It's Friday and that means that I have Mickey and William at home.....all to myself!  I am yet to determine whether this is a good thing or not, as the house always seems a mess with kids at home during the day and my 'days off' (Monday to Thursday, when they are at daycare) seem to make me a little complacent of things that go on in the house of a family!  I mean - I get to do pretty much anything I want when they aren't here with minimal interruptions.  That means that, should I like, I can leave the sewing machine on the dining table and go to the toilet, go downstairs and hang up/take off washing, clean rooms a little.......you know?  General house stuff when I get the motivation to do it.

With young children at home, that luxury is taken away and I find myself cleaning up after them constantly.  Whether it be apple off the lounge floor, because I was busy elsewhere, like cleaning a mess in the bathroom that they had made not 5 minutes earlier or refereeing a fight over a cup that Will has stolen off Mickey (Will still has sippy cups around the house, because he just won't stay still for long enough to drink one whole drink).

This weather lately truly sucks for the SAHM.  I mean....it's not raining right now, but it did last night and early this morning, so if I let them downstairs, there will be an even bigger mess when they come up, because they will have found one of the mud puddles in the yard and play in that.  If you have more than one kid, do you find it hard for them all to do the same thing at once without having to talk to them 2 or 3 times?  OH MAN!!  What I wouldnt give for an episode where they would! 

I will give you an example - we had ALL the kids one wet weekend and they decided to go outside and play.  'No problem' I thought.  Um....YEH!!  Problem!  They all decided to come inside at the same time to have something to eat!  Now, a kid intent on filling his/her empty stomach is one hard to sway from their task!  As soon as they came to the back door, they were asking for towels (which is no problem in my house - we have plenty to go around!).  While I was getting said towels, one kid came inside and tried to get into the fridge......dirty paws and all!  Said kid was soon bundled off and directed to the bathroom.  2nd kid at door is just itching to come in, so I give him towel and direct them in the direction of the bathroom.  Now.....first kid is sidetracked and in their room!  So first kid told to go to the bathroom (I did this by shouting out to them from the back door), while 3rd kid is eagerly waiting for a towel.  So....we have 1st kid and 2nd kid in bathroom, while I give no. 3 a towel.  I hear a tap turned on in the bathroom and promptly there is the sound of water splashing on the floor.....'Oh goody!' I think.  3rd kid bundled, towels thrown on the floor for the rest of the kids and I follow no. 3 to the bathroom.....just to make sure that they get there!  I find no. 1 in the bath...fully clothed....no. 2 is in their room....fully (dirty) clothed and no. 3 is with me so safe there (whew).  Tap turned off and I have to go and referee a fight at the back door - one kid wants one of the towels that another has got (AARGH!!  How OLD are you?).  Without supervision in the bathroom, water from the bath is then put onto the floor!  So, I set myself to the task of cleaning 3 kids in bathroom....stripping them is an easy task, but getting them out of the bathroom so that the older kids could have their turn is a different matter!  THEN there is the problem of them getting dressed!  Mickey and Will are quite happy to run around naked (what 2 and 3 year old aren't?), so they are mucking around, while I am tending to the older kids (one went to the kitchen for food - HUH?? - another went to their room for clothes - the dirtiest of them all!).  Said kids shooed from the kitchen and room and told to stay in the bathroom.  THEN they all refused to undress in front of eachother!!  I cant imagine just exactly WHY!!  LOL  So I stayed in bathroom and watched and made sure girls did not look at boys while they washed and redressed and made sure they got outta there ASAP (no mucking around, like they usually do).  All this time, the boys are being really quiet.....cannot imagine what they are up to and do I really want to know..?  Um....I dont think so!!  With the 'watcher' task complete, I head to see what the boys are up to..........hmmm.........their room is trashed, toys are everywhere (nothing unusual there)........not in my room (make up being the object of choice in there)........EEP!!  They are in the girls' room and have managed to pull out ALL the clothes from Amy's cupboard and are 1/2 way through climbing up and getting Moo and Courtney's!!  Not to mention that they somehow found Moo's deodorant and are spraying it under one of the beds!!!!  Room smells pretty, but it is all too strong for my nose! 

