I really hope that blogging is like riding a bicycle.

I've been more or less missing in (real life's) action
for the past 6 months.

I reckon that I have thought about blogging daily.
I have written long and- I swear- hysterically entertaining or thought provoking posts in my head
as I got on with life.

...things like buying Australian products,

the indignation that John Barrowman didn't get a call up
 for the Dr Who 50th Anniversary special,
 sex ed.,
palm oil,
why some blood isn't thicker than water,
why my child waits until I leave the state to need the emergency room,
 human nature at its very, very best and its very, very worst...

But things just happened.

Things like broken bones
(yes, that would be plural...bones*)
 5 year old Queen Bees,
an overseas visitor,
an education crisis which almost caused me to consider home schooling
(and if you know me, you know that "home schooling" is not a phrase that is compatible
with my temperament.
There is a reason that I became a vet and not a teacher)
four birthdays,
a fiftieth wedding anniversary,
family stress,
seemingly never-ending, non-resolvable business stress,

a trip to Fiji,
a trip to Kangaroo Island
 and the Barossa Valley,

 my annual interstate sewing weekend,
and then a general and ongoing apathy when it came to just sitting down and writing a post.

How can I want to do something so badly
but just can't be bothered?



I have managed to sew and knit
to let off creative steam.

So really it has just been...life.



I am hopeful that the next six months will be a little less hectic
with no broken bones
and a lot less apathy
and that I will start blogging again.
Surely it is just like riding a bicycle.

(*My toe, which lost the fight with a door frame, has healed now
but my son's arm, which lost the bout with his bed frame,
is still healing.
I think falling over in your bedroom and managing to fracture your arm
in a nasty manner is somewhat freaky
and yet somewhat expected from a kid.
Luckily their healing capacity is also somewhat freaky
in a fabulous way)

Hi-this is what I have been doing-happy 2013-bye.

Just popping my head in and giving a quick wave

as I rush past.

I hope that  you all enjoyed  your Christmas,

whoever you were with and whatever you were doing.

Apparently somewhere around northern Colorado back in October,

I lost my blogging mojo.

It is dusty in here.

I haven't been taking much care of this little space in the past few months.

I never did get back to report on our fabulous holiday.

I have wanted to blog but haven't had much to say

or the energy to say it.

(Ottobre 301 tee)

So methinks that I might have gotten a bit of sewing

and a lot of knitting done instead.

2013 was a fabulous year for our little family

but I have to say that the end sucked a bit.

I can't say that I achieved a lot of my craft goals for the year

but I did knit over 28 kilometres of yarn

and still managed to have some energetic bursts of sewing in the meantime.

I am hoping that 2013 brings the best of health to some people that I know

and an easier emotional year for some others.

I am not much for resolutions.

I am better at hoping than resolving.

(Better for my commitment issues)

I hope to find that creativity that I have lost

so I can get back to writing and blogging.

(Make It Perfect Long Board Shorts)

Because I really do miss writing.

(Ottobre 301 tee)

I hope to give my friend who will be visiting from Finland

her lifelong wish - a cuddle with a koala.

(Oliver and S seashore sundress)

I hope to continue to resist the evil temptation that is Coke Zero

(2 days in and counting)

(Oliver and S birthday party dress)

I hope to get healthier and lose that weight

that came with USA holidays, Reece's peanut butter cups,  malted shakes and chilliburgers. 

I hope to spend less time on the internet 

and less time internet shopping.

I also hope (OK, Mr Boozle, intend) to stop buying so much yarn.

If I am knitting 28 kilometres a year

and still struggling to stash it,

I have issues.

I hope that I wont end up making 24 metres of bias binding 

and 24 metres of bunting in 3 days 

for Christmas presents

because, as much as sewing 104 flags together could be therapeutic,

it just did my head in.

I am feeling like life is a bit fragile at the moment.

So in 2013 I hope that I can make the most of each and every day.

