Love Meccano!

This weekend I think that I might take the kids down to the Melbourne Meccano Exhibition in Brighton to provide them with a little inspiration for their project. I love meccano. The way it does up. The metal. The amazing things that you can make with it. Yay!

Danger in the kitchen

Ok, one of those kind of afternoons... I love this mixer. It's quiet, light, easy to use and we got it from Skip Shopper's Grandparents & May made plenty of sponges with this beauty. Special . It really whizzes a storm and we have it out all the time, until now. One birthday cake too many. Smoke. Yep. Smoke coming out. Luckily, it started to smoke when the cake had finished smoking, I did have to hand mix the colours for the marbling in.

It is actually the second appliance we have blown up today. The first one made me believe that there was a power outage with the rain storm. The boys were making toasties (baked bean) after school, and then the youngest one (6yrs) decided to make one too, popped it in the breville...and futt. Yep. There was a noise. That should have been the clue, but no, I still thought that the power has just gone out. Called the neighbour on the "stuck" phone (the one attached to the wall. No, she was right, decided that she was on a different grid. Had a lovely long chat. Got off the phone, answered a phone message from Edna (95) down the road about the postman leaving my mum's mail at her house, forgot to ask her about the power, spoke to my mum (her neighbour) forgot to ask her about the power... then rang the power people. No power outage. IS THE SWITCH DOWN???? Oh, you mean that one that is switched down? (I have never seen THAT one down before - only individual ones - yikes! Must have been a biggie!) Yep. Ok, comprehendo.... Yes, I won't use the toastie anymore kind sir....promise.... Now I look at it, the wires are a little melted.....................

Nice afternoon.

Cake is cooked now.

Let's hope I can do dinner with no hitches

Day 19 - And the winner is... MissyP!

With the help of two of my sons and my lovely sewing basket, the draw was done, not at 8pm last night, but first thing this morning. If that is your name there, then you are the lucky winner of the giveaway! When I have your address it will be on it's way to you!

Today is an exciting day in our house with the school play - matinee & evening - all three boys in it...three tired little boys tomorrow! One will be a crocodile, another a teenager and the other a butler.

Head over to The Byron Life to some great pics & links to others joining in A Photo a Day in August

Day 18 - Time is ticking by

Today is one of those days that I watch the clock. Lots to do & not enough time...I love this clock. It came from Skip shopper's grandparent's house & sat on their mantel above the wood stove in the kitchen. It is a wind up & ticks really loudly. It has a wind up alarm too that I set for just before the boys fly in the door from school so I can remember to breath before they do. Tick tock.

Head over to The Byron Life to some great pics & links to others joining in A Photo a Day in August

Don't forget that today is the last day for the giveaway, so if you want to enter, all you need to do is to leave a comment on the post below! Good luck. Gotta go.

Day 17 - Crisp & Clean

Today for me it was all about cleaning and washing...one of life's mundane tasks. I took my mind off it with listening to great vinyls on our record player that we have just brought back from my mum's holiday place with our great collection of records (all mainly from the 80's...) My 6 year old said this morning (first day of record player in the house) "You know, I'm really getting into this record thing mum." He played records before school and after school. Musical bliss!

Head over to The Byron Life to some great pics & links to others joining in A Photo a Day in August

Day 16 - Still life from the beach side

This a still life that my middle son took yesterday (that is way it is day 16...day 17 still to come) We had a weekend at the beach and this was a collection that he found on a little walk & he wanted to take a picture of them. I like what he has done.

Head over to The Byron Life to some great pics & links to others joining in A Photo a Day in August

A Scarf a day - brown & orange in the hair

This is a lovely brown & orange paisley scarf from Skip shopper's granny May that I was lucky enough to inherit. They were all nicely folded in a drawer all very neatly. I wish that I was that neat with my scarves...

I love my neck piece that Skip Shopper made for me from a found box of Singer bits. I just had to show it off!

Did I mention that on Saturday I went to Yarraville Market & saw Sew Hum & her gorgeous crochet work & lovely bebuska dolls & pencil cases, met Beccasaurus & saw all the fantastic baby mats that she has been making, pencil cases, tee shirts, and purses. Their stalls looked really good & their stock looked fantastic. I also saw Glenda from Reaburn who makes gorgeous retro fabric cushions & lampshades who said that she will be opening a shop over summer down at the peninsula (watch this space). The girl who did watercolours next to Sew Hum was amazing & I also met some locals from Kensington/Flemington who quilt and knit. And then I bumped into Curly Pops & met Tinnygirl! What a small world it is.

Must get on with the day...class to plan for the girls - 7 girls cutting out fabric at once. Should be fun.