This will continue all day for me (unless Pete is home).  I will continually go from one kid or other and have to deal with some problem or another.....only to have another problem raise it's ugly head while I am distracted!  I soooooo wish that I had a room for each of them, then I could send them to their rooms and not hear from them for the rest of the day (HA!!  I don't think so, but it would be nice to dream, hey?').  Or a Tardis!!  With a Tardis, I could travel to another place, another time and I could get away from it all.  OH!!  I time travel machine!!  I could fast forward to when they are mostly grown and then they might have a bit of 'maturity' about themselves and not fight so much.....WHO am I kidding!!??  They are bound to fight when they get older, aren't they?  Just might get a little more violent and vindictive then!!  Dont get me wrong - there are good days where nothing seems to happen at all (only a few minor incidents - and the days go so quickly!!) and there are the bad days, where nothing seems to go right (and THESE are the days that last the longest!).  Why oh why cant the days that are good just go slowly and the bad ones go quick?

Anyhoo......I leave you with pictures of Mickey and Will's adventure today - Mummy and Daddy's bed.  They kindly stripped it (wash day is not til tomorrow, boys, but thanks anyway!) and were using the blankets at the bottem as a buffer while they went over the end, so they didnt bump their heads on the wooden floor on the way down!

Looks like fun, hey? 

See those hats attached to the wall?  I got in trouble for putting holes in the wall last weekend, coz I was sick and tired of finding them just lying around the house!  There are more on the wall opposite around our duchess mirror!

And see my new 'best friend' in that last picture?  The thing on my side of the bed between the bed and the sidetable?  Um, yeh.....wasnt too impressed in having to need it every now and then, but, as you can probably see from the photos in this post (yep - that is me standing 'normally'), I have a problem with my posture...all caused by my back/hip!  This little beauty not only helps me to take weight off my leg (which KILLS when I am having a bad day), but helps me to correct this posture issue when I use it on my left side.

OH!!  And one last thing!  See that little 'land mine' of a car on the floor?  Hmmm....yes, well.....THAT is another thing that I am sick of round here!  We have entirely too many and they get underfoot all the dang time!!
What IS it with this dang weather!!??  It has rained on and off over the last couple of weeks and, I can tell you, I am totally sick of it!  I have read US blogs and I can definitely sympathise with them over the amount of (in some instances) unseasonal snow (Although we dont get snow here and I have only seen it once in my life)!  Monday, tuesday and Wednesday were reasonable days - Monday a few light showers, Tuesday sunny, Wednesday sunny - but today has turned out to be really rotten!  Overcast all day, heavy showers for most of it and a mix of hot and mild temperatures!  Just downright horrible!

On the up-side.....I started my job yesterday!  I trained in the morning for a couple of hours and then moved onto the house where I will be working most.  I have 3 clients (P, D and G) in that house, who's disabilities range in their diversity.  The Cerebral Palsy League doesnt just cater to people with Cerebral Palsy, they cater to a whole range of disabilities (and are going through a name change, as a result).  I learnt a lot on my first day.  And there will be more and more for me to learn in the future, I bet!  I enjoyed it, all the same and look forward to my next shift on Saturday afternoon/night when we get the guys dressed up and P frocked all pretty and head out to dinner for the Multicap function that happens once a month here.  It will also give me a chance to get to know them a little better and build a rapport with them.....even if I DO come home with my arms throbbing from holding D up while dancing with him (yep - been warned of that already!).  In short, it is a chance for a few departments to come together with their clients, catch up and socialise (us and the clients), have fun and just generally have a good time!  Cant WAIT!!

My uniform is basically anything that I am comfortable with wearing.........so long as I wear shorts/pants and a shirt that wont gape in the front and closed in shoes.  I am seriously lacking in the 'modest' shirt department, so I decided to recon that red shirt I bought the other week!  It's not much for my first T recon, but I like it and I have worn it all day.


Before (I am showing you where my actual shoulder is and where the shirts' shoulder is):

And after:
Hmm......thank goodness I shaved my underarms!!  hehe

It didnt turn out exactly how I wanted it to, but it is still comfy and will become a permanent fixture in my wardrobe.  I think I might make another and do a tutorial to go with it!
Well....not officially, just yet (still have paperwork to do, like bank account numbers and the like to give to them), but I got 'the' phone call this morning, confirming my employment with the Cerebral Palsy League!!  Just another area that I want to delve into.....besides nursing, that is!

