Life Up Close

The Cheshire Cat

Beanie, Finn and I spent the day at the beach in Frankston admiring the wonderful sand sculptures. The theme this year was 'Creepy Crawlies', but I just so loved the Cheshire Cat's grin. I have added a few more piccies of the day because there really was just an abundance of things to grin at.

Bed Bugs

Lair of the Spider Goddess

A tribute to Tim Burton (obviously!)

Gorgeous Tree Spirit - reminds me of the ones from The Lord of the Rings

The Flea Circus 

We had a grand old time which included Beanie careering down the longest, highest slides she had ever been on (and which had, not seconds previously, frightened a 10 year old!) with the hugest grin on her face. 

That's my girl. Adventurous little boggwoppit that she is. Love it!

Back to blog the nourishment in the next day or two.

Byeee

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemamma. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

Nourish Me

It's daddy...

I Heart U

Gosh. Here I am again. I'm a glutton for late-night punishment that's for sure. Last night it was 2am before I could prise my hands from the keyboard. Damn that WiFi. Damn it to hell. (We wants it. The precioussss).

I've been thinking a lot about my 'word' for this year. 2010 was the year of 'Compassion' - for myself mainly as I have been known to be a tad hard on myself. Apparently. I'm not sure if I was more compassionate with myself to be honest. I tried harder though and I guess, in the end, that's what this whole yearly word thing is all about. Trying to find the right way 'in' to oneself in the moment. 

The word that has come to me for this year is 'Nourish'. 

Like compassion (and in some ways directly linked to it), nourishment is something I find hard to both give and experience. I rarely bother to think about self nourishing as my mind, body and days are stretched into the perpetual nourishment of others - particularly small, delectable others whose needs are many and often. I don't even have much nourishment left over to offer to my poor, long-suffering husband, who has been known to return home after a hard day's work, (and a long train journey) to find the stove cold and the table empty. He then has to whip up some dinner us both while I lie there in a stupor of tired bewilderedness. 

Nom Nom Nom
(image courtesy of MyVeganQuest.blogspot.com)

Actually, food is one of the main reasons why this word came up for me this year. I was going to say that I am not much of a cook. But that's actually not true. I'm a pretty good cook most of the time. My problem is that I don't enjoy it. More often than not, I find myself sagging in front of the doors of my pantry/fridge, sighing dramatically and wondering if it is not some form of subtle child abuse to offer ones progeny beans on toast for the second time in a week. Thank goodness the wee man is not yet truly experiencing my half-arsed approach to food. (Isn't 'arse' a good word?). Anyway, I digress. I am feeling the long-standing effects of nutritional laziness in many more kilos than I need, (many more kilos than a few of me needs actually), and a severely depressed immune system. (I know. It's not enough that my head is depressed, now my immune system is jumping on board. Bastard). And so. And so. And so.

I need to take the time this year to find out what truly nourishes me and then find the time to do it. This includes exercise (bleh!), proper cooking - with whole, organic, seasonal produce and such, (argh), for the whole family and, of course, trying, trying, trying to fit in some bloody meditation or yoga or writing. Oh. Sweet. Jesu. Well, what year would be complete without some massive, fear inducing, sweat producing, impossible list of changes? Certainly not mine.

Actually, it's really not quite as overwhelming as it sounds. The food thing - well,yeah. It will be a jump out of my comfort zone to meal plan (and I will have to) and to prepare things in advance because I'm such a 'seat of my pants' girl generally. But the rest of it - well that's just a case of organisation and not punishing myself (compassion) if I don't get it right first time, don't do it every day or don't meet my own (admittedly stupidly high) expectations. Again - this is about finding the things which nourish me, top up my well, feed my spirit, my heart and my mind. It's not about getting it right/perfect/done. The  journey into nourishing myself will hopefully leave me with some kind of road to follow in the future. I am not expecting miracles. I am not expecting it to happen overnight. We are talking about ahumhum years of unhealthy eating, not exercising and not wanting to change. So - I'll take it at a snail's pace and we shall see what the coming year shall bring.

In order to add a visual element to this idea of nourishment, I was going to do a '365 Days of' type thing but I think that's putting the cart before the horse. Too much pressure. SO - I am instead going to do one post a week on the whole subject of nourishment in all it's forms and this will include a photo of something that is nourishing me that week be it by mouth, eyes, heart, hands, body, soul, ears or whatever. I invite you all to join me.

