Right now

Ok, this is the fourth attempt to write this post in as many weeks. Firstly, before I forget (and I reminded myself with this photo) THANK YOU all for your wonderful, kind, inspirational and nagging comments on my last post. They have most definitely helped me to get back here again ( I respond well to nagging but we'll ignore the fact that it has taken over eight weeks).

My last attempt at a " Right now" post dragged on over about four weeks and became completely confusing so it is sitting in drafts while I pretend it does not exist. This attempt is going to be done tonight and I am absolutely not going to fall asleep doing it.

Right now it has been almost a year since we moved back home after the renovation. There was a flurry of renovating activity back in Summer and then after Easter it stalled pretty much through all of winter. Now that we are coming out the other side of months of winter illness the motivation is coming back. Right now there are six completed rooms in the house, four that are half finished (undercoated) and another four that are untouched.

Right now, for the first time in as long as anybody can remember, my house is no longer blue. Yep, just yesterday, after seven long weeks of scaffolding and drop sheets and sanding and dust, a lovely painter finished giving Betsy her long awaited new frock. Here is a sneak peek, with some mulberries from my garden.

Right now we are all enjoying the beautiful spring weather and spring blooms.

Right now I am enjoying popping back to a few op shops ( there has been a bit of a hiatus there too) and finding some colour.

I love this pin case as it reminds me of the one my mum used when I was a little girl ( I think hers was the same but pale blue)

Right now these two curbside finds are lining up to get painted. The big one is a boot rack for the laundry, the small is going to transform into a stove for the sandpit.

Right now my girl is super excited to have won the prep prize for most bling'd up scooter on walk or ride to school day. We obviously know how to do good bling in this house.

Right now the kitchen art wall looks like this.

Well, look at that, an entire post written and I am still awake.  I very much hope to share some befores and afters of the last year but for now I am just thankful to be back, even if it is just in the moment of right now.

A whole new world

Last week was about new beginnings. After eight years of mothering, both my birds flew the nest.

Those fuzzy days of naps, double prams, frighteningly early starts, Maisy books, sipper cups, soft rabbits that were never allowed to be washed, Bonds wonder suits, dummies, thumb sucking, swim nappies, sandpits and stick collections are fading into the distance as a new, vast world opens up.

My big bird moved up to the big school, at the top of three flights of stairs into the world of grade three. He disappeared into this safe and familiar world with barely a backward glance. He has friends who are happy to see him, a new teacher who probably knows him already and a routine that provides the predictable comfort that holidays never can.

My baby bird tiptoed into her new class, full of pride, excitement, a few nerves and only minor issues with the seams in her socks. While the teacher is new, the room and the teacher aide are like old friends she simply hasn't seen since she was two and visiting every day with her brother. And while she hasn't been there for three years, when I asked if she needed me to show her where the toilets were she scornfully told me that she remembered herself.

To have both your children happy at school is a miraculous gift for which I am very grateful. And for me, as I slowly exhale, it feels like maybe I can just sit down, enjoy a hot cup of tea and allow myself a moment of pride that we made it.

Parenting small children is immense, all encompassing, exhausting, miraculous, hilarious, relentless, incredible, magical and mostly involves much less sleep than I ever could have imagined. Parenting has taken my lofty ideals of the mother that I thought I would be, and scattered them with the winds. It has brought me to my knees,  and then slowly built me back up again, stronger, wiser, humbler and endlessly grateful for small victories.

So, as one door closes, I am hit with a sprinkle of sadness,  a dash of relief and a generous dollop of excitement that a new door is opening. It's a whole new year and I have lots of plans.

And this was my first finished project. My favourite vintage fabrics, mod podge and a Kvissle wall rack from Ikea. This is phase one of a grand plan to finally get organised.

Nurse Nancy essentials

Liongirl has completely been swept up in the love for her favourite Little Golden book about Nurse Nancy. It has been given pride of place on her bedside table for weeks. It appears to actually be a reference book for nurse-hairdressers (she plans to do a double degree) in training. She has been bugging me for a little shelf just like Nurse Nancy has for weeks.