A photo a day in august - day three

This is part of our collection of tins that we inherited from Skipshopper's grandparents. I really love tins to hide things in...like threads, scissors, buttons, knick knacks... and all sorts of other things! I especially love tins that already have stories to tell. I am sure that these tins could tell a great many stories.

You can head over to The Byron Life to see who else is playing along with A Photo in a Day in August or join in.

A photo a day in August - Day two

Moss , originally uploaded by megs threads.

The Byron Life is hosting a photo a day in august, which I jumped on as I hope that I may improve on my photography skills...unfortunately, I have already missed a day...however, we had a really lovely day today which provided a some opportunity for photography (see my flickr for more). We decided to go on a picnic, inspired by my neighbours doing a similar soujourn, and put our finger on the map to Sugarloaf Reservoir in Christmas Hills, via the Kangaroo Grounds Memorial Lookout. A race to the top of the lookout, an amazing look around each and every way, and then the slow (scary for some) climb down. Sad to see the reservoir so empty, however we were so blessed to have 3 mobs of kangaroos bound past us whilst we were walking around. This picture is of the moss that was around there, I love moss & there was plenty there, and many varieties to see. I love the different textures and colours.

Always great to get out and see the bush. It was a sad drive home the long way through the Christmas Hills, seeing for the first time, first hand the severity of the February bush fires, the tears well up as I felt the people's and the place's pain and I didn't feel right to pull out the camera there.

doodly-doo, oh, doodly-do

I must confess that I am an obsessive doodler. It started at a very young age when I would watch my mother when she was thinking or talking on the phone doing these amazing drawings. I used to think that she should be an artist with the drawings that she she did. She told me that they were doodles. I now do it when I need to think, relax, form thoughts, pass a moment by. Do you doodle?

..what we did today...a little bit of sewing

So, today, two of my boys were watching me putting together all the little bags of eye, nose, mouth, eyebrow, abstract shapes, threading 32 needles, then sewing myself a little felt needle book to look after those needles all in preparation for these 2 (only 1 hour) classes with kids tomorrow... when .... they declared that they would like to do some sewing now....

This is John's (8) Lobster. He said that I could show it to the class as an "eg" (his words) for them

This is Pete's (6) pocket book (sorry for the blur - see below for non blur - he really wanted his hands in). For his pocket. He said he thought he might try a different stitch to blanket stitch on the front (a bit of flare).

And Frank (9) made us morning tea. Voila

Words and Pictures - Fragant

I love waking up on Sunday morning to the fragrant smell of coffee and waffles. Coffee is one of my favourite smells in all time, and the smell of waffles cooking in the morning is just precious. The fragrance fills the house until every corner has been saturated with waffle. Then we gobble them up covered in maple syrup, tomatoes, bacon, lemon & sugar, yogurt, or whatever we feel like, and sip our coffee. Yum.

Egg-Free Waffles:

2 Cups of flour

1&1/2 tsp baking soda

2 cups milk

1 tbsp sunflower oil

Whizz this all together & then put a few tablespoons onto your waffle iron & cook until golden. Enjoy!

Thanks Pip for a great theme again this week.

Little Things

This week's theme for the great words and pictures set up by Meet me at Mikes of Little Things and if you want to read some of the other great stories, then just have a look over here and settle down for a read.



The words "Anger Management For Mums" flashed at me on the brochure in the Maternal and Child Health Centre. I grabbed the brochure & stuffed it in my bag before anyone could see me. It was a red brochure. Why red? Was that so that everyone would be able to see the people who had picked it up in their mother's groups? Thank goodness I wasn't with anyone. I pushed the brochure further down into the bag just in case it surfaced when I went to the shops later.
"Come on, let's get out of here." I said to my youngest.

I knew that I wasn't that angry, but still was it all right to scream like a banshee between 4 and 6 pm to 3 boys aged between 3 & 7. I know that there were a lot worse things that could be happening out there, but I also knew that there were a lot better things that could be happening. I wanted to find a way to stop that fire that built up inside me until I felt like getting one of the kids, it didn't matter which & throttling them. I knew it wasn't pc to talk about, but that was how I felt. I knew I couldn't throttle. I even knew that hitting wasn't ok, so all that was left was to scream. Once the screaming was done, I was like a wet rag all rung out. Nothing left except sorrow and remorse. All I could do was apologise for my terrible behaviour. I justified it with the fact that they were learning the full spectrum of emotion and that they would not be emotional cripples. Great! I knew I was wrong deep down, that screaming at the top of my lungs at them was not really doing anything.