So.....I will be doing a minimum of 48 hours per week (ETA - Um....I meant fortnight!)....permanent part time - shift work.  I dont know how it will all go, right now, but I am gonna give it my best shot!  Weekends will no longer be mine, no doubt, but I hope to get the important weekends off, when my bestie gets married next month and my bro gets married in September!

I was actually successful for both job interviews, but this is the better one (more down the career path that I would like to go - not so much the pay rate).

I got my proverbial finger out over the weekend and 1/2 completed another crochet project for my friend.  Honestly, it was WAY too hot this afternoon when I would normally sit down and do some more for me to continue it!  Here is what I am doing:

The pattern is from the August/September issue of the UK mag Inside Crochet, called "Azure Skies" and worked in Moda Vera Believe.  Not my immediate choice, but when K trawled through my patterns, this is the one that she chose herself.  I am actually liking it!  I dont like making a mistake (but, then again, who does?), coz it is a fluffy wool and catches on itself all the dang time!  However, this would have to be my biggest project using a small hook that I have done and I am getting quite proud of myself because of it.  I reckon she will like it!

Alrighty, then!  That's all from me today!  Hope everyone had an excellent weekend!  And hope you have an even better week!!  TTFN!
Just popping in to let you all know that I am still alive....just VERY busy this week!  I have finished one of those crochet projects that I was telling you about......3 to go!

What am I 'EEPing' about?  I have not one, but TWO job interviews tomorrow!!  EEP EEP!!!  The first will be for Maccas (yay!) and the 2nd is with the Cerebral Palsy League.....hmm...wonder which one actually fit in with my chosen field of study...?  hehe  Honestly.....if I get one of them, then I wont complain!  Money is money and you earn it while you work, so that is all that counts right now!

Will let ya know how I go!
I have started the nerve racking experience of finding a job!  Our situation dictates that I need to find a job in order for us to live the life that we want to live, so I have been here (but not exactly on blogger) searching for a job online!

I am amazed at just how easy this internet has made it for us job hunters (well...as easy as job hunting can be)!  There are many sites that will have vacancies up and you are able to apply for them online or print off an application form and head in with it and your resume/CV and hand it in.  No more heading into your choice of workplace, acquiring an application form and having to head back after you have filled it out or filling it out right there!  My problem was making up my resume....I have not done it for many, many years (obviously)!  It took me about a day to get mine together before I actually liked it!

BUT it hasnt all been dull and gloomy here!  I have started on some crochet projects that my friend commissioned me to do for her birthday a little while ago.  Her birthday is on the 25th, so I thought I had better get my finger out and do something about them!

I have started to go over to the school in the mornings and help out Weez's class with their reading.......VERY rewarding stuff that!  I had a kid this morning that I hadnt heard since about mid last year and then he was horrible to sit with!  This morning, he was a gem!  He had improved soooo much!  I have also realised that I have a love of working with children.

Then there is this:


I took this up this morning!  I will have to work out something to do with a 'real' signature.  No doubt I will have to buy some uniforms to go to work in, but I am thinking that it should be ok.  It will probably be just shirts, because I have plenty of different coloured pants!  All my other clothes will be refashions!  I have also decided that I will venture into it for the kids as well......all of them are growing soooo much and they will need new clothes soon!  PLUS the boys are forever needing new shorts!  But what do you expect from boys, hey?  LOL


Isn't he just the cutest little thing you have EVER seen?  I tell ya - i am one PROUD Aunty!  Fell completely in love with him straight away!  I got HEAPS of cuddles with him and Will just couldn't get enough, either!!

Just a few more photos of the kids:

 Mumma T - a VERY proud Mumma!


 Aunty Shelli having a chat with Blayde!  I SWEAR he was trying to tell me something!

All the kids together - the one in the very middle is T's little sister, B (just 21 months older than Lenny).














The gifts went down a treat - T loved them and said that you can NEVER get enough burp cloths (well....DUH!!  hehe).  The bibs, she is a little bit worried about fitting around his chubby neck, but I think that she will find that the design is VERY forgiving and they will fit ok.

