884

Happy Birthday to my lovely mother.

883

Today I took time for myself.  3.5 hours of me time and whatever I felt like doing.  There was book reading, I LOVE Murakami and his latest book I only put down when the sheer weight of it overwhelms me.  I finished piecing a quilt top for another friend's babe due in only 4 weeks.  I picked about a third of our remaining basil and made it into pesto.

It felt like a glorious indulgence.

882

I haven't made any dolls for a while now, but do have a few stashed away.  They are a lot of work and at the time I was making quite a few, it was hard to make any money with them.  Of course anyone who sells handmade goods knows that it's that balance between effort and reward.  I wasn't looking to get rich and honestly, it probably zeroed out in terms of effort for price, but I didn't mind.  Now I tend to focus more on things that are more easily picked up in short snatches.

This lovely lass is off to Ella's prep teacher, a gift for a special girl in her life.  I have to stop myself from giving them to those I appreciate, remembering that they are happy to pay, as I myself would be.

Feeling a little addled today.  There are days when time gets away from me and there is simply too much to squeeze into the hours of one day.  I can feel my insides starting to twist anxiously, which is silly, because the majority of these things are wants rather than things that must be done.  I'm reading a great book and dying to get back to it; I'm into making a quilt for a babe due in a few weeks and want to finish the top; I'm seriously considering going back to school, as in high school to do my VCE and wondering to what end; I'm trying to get our tiny house in order and that makes me feel even more overwhelmed, you know how it gets crazy crazy messy before it gets better?   Aaaargh I'm winding myself up.

As a complete aside, has anyone ever printed their blog into a book format?  I know that there are a few programs you can use to do it for you, but it's long been on my to do list.  It's such a lovely record of our lives, that I would love to see it in print.  Let me know x

881

Oh, and there were also clouds!

880

I had a thing for lines when we were out today.

879

Our speedy chicks.

878

My oh my blogger you've given me a fright today.  I have resisted changing to Google Chrome because, well, I worry that I'll stuff something up right royally when it's me rather than my work IT department making the changes.  It didn't work and I thought I'd ruined my blog forever!   So, I guess I am still capable of learning new skills because, touch wood, here I still am!

This weekend darling Ella scored $25.00 in cold hard cash from her dad as she finally mastered riding her bike without training wheels - starting, cycling, stopping and it turns out that she was quite hard to stop.  We rode for ages, correction we ran after our scooter girl and biker chick, should have got my running gear on properly, rather than my pants with the belt that kept coming undone leaving me clutching at my crotch as I scuttled down the street!

877

876

A morning hike around Sugarloaf Reservoir in Christmas Hills. We'd never been before but it's just gorgeous and although I didn't get many of them clearly on film, there were so many kangaroos. The whole circuit is 18kms and although the big kids would love to have done the whole loop, our little ones probably only managed maybe 7kms, which was a portion in and then backtracking.

Quiet afternoon in this house.

875

You may have gathered that bread is important to me. We don't actually use a great deal for sandwiches as no-one in this house is a huge fan of regular sandwiches. We do love good toast, we love buns of all sorts and the girls do like cheese and bacon rolls.

I have been known to buy Baker's Delight rolls because as I mentioned, Ella needs sandwich alternatives for her lunchbox. I have never felt that good about them though. I know lots of kids like them, but if I really think about them I find their toppings a little dubious, although there are definitely worse things.


Now I've found the right loaf recipe, there is no reason for us not to make our own c&b rolls (or for me pesto and swiss). Our everyday bread is a milk loaf which means that the crust is soft, which is really what you want for this type of roll.


I have figured out the sums, but it makes for boring reading. The upshot is that I can make 12 c&b rolls for about 1/2 of what I would have paid in BD for 6 and there really is no comparison.





If anyone would like the recipe, happy to send it on to you.

874

What a gorgeous sky, a catch cry of mine almost every time I get into the car, but honestly they almost always are. I dream of one day printing images of all the skies I've loved and plastering my one day studio wall with them. I would then lie down on my day bed and just dream and look at my clouds. One day....



