A little bird told me....

It's been quiet here with the holidays so we have been nesting. For me that means crocheting. It's easy, I don't have to clean up after a session and I can just do a little or a lot as I feel like it.

So I thought I'd flick you the bird's eye view on how to feather your nest....

 with a bird in the tree being worth one in the crochet.

 The early bird...

 catches the nest.

Empty nesters....

should always count their Noahs before they hatch! I always knew those Noahs were cuckoos!

(* this nest is made from a cheep ball of sale wool from Spotlight called Jazzy and a pattern that was loosely based on the bowls from the last post. )

Stacking it.

It seems like everyone we know has gone away this holiday. It is Spring after all. They've gone to the 'Woomba, the north coast, the south coast, the 'Mania (Tassie), the Bay....we are here because I am going to the Costa del Wesley every day for some time on my special sunbed, getting my special suntan on the top left quadrant of my body. The Big Fella is decimating the yard with some enthusiastic Spring pruning and the boys are decimating their bodies with enthusiastic bike/ skateboard riding (and stacking).

So for me what to do, what to do... especially in the wee hours when I can't sleep.

I saw these on Seriously Daisies' site made in perfect rainbow form but I was too lazy to go and get the right colours so it is just a left over trial set. Those balls could make a fairly nice Wilma Flintstone type of necklace! 

They are a new toy therapy for Shorty's lining up tendencies. 

She can stack them inside each other.

She can line them up in a row (of course.)

I can play with her mind and just see what happens...

Predictable.

The balls can be useful livestock corrals...

or a tribute to the Carnival of Flowers in Toowoomba...

and anybody can get into the action.

Meet the Treebles.

Friday I had mother guilt.
I was dog tired. This cancer treatment thing is so very inconvenient.
The Short one came in and said nobody would play with her. The big boys were being pod people on their first day of holidays. Cyber zombies!
The game she wanted to play is fairly tedious to be honest.

Both players get a quandong seed and take turns to roll it. Then you pick a random number and count it out on a numberless board. Get it? After three rolls I get drowsy so we decided to make stuff instead.

1. Toilet rolls and googly eyes found deep in the cobwebby art cupboard.

2. Fabric scraps cut into rough rectangles.

3. Glue the frocks on the t.p. rolls.

4. Observe that baldness is not a bad look even on a toilet roll person. Shorty disagrees. So...

5. Make pom pom hair. Roll it round your hand, tie it in a bundle...

and let the kiddo cut hair legally that is not her own.

6. Test run. The Short one wants more face parts and frilly bits from the sewing box.

 Finally! There are only six here but after a long time in the Loo of Isolation (laundry loo), a teenager provided us with another blank t.p. body.

 Each one  represents a member of our family. Who will be Mother???

It seems these two are the parents of the toilet roll feebles. Treebles? One is a bit of a clown and the other has pink crossed eyes. That must be me.

It was their fifteen year anniversary the same night. The Big Fella got a roast dinner, his own bathroom cleaned from top to bottom and a 3D family portrait made by his own Shorty Mc Snorty. We were both asleep by nine o'clock!

His flowers uncannily match the Treeble's hair colours. A match made in Heaven?

Happy Anniversary Big Fella! x

Council Pick me Up

On the way to yet another breast related appointment last Saturday, I was feeling cynical, fed up and mourning the big bucks I had just forked out for some lymphatic massage. (Don't ask.) The lights changed and I crossed the road to meet this 'sign' plonked at the end of the crossing. 

Non- Brisbanians note there has been a delightful project underway for years for artists to decorate the electrical boxes near traffic lights.

It was time for a photo and a deep breath. What's not to love? It's how you look, not what you see. This very ordinary intersection has some great lines in it. If I can find a fine line ink pen somewhere, I will follow the urge to draw this. It's been a while but a red light got me to STOP and think about it.

The week end was full of life loving me. The sight of sleeping chillun always gives me pause to be thankful.