Did you get that?

I INVITE YOU ALL TO JOIN ME!

Starting this week, I will write a weekly post and add a photograph about nourishment. All you have to do is the same and link it back to my post. I am even attempting to create a button you can grab and put on your blog to keep us all connected. Keep an eye out for it. (And an ear out for any sign of a technical breakdown - eyes bleeding, colourful expletives, steam coming out of my ears etc).

Life's a....

I do hope you'll join me - leave a comment and let me know if you do. Share your world. Often things which nourish one person can act as a nudge or inspiration for another. I'd love to read about the things, people, places, acts, which nourish you and who knows what might result from it. 

What's the Happy Haps?

HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL!

I have been trying to find some time to do a big catch up of all the things I've been up to. It's taken me until NOW to find the space and the quiet. The kidlets are tucked up in bed and all I am in the mood for is a creative catch up. Yes, I have been knitting and sewing up a storm recently. Being the kind of all or nothing gal that I am, I decided to make my (very tall) hubble a quilt for Christmas. I haven't ever made a quilt before and my hubbles ended up being 6ft wide by 7ft long (to cover his toesies). I made it because he has been sleeping at work off and on for the last two years due to the workload. We live nearly two hours out of the city and when he is finishing at 3am it's hardly worth coming home to get up a couple of hours later to go back, so he sleeps on the floor under his coat. I know. So I am putting together a 'Work Survival Kit' so that at least he has something warm and comfy to overwork under. But this quilt (and a couple of other little bits) kept me up until 2am on Christmas Eve. I still didn't manage to finish it but here is a picture of the WIP.

Apologies for the crap picture.

It needs sewing through and binding at the ends. It's also a bit wonky but then, so am I. So there you go.

I've also been doing a little of this:

Tie onesies for a couple of friends who are pregnant. Made one for Finn too because they are so cute! I made them from this tutorial which is awesome. Try it. You'll like it.

And once the wee girl saw Finn's she wanted one. Because that's the kind of funky sister of chic I am raising. Of course, it will probably be trashed by Friday because she is a little rough on her clothes! 

I've also been knitting up a storm. I knitted up some 'sleeves' for a couple of good girlfriends (and hoped they wouldn't think it was a crap present!). Apparently they love them (though they could just be being kind). They are like long (to the elbow or upper arm) soft, silky things that look like very long fingerless gloves. You can wear them with t-shirts or tank tops etc. I think they're cool. I'll have to get photo's of the girls wearing them for my ravelry site which is here.

I have also been up to my neck 'Neck Warmers' -  the pattern is listed on my ravelry site for FREE. And it's SO easy but it looks surprisingly good. Honest. My husbands was the most muted of the one's I knitted but with all of them I used three to four balls of wool (together) and they turned out lovely for such a beginner. The buttons that you add really make a difference too. They step the project up and make it look like something you would buy. 

Nice hubby volunteered to have his photie taken wearing his neck warmer (and his pjs!)

I have finished Finn's Eastment Jacket but need to sew it up. I also have two vintage red pixie hats finished but in need of sewing up and two jumpers. I know. It's just that I don't like the sewing things up bit. I like the knitting bit. Anyway, when I get it together to finish it. I'll post and link to them, if you're interested.

What else? Hmmm... The beautiful wee boy is now 7 months old and soooo beautiful. 

7 Months and covered in solids.

The Beanie is wonderful and dreadful challenging in equal measure at the moment. She can be amazingly helpful and she LOVES her little brother but we have had an increase in the defiance and she is developing a somewhat aggressive streak in little ways. Not sure what's going on with her but I'm trying to keep my cool and find the patience to deal with it. I'm not even going to talk to you about the whole eating thing! Too traumatic. As you can see though, she's full of life and personality!

 Oh and these are some other little crafty projects I've finished recently.

 The lovely 'Bandit' - a sock monkey made for Finn while I was pregnant with him.

And this little fella is for a friends nearly 2 year old boy whose birthday is coming up. He keeps stealing 'Minty' the green and white sock monkey I made for his sister!

Well, I have another two blog posts up my (knitted) sleeves including one on my 'word for the year' (last year was 'Compassion') but this is just really a round up of the crafty goodness I've been enjoying.