2010- Oh what a start....!

I've been out of blogland for so long it is getting a bit silly now.... I had intended on a short break over the Christmas hols, but with some lovely festive words to wish you all well and share the joy, however circumstances once again overwhelmed my intentions.

First let me be positive - We had a really lovely Christmas, a great day during which we opened some beautiful gifts, our children were excited and amazed and full of the joy that only children can bring to you on Christmas morning, we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch of cold meats/prawn and mango salad/other salad-y stuff (great food, but not too much that we regretted it!) and laughed a lot together as we tried to play on our new toy, a wii we received from my husbands parents. Really enjoyable.

Then ...... New Year's Eve.

It came with a bang, actually several bangs. Some moronic neighbours closeby thought the best way to see in a New Year is clearly with some explosive noises in their backyard. Not fireworks, just the ear-ringingly loud explosions. Clearly these must be people without children or animals, (and without any consideration for anyone elses). So our start to 2010 was divided between trying to comfort our dog, (who was shaking uncontrollably and so scared he didn't know where to hide), checking our sleeping children to make sure they weren't doing the same, and outside in the dark chook pen with a torch making sure that they hadn't all died with the shock (which apparently is more common than you'd think).

The following day at least we had some friends over for a coffee/ kids play/ wii time, which was heaps more fun than the previous night. We had planned a BBQ with more friends, but wet weather put the dampers on that.

Then it all went wrong.

I managed to get myself a hefty dose of food poisoning (my own fault- I left some fancy cheese out of the fridge too long, put it back in and had some the next day) Nothing like a dose of listeria to turn you inside out. I'll spare you the details, but I lost about 5kg overnight (which ironically WASN'T one of my resolutions this year). After the dehydration and meal-missing for 2 days, a migraine kicked in which lasted nearly 3 days. Could it get worse?
We all know when your immune system is down, colds come from nowhere to seek you out, and so it did.

So now I sit here, full of cold, worn out and red-nosed as Rudolph himself. All of this in the first week??? And let me tell you, the combination of 7 days of rain, being sick, and 2 children at home does not make for domestic bliss!

I had such high hopes for this year too. It is a year of big changes for us - our children start 'big' school (kindergarten!) and we are hoping to finally build our home and move in before the end of the year. (I'll do another post on that some other time, as that is a story in itself!)

Well, I am hoping that all my illness this past week is getting itself out of the way for the rest of the year so I can enjoy good health for the other 51 weeks!

Finally, I wish you all a belated happy, healthy and prosperous New Year, and hope 2010 brings all that you need!

:-)

Christmas crafting

Here are just a few of the many things now adorning our home......!

Our children made these beautiful snowflakes at preschool. They were laminated and given pretty Christmas ribbons, and then given to us at the preschool party last weekend to take home.

Our advent calender with a difference ~ instead of taking gifts out of pockets, the idea is to add a gift to the tree each day. All the decorations are numbered up to 24, and a little piece of velcro makes it easy for little ones to attach them. I really liked the idea of giving to the tree, rather than getting a cheap chocolate or plastic toy. They are happy to takes turns each day too, and good at keeping track of whose day it is!

I bought the panel from ebay, added padding, bit of quiliting with spare fabric on the back, and then the kids and I got to work adding lots of glitter to 'highlight' toys and candles etc. Actually by the end, almost everything has glitter on it! The joys of being 4 :-)

I made this cushion from a panel I bought on ebay too. The photo doesn't show it well but I padded the front and quilted a little around the borders. I backed it with red corduroy and a matching strip across the back.

And these ones for the grown-ups.... I bought a huge panel with 2 cushion fronts and 3 stockings on it from.... yep, you guessed it -ebay! The whole panel only cost me $2 and I think the cushions have come out great! I backed them with some lovely upholstery fabric from my stash, one gold and one cream. I have never done anything padded like this before, so it was a great experiment. I kept it simple and just sewed around the borders and star lines to make it appear quilted. There are beautiful gold angels and words to carols around the centre, I love them. 

Our home is becoming so colouful and Christmassy with kids decorations on the tree and on the walls and doors. Less than 2 weeks to go which is just as well, we are running out of room!

From the mouths of babes.....

Whilst listening to 'Little Drummer Boy' on a Christmas CD ~ our daughter (4) singing along ....

"Come they told me
Barumpa-pum-pum...

.... me and my MUM. "

Priceless.

:-)