See Mama, Nancy has a tea set and bandages and a little red phone......

Since we had most of the accessories already, all we needed was a little shelf. Look what popped up at the oppie for $12 when I was dropping off bags of declutterings. Well, this is after a good clean and some undercoat.

A sample pot of a new Dulux colour called Tapioca and a little organising and voila. Apparently all we need now is  a little red phone.

All the goodies on the top two shelves are op shop finds, the little toadstool money box turned up the same time as the shelf. This baby doll has already received her full quota of  bandaids, needles and wet nappies. I am getting daily blood pressure checks and applications of yellow eyeshadow and glittery lip gloss.

Meanwhile the boy has been doing quite a bit of this,

and I have been spending my spare time trying to finish this two year cushion (oh the mortification). Can I add that crocheting in 30 degree summer heat is completely bonkers. At least it's not a blanket.

Aside from the de cluttering, I am on a project finishing frenzy. Watch this space.

2012 Before and After

I was unsure about how to start this new year. Do I acknowledge the last twelve months at all or do I just sweep it all under the rug and make a fresh start today? This last year has been the least chaotic for our family in a long, long time. We did not buy a house, sell a house, have a new baby, have children that were constantly sick or needing operations, start at a new school/kindy or discover any new dietary limitations for anyone in the family.

Our complicated child in this last year has seen his paediatrician twice. Prior to that he was known by six specialist paediatricians and a selection of therapists. For us, it is quite a novel thing to only be dealing with the usual, the everyday. There are of course ongoing complexities for our family but they are all old and familiar and I am a seasoned veteran with these and mostly in the last twelve months life has become much simpler. 

My chosen word to represent 2012 was " Grow". Ironically, this is the first year in six that I probably did not have to grow much at all. In hindsight, the previous six years that were so hard, so challenging, caused me to grow so, so much. Of course you don't realize while you are doing the growing.  So this year was perhaps a year to "Bloom" instead. For me that meant being able to take the time to do things that make my heart sing, instead of just doing what is needed to keep everyone else afloat. 

There is a lot of colour and pretty on this blog. There are a lot of frills and fluff. When your life is a layered cake of complex and difficult, it is so good to have a space to go that is all about the icing and sprinkles.  Here are all the befores and afters from this year while I crafted and created to my happy place. (I didn't feel that I did much at all this year, but surprisingly it's not as insignificant as I thought).

What became of my gratitude project? The one where I planned to post a letter of thanks every day for a year. Well, I did around 90 and then gradually life just got in the way. Many months passed and I had not written a single thank you. Then our much loved neighbours, the Menace brothers, moved , to the new house they had built a few streets away.

They may as well have moved to the Outback. Our yard was suddenly quiet after school and I realized that the year of  precious memories of happy, noisy  gangs of children playing in my backyard was a moment that had passed by. I wrote my neighbour (the mother of those wonderful boys who accepted my complicated child wholeheartedly) a thankyou card for making such a difference in our family's life, just by sharing her children with us. 

She turned up at my house a week later to thank me in person. She told me that she had just been out doing a presentation to the Country Women's Association in rural Queensland. That she had been envious of the solidarity and support that these country women had for each other. That she was saddened that her life in our little suburb did not reflect this kind of care and connectedness. And then she arrived home the next day and there was my card in her letter box. We both had a cry. And if that is not a sign that this gratitude project is an exceptionally meaningful commitment, well just bludgeon me with a hammer.

I did in fact write a list of resolutions last year but given my penchant for scribbling on scraps of paper, it is nowhere to be found. I suspect I achieved very little of it. I am only cross about not doing a camera course to learn how to use my camera properly, I did try three times but each time the course was on a day that I work. Hopefully, this year it will be easier to make it happen.

This year, I suspect is going to be very full, very busy. There is supposed to be a renovation for Betsy you know. It is supposed to start in March. I know in advance that it is supposed to take around four months. I have the good sense to know that this could be delusionally optimistic. I also have the good sense to know that it is probably going to be somewhat painful to live through but at the end it will be so, so worth it.