ETA - OH!!  I mentioned the other day that those little burp clothes were for another baby (remember)!  As T just 'all of a sudden' decided to come up from Ipswich (6-7 hours drive away), I decided that, mayhaps, they will go to her, instead.  All good, though!  I have more on the go that will be PERFECT for little Carter!
I absolutely HAVE to get these photos up, coz I am expecting some visitors soon!!  One little visitor in particular, I am VERY much looking forward to meeting for the first time.  That is right - I get to meet my new little nephew tonight!  Can you tell I'm excited?  Have a goosey at these little beauties!  I hope that T likes them and will use them often!

Most of them you would have seen before from my posts during the last week.  The blue burpie blankies are made from an old towel (with no holes, of course!) and I added a little decorative stitch to the inside edge, mostly to keep the inside intact, because I cut it too narrow and just coz (felt like being adding a little detail).  the bibs I made just today, so they are hot off the press!  Now.....to find some wrapping paper that is not too girlish to wrap them in!!
I have been on and off the bed today!  Just not feeling right.  Pains in the tummy like you would never believe and nothing to show for it (IYKWIM).  Therefore, my sewing project that I started this morning has only just been finished!  It was a bit of a 'make it up as I go' thing, but they turned out good, I reckon!  Well...from what I can see in this artificial light, anyhow.

On top of that, the weather today has been a shocker!  One minute its nice, the next it is really really humid and hot!  I expected a storm this afternoon - it was THAT bad.  Maybe someone else was lucky to get it!  With all this rain around lately (practically non-stop for the last 2 1/2 weeks), I am really not missing it, TBH. 

Well.....I am taking myself off to bed for the night, now.  I hope you had a good day!  I am proud of what I managed to achieve, myself (no point in my trying to do anything mind numbing, like boring bookwork, coz I would be in the middle of something and have to send myself off to bed, again!).  Photos will come tomorrow, when there is a little more natural light to work with!
And yes...I DO have that song in my head, right now!  I made up a whole playlist of 60's and 70's songs on my iPod for my Dad's party and I have been listening to it while on my machine every morning!  I guess I may be a hippy at heart....?

With the cooking fiasco of yesterday behind me (the boys...not the food - might look a little ordinary, but is actually very Nom-Nom!!), I turned to today and wondered what it would bring me.  Turns out it was nothing any more special than a day to myself to wonder the internet, marvelling at the creativity of people (and adding a few blogs to my ever-growing-longer subscription list!) and enjoying the peace and quiet (well....what peace and quiet you can get out of a house beside a busy street!).

I made up some more of those little blankies (with the chicky fabric I bought the other day) and finished off a couple of burping cloths for my friends' little boy, Carter.  I made them a little while ago for my friend who had a little girl and she loved them, so I hope that Carter will love them just as much as A's little girl does!  Here are some photos:

The teddy fabric is from an old pair of pyjamas I had in my stash for AGES!!  And the nappies have been in there since the last time I made burp cloths.  The ribbon was in my trim drawer.

I am trying to think of something else to make up with the teddy material, so that little C will have a set of things made by me.  I have a HEAP left over!

Who knows.....if I keep sewing through my stash like this, I just might have to go out and buy a whole heap more.....at some stage!  hehe
I tell ya!  Today has been a whole lot of fun so far!  Now....read that again with some sarcasm and you will catch my mood properly.

First off....set to the kitchen to do a little baking for the boys for lunch (today and school/daycare lunches) and asked if they would like to help.  Of course they did!  But proceeded to muck about and throw things instead of getting on with the job...GGRRR!!  So I banished them to downstairs, where Daddy was doing something WAY more interesting and they could bug him (hehe).  Off they toddled and promptly got in lots of trouble, again!  BOYS!!  I tell ya!  If you are thinking of having kids - opt for girls, coz in my current mood with my three....girls are the best.  Of course, I reserve the right to change that opinion once Weez comes home this afternoon from her father's place and there will, again, be 2 girls vying for attention in this house!

