aprill.net

In Print

muser — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:13:31 +0000

There’s something much more exciting about being published in print than on the web.

Maybe it’s because everybody’s writing on the web these days. This week SOHI magazine got their third issue out and I have an article in it. I am in print, on paper, for the first time. (Not counting a co-produced zine from circa ‘95.)

And in other writing news: I’ve committed myself to produce ten articles every three months for Suite101. I got a buzz out of having my first two submissions approved, but yeah, nothing like what I had yesterday when I saw my name in the magazine. :D

In print
A-Z

Highland Holidays

muser — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:11:31 +0000

Finally, today is the last day of the school holidays. Our school had a full extra week of holidays before the rest of NSW as we don’t have the pupil-free Mondays. So it was with some trepidation that I entered this three week school break. However, I needn’t have worried. It really was a break, even for me.

No clock-watching in the mornings and afternoons, less hustling kids out the door, no uniform washing, no shoe-polishing, and I didn’t have to make school lunches in the morning before I got to have a cup of tea.

Tomorrow, it all starts again. With four swimming lessons a week thrown into the mix – one for Lincoln, three for Fraser.

In spite of the hectic term to come, we’ve had a busy time off. Fraser has had playtime with friends, been out to lunch, shopping with me, ice skating, sleepovers with Nanny and Poppy, bowling, putt putt, movies, tennis camp, more movies, more bowling, more putt putt, bike riding rock climbing, bush walking and more playtime with more friends.

Then there were the less interesting things like dental appointments, doctor appointments and haircuts.

After all that, I’m looking forward to getting back my two school days a week of work and study.

Old dogs, new tricks.

muser — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:44:17 +0000

I’m hopeless at remembering to take ‘before’ photos. I had to trawl back through time before I found one that was good enough to show how the old couch looked. Brown. Corduroy. Mmmm. The bonus is you get an old photo of 3.5 year old Fraser and six week old Lincoln to enjoy.

And here’s how it looks with a charcoal commercial-grade fabric. It feels like mock suede and looks FAB!

I just got my Ampersand cushion cover from Aunty Cookie last week. I’m totally in love with my ‘new’ old couch. She’s a sturdy thing, a little over ten years old. With a solid wooden, sprung frame it was well worth recovering to give it a new lease of life.

And this week, I get to lay all over it because Matt and Fraser are away in Sydney all week.

Learning curves

muser — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:52:29 +0000

We’ve had some exciting firsts lately.

Fraser has learnt to ride his bike without training wheels. Since the long weekend he’s gained so much more confidence. He’s ridden to our friend’s house, around the corner, and regularly goes riding with Matt.

We had his parent-teacher interview last Friday, the first day of our school holidays. He has settled in well and is keeping up with the rest of his class. He got a glowing report from his drum teacher and I’ve just signed him up to start back at swimming lessons next term.

BUt that’s not all he’s been getting up to. Last weekend we spent Sunday in Manly with some friends, where we had Yum Cha with the boys for the first time. They both seemed to enjoy the different types of food, Lincoln especially.

And finally, we’ve had a busy first week of holidays, ice-skating every day for the last three days. We’ve got a temporary ice rink set up in Bowral just for three weeks. I’m so proud of Fraser, who has only been skating one other time, last year, and he persisted to a stage where he could skate without holding on to the side.

I expect my next post to be about our re-upholstered couch that just came back. It’s had a whole new lease of life. I’m so impressed with how it’s turned out, so now I’m in the midst of amassing new cushions.

Always take a lucky friend to the meat raffles.

muser — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:49:49 +0000

Friday night is meat raffle night at our local pub. We proposed the idea to a couple of friends when one of them proclaimed that they often have a bit of luck at these things. Well, I’m glad they came because he won two of the three meat trays on offer. Hoorah!

My second tip is: make a gentleman’s agreement to split the goods, whoever wins.

So with two meat trays and a few extra snags we came together, with an extra family or two, for a combined BBQ picnic on a chilly afternoon last weekend by the dam near Fitzroy Falls.

We had our super-nieces for a sleepover on Saturday so it was great to have something with lots of other kids (and food) to knock off a few hours of the day.

We were home by dinner and bath time and the little ones headed to bed first. From 7pm to 8am we did not hear a peep. Lily and Lincoln were obviously shattered from a busy day with no nap. Outstanding.

The next day the four kids just played here at home followed by lunch at Maccas, and then the girls went home to Sydney with Matt.

I tell you what. They aren’t exceptionally noisy kids. They were all just doing what they do. But my house has never been so quiet with my two kids still in it.

And then I think of those friends of mine that have four of their own kids in the house all the time! And what about those people that have more?! There should be a medal for that.

And then he was three.

muser — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:52:47 +0000

Our youngest turned three on Monday. We celebrated in grand fashion on the weekend with the guests wearing whiskers and some bringing their pussycat toys. We had a pussycat cake, party food and playing with friends.

Lincoln had a great time. He was delighted to see his best little friend from his old preschool and was thrilled to have everyone singing “happy birthday” to him.

My, how that time has flown. He’s a delightful boy. Expressive, caring, imaginative. He enjoys playing with lego, his motorbike toys and dressing up. He still enjoys a nap, isn’t toilet trained yet and sleeps with his teddies.