I timidly booked into the course (with free childcare - whoopee!) ready to be lectured about my abhorrent behaviour. I expected there to be a bunch of really angry women there. What do really angry women look like? Wow! They just look like me, and you, and every other woman around me that I always see. It was the most empowering day of my life. There was understanding. There was nodding. There was sadness. There was a richness and most of all there were strategies, real life strategies on how to get through the anger.

The most important thing that I learnt from this was some words from the lady running the course.

When things are getting out of control, and they won't listen to you, or you feel angry, just slip their hand into yours, and remember that they are only this small once and your anger will melt away. They are just Little Things.

Words & Pictures - Cosy

picture courtesy: su-lin

When I grew up in Lower Templestowe, there was a big paddock between our house and our school. We did not have to walk very far to school, in fact the walk was very short. My brother, four years older than I, my sister, half way between us, and I walked together up the crunchy gravel driveway under the big gum trees and out onto the concrete pavement. We would then turn right past the tall brick fence of the Boggi's house and run past the giant gate with the barking German Sheppard to get to the corner house with the sagging paling fence that had teeth missing. I would sometimes run a stick along the fence until I got the short brick fence with the black brick topping that ran to the corner angles. At the corner, the three of us would hold hands and look both ways before we crossed over Hazel Drive. We would then climb up the little worn-in dirt path that was in the cliff that would take us into the over grown and neglected paddock. I loved walking through this paddock to school because it felt like we were going on an adventurous journey. We would talk about the mysteries of the glasshouse that was in the next paddock and why all of the windows had been smashed. I always wondered if there was anyone in there and if there any plants were growing in there. There was a very falling down old fence that would have been very easy to get through, however, none of us were brave enough to go through it.

When it rained, we had gumboots and bright yellow rain capes to wear that protected our bags as well & had tiny slits at the front for our hands to come out. What this meant was that we couldn't really move our arms at all and had to be really careful not to fall over. I remember one day my sister falling over on the way home and falling face first into a muddy puddle. My brother and I couldn't stop laughing because she couldn't get her hands out to get up & she was just rolling around like a yellow lump in the mud. When we got home, mum quickly got all of her clothes off and popped her in the bath and made her a delicious hot chocolate and hot cinnamon and sugar toast to warm her up.

I was a very quick learner, even at that young age, so whenever it rain (and take note you youngen's, it did seem to rain a lot more back in the 70's), I would make sure that I got as wet and muddy as possible in the paddock on the way home to make sure that I could get that bath, hot chocolate and cinnamon toast and be nice and cosy....

tomato heaven

we have been doing a bit of thrifty buying lately with the humble tomato. Firstly on a trip to Lederderg Gorge, we found ourselves at Jeff Jone's fruit and veggie stall in Bacchus Marsh where we bought a whole box of tomatoes for $5. Yikes! I hear you cry! So I had to make sauce, as in the sauce you put on snags, chops, chips or anything you like. One batch with Red Wine Vinegar & one batch with Balsamic. It's a great sauce.

Tomato Sauce:

1 tbs cloves

2 tbs whole allspice

1 tbs black peppercorns

Tie these in a square of muslin

5 kg tomatoes chopped up roughly

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tbs ground ginger

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

30g salt

600g vinegar (I experiment with different ones to get different flavour ones, apple cider, malt, red wine, etc)

Put all these into your biggest non-reactive pot & bring it to the boil. Boil it steadily for 1 hour making sure that you stir from time to time to ensure that it doesn't stick to the bottom & burn.

Add 1 kg sugar & continue to boil for another 2 hours stirring from time to time.

Take out the muslin bag & squeeze out the juices. Blend the whole pot with a stick blender, & using a funnel, pour into sterilised bottles, cap & allow to cool.

Then skip shopper went to the vic market early on Saturday morning & bought another box of roma tomatoes (bigger box) for $10...that have sat waiting until last night - I couldn't be bothered doing it by myself. So last night, we got ourselves organised, 1st chopping board at one end, bucket for rotten bits, bucket with water for washing them, next chopping board to chop them up, then pot. We filled 2 huge pots - I know lust after one of those huge cauldrons. I also suddenly wanted to have music playing with people dancing around, beer and wine being drunk, children running around, food being eaten....a great tomato festival! Next year. We chopped, we cooked, we blended, we funnelled, we spilt, we put the crown seals on, I broke a bottle...not a good idea - but the red was a great red - we cleaned up, then sat down at 11pm & watch Scrubs, I had no idea that this was on at this time! Great show. I am tired, but have great bottles of tomato.

