Renovations in the works

I’m not talking house renovations, because we’re socking away every cent into the mortgage for the time being!

It’s this tired old look that’s being renovated, and I’m going for a whole new design, with this gorgeous studio on the right as my inspiration.

I figured, if I can’t have my own dedicated work space yet, I might as well redesign my blogs to look as good as Posie’s studio!

I’m going with fresh pink, green, cyan & yellow accents on a clean, white background:

Better than Blogging…

Life has been really full lately, with creativity, family time and lots of finished projects.
We’ve had a bit more than our share of illness, too, but I’ve coped better this time because I’ve paced myself more.

• I found curtains for the kids’ rooms & the lounge room, and almost finished sewing a pair of curtains for our dining room.
  {by hand, because my machine is still packed away}

• I’ve altered a skirt for Wren’s period school excursion later this month, and am hunting down a cream blouse to match.
  {she’s either a convict or a lady, but she’s cute either way}

• Last night, I began a Birthday Garland {thankyou, SouleMama} for Wren’s birthday in October, and will share with you as it progresses.
  -With this much time up my sleeve, I should be able to finish it by hand if my machine hasn’t emerged yet. So no excuses.

• Wren had her first cubs camp the other weekend.

• The Bump had a sleepover at Granma’s place the same weekend.

• WonderHubby & I spent that weekend, from 7am Saturday until 2:30pm Sunday, alone together.
  It was the first time we’ve had for us for a few years, and it was wonderful.

• We found a fantastic computer cupboard at the op shop, which looks fabulous in our home.

• Our old computer came out of contract and we’ve bought a new one outright, which put an end to some of our debt, and lowered our monthly bills.

• Most of the boxes in our garage are now unpacked and we’re close to being able to put the carpet down and use it as a family room.
  {and then I can unpack my sewing machine, yay!}

• Today I even tidied the linen press {pictured}. Is it beyootiful or what?
  I had to take a picture, because it’s probably the last time it will evah be so neat.

• And blog-wise, I’ve chosen a new theme for Kidzarama and created a header image to suit.

For the moment, life is better than blogging.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Just thought I’d write a quick note to wish you all a wonderful Easter & a safe long weekend.

We’re all choc’d out here, and very little of what you can see on the right is left at this stage.

Better to let them eat them and get the chocolate buzz out of the way, I say.

By the way, does anyone know what a light rash of small, scattered blisters (mainly on the torso) could be besides chicken pox?

Yep, we’ve just all gotten over bad throat infections and now there’s something new to keep us occupied!

Moving House? Pack a Sanity Box!

Even though we’ve lived mostly in the same general area since before we married almost ten years ago, we’ve lived in seven different houses (one of them twice), and one flat.

Which means we’ve made eight moves in the almost 12 years that we’ve been together.

I guess you could say I know a little about moving house, with or without kids in tow.

And this is my number one tip for moving house: Pack a Sanity Box!

What do you put in a Sanity Box?

Everything you think you might need during the first day or so in your new home.

Here’s the list for our Sanity Box:

{may we never need it again}

• Door mat (old towels if it’s rainy)
• Toilet roll
• Soap
• Hand towel
• Tea towel
• Washing up liquid
• Tea bags, coffee, sugar, kettle, a couple of teaspoons
• Snacks
• 1 set of crockery & cutlery for everyone
• Teethbreesh & paste
• A change of clothes for everyone

For the Kids:

• Cold drinks and snacks
• Favourite toy(s)
• Pillow & fave bedlinen

Yep, it’s a kinda big box.

But it will make your move so much easier that you’ll wonder how you ever coped last time you moved.

~ And treat yourself to takeaway for dinner.

{Thanks to Melanie over at Our Crafts n Things for the inspiration for this post.}

Autumn, Fall, call it what you will & win

It’s that time of year again, my favourite season, Autumn.
What a relief after the horrendous heat of Summer, a brief respite before the Winters’ frosts arrive.

This is our first Autumn in our new home, and it’s so lovely to see the changes in the area:
Late-blooming crepe myrtles all along the street in all different colours, the end of our first tomato crop, neighbours venturing out with the lovely weather.

Even the cat is loving it, sunning himself near the vegie patch as I write.

It also means I have more energy, which is great.
~Apparently the tiredness of CFS is exacerbated by high temperatures, which also includes hot baths, showers and overheating generally.

Explains why I’ve been able to catch up with my blogging & photography, doesn’t it? So hopefully we can all expect great things from me in the months to come.

Just let me win lotto, so that we can spend Summers in Tasmania, okay?

Which season is your favourite, and why?

The best answer wins a free blog button made by moi!

