites her blog images have turned up on, some very unsavory weird fetish sites??!!  Yes, eeww.  Christy cleverly doesn't  post her children's names & rarely their cute little faces!!  
You can never be too careful, even in 10 years time, something you post might come back to bite you or your family.  Incredibly scary but it's just not the same world we grew up in, with so much information available at the touch of a button.  Love Posie