Words & Pictures

I love words...so much so that my kids have sacked me from picking up duty because I talk too much...but I love the written word and that is why this words & pictures blog appealed to me. I like a challenge, and now that I have fixed the glitch in the computer (HURRAH!), I can work on it without it screaming at me and having it threaten to die (thank you computer man xxx)

The theme given for this weeks assignment is "School lunches" which immediately sends shivers down my spine as I remember the sound of my carrot top and apple core rattling around in my blue lunch box as I ran around the playground trying to hold on to it whilst playing. I think that my family were the only family at our school in the north east of Melbourne to have lunch boxes. It seemed to me, at that delicate age, that everyone else had fantastic disposable bags... Oh how jealous I was of them.

My mum, bless her, made our bread which we named crumpet bread. It was stiff and brown. Delicious straight out of the oven with butter dripping through it, stiff as a board at lunch time. We were allowed to choose our own fillings for our sandwiches, as long as it was salad (lettuce from the garden, tomato). The extra choices were cheese (none of that processed stuff please), and left over meat if there was any. It was always a bonus when we had meatloaf left over because she made a mean meatloaf (and still does). Occasionally we had "meat pie" sandwich which consisted of tomato sauce - yep that's it, just sauce! I know it is weird, but it is kinda nice. We did also sometimes have promite, Vegemite, homemade jam or peanut butter (of course on the homemade bread). I do remember striking out during high school and insisting that I could no longer have tomato in my sandwich as it made my bread soggy and I couldn't bear it any more unless it went between the lettuce and the cheese.

The other standards in our lunch boxes were 1 tomato - whole, 1 carrot - whole and a piece of fruit of your choice. In winter we could take a thermos of soup as well if we wanted.

I think I did spend a great deal of my 13 schooling years hankering after a canteen lunch or a paper bag lunch, or a white bread with jam, or white bread with Vegemite and plastic cheese sandwich like my best friend Jenny had. In fact, we found out later in life that we were very jealous of each other's lunches. I wanted her so called normality and she wanted my nutrition.

I now find that I am inflicting about 50% of this on my kids .... without the crumpet bread! The good news for them is that they get to leave their lunch boxes in the classrooms nowadays.

The bean bag

Now That's a bean bag! This was the last bit of the "let's fix up your room" & he wanted a bean bag that was as big as the one my brother has, so, with a whole bunch of fabric, a bit of fiddling around with an old pattern out a Stitch by Stitch book (gotta lovum) - tada. Very hard to get out of... and fits the family in. (just note the beautifully done boards that skipshopper did with my brother's help - good huh! Sealed with organic oil...mmmm)

Hip hip hooray

I know that things have been a little quiet here, but this is no reflection on real life. Kids have all gone back to school (yep! All of them now!) without too many hitches. Am trying to work out what this new life means... Working with school chicks to make a fruit & vegie garden.... Shell shocked about the bush fires surrounding our city & gathering everything I can to help out... Sorting out the 2 car loads of stuff we have inherited from hubbie's grandparents house...more to come still... Silently swimming in the North Melbourne pool trying to swim through my migraines.... Trying to find my sewing room again after the hol's have finished (have just remembered that's what I do!) as it has been filled up with with everyone else's things and bits I have gathered along the way :)...

Now I need to get ready for the Maribynong Makers Market on 14 March as I just found that I got accepted! Yay! Hip Hip Hooray. Time to sew.

here & not forgotten

School holidays are here and many projects have been ahappening o' here. Renovating eldest son's room...whilst he takes over my sewing retreat...driving up & down the Hume Hwy emptying out hubby's grandparents house in Wangaratta & finding great treasures...sitting at North Melb pool for swimming lessons...forgetting that we have a computer...making jelly...bucketing water on plants to try to keep them alive...lieing on the concrete floor with the fan on to stay cool...painting toe nails...late nights...catching up with friends
School will be back soon... life will return to normal...whether we like it or not

make a list

It's my tradition that today I make a list of what my goals and dreams will be for the next year and I look at my list from last year and feel all fuzzy about how I went with those (or not depending on the year).

So, things that I am feeling really good about this year are:
* attending 3 markets & opening my salon up
* challenging myself to make some new things
* putting some of my things into a shop
* feeding my family all year and watching them grow into gorgeous boys
* slowly getting less migraines and back pain as the year went by
* organising the house just a little bit more
* planting more vegetables around the garden
* starting writing
* finding a really good osteopath

* being encouraged into doing a blog by some good people

Things I am looking forward to next year:
* sending my youngest to school
* reading quietly during daylight
* sewing and creating more
* writing
* breathing gently
* loving my family
* loving my friends
* getting better at blogging