Three was a difficult age with Fraser. He was becoming independent and wanted me to know that. Only two months in I was counting down to when he’d turn four and become that little bit more reasonable. Over the last few years I’ve forgotten all but one mortifying tantrum, so I’m really just left with the general impression of three being a terrifying age for a parent.

I’m fairly positive we’ll emerge from the next 12 months with our self-respect intact.

Happy 3rd Birthday Lincoln.

The winner is..

muser — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:01:42 +0000

I made Kami pick the winner.

He wasn’t particularly excited by the honour bestowed on him. In fact, he scratched himself. But then I lined them up randomly and this was the one he stopped at.

Congratulations Liz! I’ll get in touch about where to send your paper-cuts.

I set myself a challenge recently to get sewing again, and I must only use my stash. So I was excited when I came across a fabulous felt garland idea. Lincoln’s party is tomorrow, so on Tuesday I rummaged through my fabric and found a bag of felt pieces I’d bought for a project that never got off the ground. It’s such an easy thing to make and I was happy with the outcome.

Though, it never does look as nice as it does in the picture.

(I’m sure that’s more to do with their attractive interiors.)

The toothfairy and a giveway

muser — Thu, 27 May 2010 01:46:01 +0000

I’ve been slaving away madly, wrapping up this cultural studies unit I’ve been doing through OUA. I’ve submitted the essay and now I just have to hope the best while I move on to the next one – News and Politics. I’m looking forward to this unit. It’s less intense and more practical. Not that cultural studies doesn’t have some practical use but it’s more esoteric than my day-to-day life requires.

So here I am, back in the land of the blogging. I promised pictures in my recent tweet. Behold – our first visit from the toothfairy happened on the 14th.

S/he left a handwritten “thank you” on a slip of paper with tin foil stars stuck on it, along with $2.

No more than five days later TF was back again with another thank you note and $2. No thanks, to a self-inflicted basketball to the face.

I think I was more excited about it than Fraser was, as to me, it marks the next stage of growing up. I look forward to seeing what interests my children will have and what sort of people they will become. I am not so sad about memories of the babies they no longer are.

I never have been very sentimental.

Lincoln has begun to enjoy is new preschool and this week, we’ve had no tears at drop-off! He loves craft and painting, and yesterday they made pictures of robots. I’m actually thinking of setting up a craft project for the ten kids to do at his birthday party in a week or so.

Lastly, today I have a little giveaway. I’ve been sorting through boxes of things in my office. Amongst the piles of paperwork that needs filing are these delicate laser cut paper-cuts from China. There are ten, of varying designs and colours.

I don’t know where they originally came from but I can’t envisage ever using them. In my efforts to minimise, I’ve decided to pass them on to one of you. Leave a comment here and I will select at random next Thursday, May 3rd.

SoHi Shopping Finds

muser — Thu, 13 May 2010 10:01:18 +0000

I’ve spoken of the awesomeness of farmers markets before. While Matt was out on a mountain bike ride on Saturday morning I took the boys to Bowral Farmer’s Market. I did the thing I seem to do at fresh food markets–buy seafood, fresh bread, and some fruit. I even got the mother’s day presents for the grandmothers there. It’s on the second Saturday of each month. I think I know where I’ll be going regularly.

In other shopping news I stopped in to a beautiful new store in Moss Vale yesterday. I’ve been patiently waiting for it to be open and then it took another month for me to be in transit through Moss Vale without the kids. Anyway, Made by Others is a new design store full of lots of different things designed and made in Australia.

There are lots of super cute birdy things and I couldn’t help but buy these sweet bird cage earrings, and a lovely warm pair of fingerless gloves. I love the colour of this yarn and the pattern. They’re made by Kim Simon of Fibre Red.

And of course that ring I’m wearing is from my good friends at Oye Modern. I decided to buy myself a little celebration gift for my recent career change. Isn’t it lovely? I can’t wait until it gets a little tarnish in there to add a whole bunch of extra character.

If you’re ever in the Southern Highlands looking for some good food and shopping, check out SoHi magazine. They’ve got their fingers on the hipster pulse.

(Thanks Lady Smaggle for the inspiration to wear arm socks.)

See the ugly brown couch in the background there? I’m getting quotes to have in recovered in a charcoal commercial-grade fabric. It’s a solid, sprung frame so worthy of re-upholstering.

Office space

muser — Thu, 06 May 2010 00:50:24 +0000

I’m working through Mount Boxmore and have finally made my office into a workable space. Obviously, I still need to straighten up the bookshelves. That’s my next job, I promise.

H&B’s suggestion for the question in my last post was spot-on. Thanks for the tip. I’ve gone and photographed the memorable items from Fraser’s school work and snaffled one particularly excellent piece for my office wall.

I’m still getting used to some aspects of suburbia. Sir Yapsalot, next door, yaps a lot whenever I hang out the washing; the light spill from the street lights keeps the house bathed in an eerie relative daylight, compared to the absolute darkness of our acres; and the proximity of neighbours means I must be mindful of the noise we create in the back yard.

All things considered, though, I’ve no doubts we’ve made the right move. I’ve volunteered for the kitchen garden committee that is being set up at school and Fraser is about to start drum lessons.