Okay, this is how it is for me…

I know I come and go here and it must seem that I’m the least reliable person on the face of the planet.

I say I’m going to do something & quite often nothing happens.

There is a reason, however, and I’ve had a pretty tough week, so I’m just going to go verbally diuretic and let it all hang out.

Sorry.

and yes, I know that grammar was awful. so shoot me.

~ For that, too.

So what’s the story?

You’ve probably seen the page link at the top of this blog; “What is CFS?”.

Well, it’s a real pain, to be frank. That’s one thing I didn’t put in the information on that page.

I actually thought that a detailed look at my past week might help people in understanding more about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, & how it affects the lives of those it touches..

To be brief, I’ve spent four out of the last five days sleeping.

And the nights. And I’m still tired.

The kidz have missed me, as I’ve gone to bed while they were still at the dinner table twice, and still been sleeping on two mornings when they both left for school.

Thank heavens for Grandma!

WonderHubby has missed me, for much the same reason.

My mother has seen quite a bit more of me than usual this week, but I’ve been kind of busy snoring, so the conversation has lagged a bit.

The cat has missed me too, and has spent each night curled up tight beside me to get maximum “oomph” from my drowsily-delivered strokes at 1.30am.

Tonight, I’m in one of my ‘productive’ phases.

This means that:

1. I will get a lot done in a short time. It’s a great time to finish unfinished jobs or write blog posts for the future,
2. I will probably be unable to sleep tonight,
3. I am in danger of burning out if I don’t manage to cool it soon.

My life is a continual roller-coaster of this cycle, sometimes more or less pronounced, but it’s usually there to be spotted by the keen eye.

This is why I come over all enthusiastic at times & start things I can’t possibly keep up with over the long term.

And before you ask, I’m not bipolar.
I’ve checked.
Several times, in fact.

It’s just the way my body works now, and I’ve pretty much made my peace with it.

Pretty much.

So next time I announce wild new plans and charge off with all guns blazing towards a new goal, please keep in mind that I do intend to see things through, but my body may well have other plans…

Surgery for our boy, but not what you thought

Don’t panic! This time it’s Mr Underfoot who went onto the table.

You see it’s like this…

He’s been driving us crazy at night for a couple of weeks, meowing loudly at all hours.

Then a few nights ago he started peeing everywhere but in his litter tray.

The first time he did it on the dirty clothes near the back door, I thought, “I know I should have put those in the laundry”.

When he peed on the empty Aldi bags that I hadn’t put back in the boot of the car, I thought maybe he was telling me it’s time I tidied up.

But when I caught him peeing in my left shoe at 2am Friday morning, (the nice turquoise ones with beads and embroidery on them) I rubbed his face in it and pushed him out the back door.

The next morning, I regretted my treatment of him and decided it was time for a visit to the cat doctor.

Said cat doctor told me that the loud meowing and avoidance of the litter tray was the result of a painful blockage down there, caused by cystitis.

I felt this big.

(holding up fingers, very close together).

Surgery was needed, consisting of a catheter (yowch!) to flush poor Mr Underfoot’s waterworks & remove the blockage.

So of course yours truly agreed to have it done straight away.

Mr Underfoot was carted away under the vet’s arm like a sack of very reproachful potatoes.

Fortunately, it was a very slight blockage because I did something right and got him to the vet’s before it got serious.

We had a very wobbly-legged, furry boy home by 6.30pm and he was very glad indeed that he was back.

And so are we.

Facebook and school days revisited

So I finally gave into WonderHubby’s urgings -

Not those urgings!

Get your mind out of the gutter, will you!

- and joined up with Facebook.

It’s been great catching up with the guys from school, and I’m even connecting with family on there.

At the same time, Wren has started the new school year and Mr Bump is due to do so on Monday.

Stay tuned for lots of cute ‘first day’ photos!

A new reality unfolds…

I was doing some bloghopping this evening & loved what Kirsten at The Soccer Mom Files is working on at the moment.

It’s a new reality show detailing the love-life of…. well, you’ll just have to go see for yourself.

Let me just say that I’m gifted with foresight, and there’ll be enough adultery, blood and betrayal to satisfy the most lowbrow audience.

Here’s the first episode… er, post… and you can go on from there.

Enjoy!

WrenMuffin

Cooking has this effect on us in this house.

It makes us smile ecstatically and then our teeth fall out.

Actually, I hate cooking, so it’s just as well that WonderHubby is so good at making omelettes, pumpkin soup and scrummy roast dinners isn’t it?

Plus he’s generous and good looking to boot.
Love you, hon!

Anyhoo, Wren loves making muffins, but the cleanup?

Not so much.

That’s where I come in.