This afternoon we drove over to the memorial tower at Kangaroo Grounds. Jo mentioned it to me a while ago and today I remembered I had been there once before, with my parent and grandparents when they visited from the UK. I was about Ella's age.

I don't remember climbing the tower back then, although I gather they've repaired it over the last decade, so perhaps it wasn't open back then. I was terrified, today that is. One of my real fears is stairs that are open between the rises, such as is the case with a metal spiral staircase! My lovely gang here were supportive, but giggled at me all the same. We managed to get some snaps at the top before the heavens opened on us. We ran back to the car and the girls ate sandwiches while we all fogged up the windows.

A lovely Easter. Family, time at home, not much else.

873

Lest you think there was no chocolate in our days, I made the darkest of dark fudge sauces to go with our pears. It was dark, rich, a bit bitter and more than enough sweetness for me.

872

This year's hunt was over, once again much faster than I anticipated. What excitement though, if only these days could last forever. There are moments when I get such pangs knowing that the world keeps moving forwards, regardless of how you want to slow or even freeze the moments.

When you fell so hard for your love, those heart stopping moments filled with such longing there were times you felt you couldn't breathe. When we were first pregnant for the first time. I remember walking from our first scan in London, having seen our babe, knowing she was really there and really real, walking along feeling that life was so heightened. Life is wonderful, if you're lucky, if you're happy, but once your children come along my word, everything becomes so much more, you are so much more invested in life. The stakes are so much greater and the pleasures much more intense.

Our girls are so perfect, to us, and the years are flying by. I never want to stop appreciating the time that I have where they love us so much and want to be with us above all else. There's nothing like it.

871

Lunch with my parents tomorrow. They provide the lovely venue and we'll bring the food. I know lamb is popular for Easter but I'm not a big fan, finding any red meat very rich. Instead we'll have a Spanish style braise of chicken with loads of garlic, olive oil and white wine, served with a saffron pilaf and a dressed salad. For dessert, I know I must sound like a killjoy, but I'm not so fond of chocolate! However, there will be vanilla and orange poached pears with a macadamia and muscavado crumble and for those who so desire, a hot fudge sauce. Sounds pretty good to someone who's only had savoy crackers and cheese for lunch!

870

We're busy with Easter preparations in this part, with the decorated eggs forming part of our table decorations. They do smell, however, rather eggy... not sure if that dissipates as they cool otherwise, hmmmm.

Homemade hot cross buns are a necessity and although I know I'm particular about my bread and admit that I'm not an artisan baker, these are way way better than any supermarket or chain bakery bun and honestly, really not at all hard.

I'm big on illusions around here, fairies, Christmas, Easter. This week Ella asked me if the Easter Bunny was real. I never say yes directly, instead "why do you ask darling" oh I don't know mum, I'm just not sure. I always fob and give responses such as "how sad for those children who don't believe, what do they do at Easter time if the Easter bunny doesn't visit?". I do wonder how long it will last though and worry when it ends. Ella is such a true believer in fantasy, I know she'll be sad to think they're not real. Is it wrong to want to carry it on forever?!

869

Chocolate sorbet, chocolate mousse, cupcakes, muffins, fudge sauce for sundaes. It's a very productive kitchen in the garden at my parent's house.

868

The quilting was quicker than I'd imagined it would be and I'm really pleased with the result. Blowing on the line at my parents house the quilt completely mirrored their Manchurian pear which is turning the most gorgeous shade of red. Made me a little sad as last week our own glorious tree, whose beauty I've enjoyed whilst lying in bed, developed a split right down the trunk and had to be taken down. Such a shame.

This quilt is for my niece Hazel, whose own daughter is due in June. My god, I'm going to be a Great Aunt!!

867

I had posted this quilting on pinterest and thought it looked too tricky for me, I'm not great at free motion sewing. I decided to give it a go though, as I think it suits the design of the quilt, mirroring the shape of the leaves.

A bit of time in drawing up a 4 x 4" grid and then using a template for the petal or peel shapes, but it made it much easier to sew.