But the mantra for the year ahead I could not distill down to a single word this year. About a year ago, a lovely girl posted a few comments on my blog. I popped over to her blog to see what she was all about. I liked her blog a lot. It was about living simply, with less. Strangely, after commenting that day on my blog she did not post again and has not for over a year. So I won't link you over there but will say thank you to her for providing the words for me for 2013.

Less Stuff, More Life. 

I have felt bogged down by our stuff for the last three years. We have been culling and selling and donating more than I could ever have imagined and we are not done yet but we are getting there. As each item leaves our house, I feel a bounce in my step. It all started when I read this book, It's all too much by Peter Walsh a few years ago, when we were moving into Betsy and realized we had way too much stuff. 

Much of our stuff was child related paraphernalia and as time passes much of it is no longer needed. A small number of the most treasured toys and books have been boxed up to keep, most is going or gone. It is getting easier to be ruthless and emotionally detach. I am quoting William Morris daily.

"Have nothing in your home (life) that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."


Ugly serviette holder made by me in Grade 9 woodwork- gone. Shoes from my wedding that were ugly and uncomfortable - gone. Every sipper cup in the house- gone. Thankfully milk glass and vintage sheets fulfil both criteria to stay  so there will still be some very selective op shopping.

Luckily, these two are both useful and beautiful so they get to stay. Hugs are a rare commodity, sometimes she gets lucky and he tolerates it. This is twelve months ago.

This is yesterday. She is catching up with him now, soon they might look like twins.


Happy New Year to you all and may you all have more life and less stuff this year too.

A little pink and green house

So, the leftovers have all been eaten, the wrapping paper has been recycled and there are new presents to keep the kids busy. Time, me thinks, for some crafty pursuits. This little house was supposed to be ready for that special birthday last week.

There is nothing better than being surrounded by a pile of vintage wallpaper and the biggest decision of the moment to be what colour to put where. This wonderful assortment came from Ada Bea (who makes and sells her own very inspiring range of little houses), also a selection from Pomme de jour who sends out little bundles of assorted patterns she has collected.

I decided to use predominantly a pink and green combo for this one as that was probably the most acceptable  colour combination for miss Liongirl.  So here is my ta- dah!

And this was the plan from the start.

To go in this spot,

in here. (I won't whinge about the quarter strength Hog's Bristle wall colour because you all know how much it bothers me already). It actually looks the least hideous in this room as it gets so much natural light.

So, I'm off to make one for myself now. With quite a lot less pink this time. Just wanted to share the view out my lounge room window where I have been plonking myself regularly to drink cups of tea.

Actually maybe looking at all that pink and green had something to do with my wallpaper colour choices.

The neighbour's poinciana and our pink crepe myrtle happen to be flowering at the same time which I don't think has coincided in the past and it is glorious. And obviously quite inspiring.

Time for another cup of tea.

The pink-a-thon begins

It's only a few more sleeps until my littlest girl has her fourth birthday. The invitations have been sent, the theme chosen, the cake planned and the countdown of sleeps remaining  is  discussed daily. There has been no time for all the Christmas hoopla, we are in serious party planning mode. And this means some serious pink.

So I have been busy working on a birthday present surprise project for my pink loving girl. Remember this shelf for $15 from the oppie near the sea?

Well, I finally got around to painting it white and preparing it for a wallpaper makeover. I wanted to do something similar to the dresser I did a while back.

This time I decided we needed a whole lot more pink. Thank goodness for Ada from Vintage sheet addict opening her little blog shop on the other side of the world. She has THE best stash of vintage wallpaper I have seen and she is selling it in mixed bundles and also by the metre/roll. Needless to say, due to prompt international postage, Christmas came early at my place.

The Mod Podge dries so quickly in this hot humid December weather, lucky I'm a fast worker.

So, do you think it's pink enough? We'll have to wait and see what the girl thinks.

Love you, my sweet pea minxy girl.