But...all good!  I got my baking done (in the end) and here is some photos I managed to salvage:

Banana and chocolate cupcakes - made with a cheapo (Home Brand) Butter cake mix with banana and nutmeg added and chocolate muffin mix.  The chocolate turned out thicker (probably bec, therefore I was able to dollop it on top of the banana mix and on the bottem.

Scone mix!  This is how I bake my scones.....I find that the mixture is too 'worked' by the time I get to making the last round scone and is tough.  It may look rough, but the kids LOVE it and just look at how light and fluffy it turns out!
DELICIOUS!!!!  And here is how the boys had them..

Bubba Pete - vegemite, peanut paste, jam and honey (he made a 'sandwich' from them with vegemite and peanut paste together and the honey and jam together....weird, I know!).
Mickey - vegemite and jam (no mixing for him, thank you very much!)
And Will - vegemite and honey
MAJOR flash aversion there, sorry!  But you get the idea, surely...?

Right now it is just WAY too hot to be doing anything constructive right now!  I was going to bake some more, but I think that will have to wait for tonight, now.....need to make cookies and slices for school lunches for the week!

So I am off to enjoy the peace and quiet, while the boys are sleeping.......under a fan!!
Remember how I told you that I would come back here for a show and tell of what I made yesterday?  Well, I forgot to take photos of the completed projects before they were whisked off to school!  So sorry!  I will come back on tonight and post them up (provided they come home today!).

I hope these photos more than make up for my lack of organisation this morning!

From this ordinary looking shirt to.....

This sort of ordinary looking skirt.....EXCEPT!!  It was designed by Corky!!  I gave her the shirt and a piece of paper and told her to draw a skirt that she would like made.  I tweeked the pattern a little and sewed it up for her.....with her at my elbow (sometimes very very near to my elbow) looking on while I did.

 
Didn't work out QUITE the way we planned, but she is proud of it, all the same!

And here are some blankies that I have made up for a friend who recently had a baby

They are made from squares of what I call minky-type fabric.  I think it is actually a long pile polar fleece or something!  Dunno (if you do, then please tell me!).  They are backed with a terry cloth fabric in lime green.

I am making up another couple tonight, so I might venture into a tutorial.....just in case you are wondering how to make them!

Creative shot!!  hehe

Holy COW!!  The weeks are just FLYING by!!  I s'pose that's happens when you are busy, hey?

I have some op-shop goodies to share with you!!  I went out yesterday on the sole purpose of finding Bubba Pete some new (old) school shorts and came home with a heap of goodness (as well as some shorts and two shirts - bonus!).  Of course, I expected myself to find these other said goodies that I just HAD to add to any one of my stashes, so I set myself a budget (yep - a BUDGET for op-shopping!) and took off and here is what I bought:

Harry Potter curtain material for Bubba Pete's library bag.....he is a Harry Potter/Ben 10 fan.  This was originally two skinny pieces.  I sewed them up last night before I thought to take a photo of them and they matched up almost perfectly!  And I just put them together and sewed!  Did NOT think that they would come together as well as they did!

 
A large, red men's shirt that I liked the look of the front.  PERFECT for a recon job!  AND it is from Jeans for Genes Day!  Can't WAIT to get my hands on it and my scissors and my sewing machine!

 
A lovely velvet-type material that is made up in a rectangle and lined on the back - my thoughts.....a bag - with lining already to match!  No going through my stash to look for the perfect lining for this one!

 
Fabric remnants - with a little bit of interfacing to boot!  THAT was a surprise!

 
Cotton yarn - gonna be perfect for what I want to make as Chrissy presents this year!

 
Clockwise from top left - 2 flannel pillow cases that will go superbly as flannel pants for Weez for Winter, Vogue pattern that tickled my fancy, red skirt - perfect for a recon job and chicky minky-type material....just perfect for the gift I plan on making for my friend who has just had a baby!
So what have I been up to today?  Cleaning out my office, of course!!  What else would any SANE person be doing the day after finding some goodies and making plans for each piece???  Seriously, though - it was in dire need of a great clean!  With my back the way it has been....I have been unable to do JACK and it is really really ticking me off!!  I can honestly say that, today, I have earned my keep around here!  LOL  TONIGHT, however, my sewing machine will be getting a much needed work-out!  Will come back tomorrow and have a little show-and-tell!