 Even the primary school party circuit was fun this week end. One was a dress up party. Lala opted to go as a rugby player. For once I appreciated her tom boy tendencies a it was the easiest costume ever and she won best dressed. LIke Nicole Kidamn in that movie where she wore a big rubber nose and got an Oscar, they'll give you a prize for anything if they think you've sacrificed your pretties for your art.

 So I was blithely skipping through the week end loving life and, would  you believe, it started loving me back via the local council collection.

Remember the Icky-yaya (Ikea) chair? I found it a companion a few doors up in perfect condition!

This one ended up back by the bin after the Big Fella saw it until I explained that it was me that had found it not the chillun and that I would perform magical feats to restore it to funky loveliness. He rolled his eyes. Ye of little faith! Suggestions re colour and shades are welcome?

We have been looking for a wicker bedhead for Lala for a long time. This one was being carried out by a woman who said she was finally dismantling her grown up daughter's room.

Here it is in situ. Lala wants to paint it yellow or turquoise. The latter matches her room better. Thoughts???

 'Tis a bit shabby chic with the lime wash. Not that there's anything wrong with that!!!

 Throw in a little West German Tiger, Tiger burning bright.....

 a  summer hat from a friend and a new crochet project and I was feeling well loved by life. 

Just as well as I have the first radiotherapy session today and then every day for the next six weeks. BUT it doesn't make you sick and it's quick. You've got to love that.

It's a sign...

Op Shop Stop and Drop

There hasn't been enough of the opping lately. After a quick drop there was a trickle of karma. 

We found was a pretty shaped basket for nestling some woolly balls in. 50 cents!

Ha, ha, ha. Hee, hee, hee. Little red jugs don't I love thee. These ones have West German markings underneath but are quite fine boned.

I really bought them for their shapely bowls at the top. $2 each!

Red Riding Hood, here, has taken to wearing all the brothers' hand me down cut offs. She is a bit of a grunge monkey, me thinks, which I kind of like. The occasional skirt or twinge of fashionista might be nice for the mother but she is determined to be a little boho princess. 

The feathered ladies have been in overproduction mode and I've been off the baking (except for the ever present pikelets) so we have been walking in the Spring sunshine and dropping eggs of at the neighbours. Noice!

The Joy Of Banality

After dropping the fifth and final offspring at her place of play I decided to turn right at the lights instead of left and straight on till Ikea. Sometimes you just need to get out of Dodge for a while.

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure dome decree...." or you could go to  Ikea.

This is the view as the lift opened in Ikea as seen by my eyeballs yesterday. It made me a little dizzy, thirsty and I needed some eye drops by the end. Such a creature of habit, I always enter at the exit and go to the "bargain" room first. Not only is it cheaper, you don't have to assemble it! I got lucky yesterday. Misplaced op shop karma! Then I like to walk back through the market upstream like a browsing salmon emerging at the cafe. Do you have a set Ikea method?

It was quite therapeutic to have a wander on my own without anybody knowing about my "issues". Even looking at the fake art was enjoyable... some nice ideas there....

including chicken cushions of the drawing ilk. 

These are some of my staples whenever I go to Ikea. The scissors, the dish mop, the octopus laundry hanger, the fat felt pens with stamps on one end...every time.

A set of glasses is usually purchased each time I go too. I fill them with water at the dispenser near the cafe which thankfully sells pizza as well as those dodgy hot dogs just before leaving. The restaurant was not within my ability range just yet. 

 The empty carbs were necessary to remodel the rear of the car for the "bargains".

Yes, that is a glockenspiel in the boot. I find it makes a pleasant tinkling sound when I take a sharp corner or drive over a speed bump and the sticks roll down its keys. Shorty is convinced there are fairies at the bottom of the wagon.

With a little manouvring from the boy at the loading dock who,  I suspect, may have a degree in physics, we managed to stuff it all in with the glockenspiel intact.

Ikea chocolate provided the sugar hit for the drive home. They think of everything don't they?

Having fulfilled the need for restoring some order in the chaos.....

there's a nice sunny to spot to sit and read this afternoon after I cancel the hospital appointments because now I'm too tired to go anywhere!