Let us go carpe the fuck out of this diem.

I wish you and yours a fabulous 2013.

Now I am out of here for a while.
Hoping to recharge the batteries
and fire myself up for the next year.

(All knitting projects can be found here on Ravelry)

Spam. Keeping life interesting.

From my in-box this week:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Good day, Hope you will be fine. We visit your website and its come to our knowledge that you are dealing in Boxing Equipment and Martial Arts so we  would like to introduce our company xxxxxxxxxx  as one of the leading manufacturers and exporters of high quality products of Boxing Gloves, MMA Gloves, Boxing Mitts, Kicking Shields,  Fighting Gloves, coaching Gloves, Punching Mitts, Punching Bags, Thai Pads, Speed Balls, Kick Boxing, and Thai Boxing,  Martial Arts,  Mix Martial Arts Equipments. For more details please visit our website xxxxxxxxxxxx.

We are really interested to start business relationship with your company so we can supply you best quality products with rock bottom prices to penetrate your local market.

Being a self manufacturer we can modify products as per your needs.  If you have any new design we welcome you, and will fulfill all of your needs under your target prices.

If you can give us a chance to be your suppliers we shell appreciate you, please feel free to write us all of your questions and inquiries.

Awaiting your earliest reply, thanks.

Kind Regards,

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Yes indeedy.

A whoooooole lotta chat about boxing and martial arts going on in this neck of  the woods.

...So I  was headed out with my kime bag the other day

when some idiot chototsu-ed me and I had to stop for a suwate and a kyeshi
before I hit him in the mata...

 

That should get the spammers excited...

Oh and the knitted scarf -for those of you who aren't here to discuss boxing and the like-

is Sugared Violets- Rose Beck- Rav here)

Green.

Unpicking seams and re-sewing a green op shop dress so that it fits.

Knitting more hats.

(Rikke hat- Sarah Young. Rav'd here)

Finally finishing a green skirt cut out months ago.

(Nicole Mallalieu's A Line skirt.

Fabulous pattern)

Sewing granny squares instead of crocheting them for a change.

(Ottobre women's tee 303)

Wearing my hat-that-looks-suspiciously-like-a-snail-having-a-snooze-on-my-head.

Cos everyone needs a hat that looks like a snail, right?

(Slouchy beehive hat- Flora Cheung- Rav'd here.)

Making clothes for holidays in the American desert.

(Hot Pattern's Cool, Calm and Cowl necked top)

Knitting a green jumper with lush, lime-ish yarn

that is beautiful to wear.

(Chandail cardigan- Triona Murphy. Rav'd here.)

I like green. 

This week..16th August, 2012...Oh, who am I kidding?

This month...the past 4 weeks...

...My children are being overly gracious and very forth coming
with their "thank you"s for taxi driving them,
letting them go to the school disco
and even for their dinner.
All that whinging about not being appreciated
seems to have finally paid off.

...We can attest that yes, indeed, live in Australia
and kangaroos will hop down the city streets.
Well, at least, koalas might climb (and pee in) your gum tree.



Little Winifred tunic-
Sarah Ronchetti

...Doing Zumba with a chair somehow makes me feel like I am pole dancing

...I am wondering if you can get banned from entering California if you arrive
with tan-free legs.

(mirror.co.uk)

...My oldest asked "Who won the Olympic Games?"
It is so good to see the end of that stupid Olympic Medal tally
where nothing counts but how many gold have been won.
How can society and the media dare make these athletes who are the best in their countries and the world
feel like a failure because they haven't won an Olympic medal,
let alone a gold one?

...I went on my annual interstate road trip

complete with op shopping, loads of wine and chocolate,

late nights and the company of gorgeous like-minded crafters.

(creativequiltkits.com)

...I am bemused that a fabric line called "Down Under" (Mint Blosssom Studio) has prints of  Kiwis

and, according to one review,  "spiny ant-eaters" on it.

(uncrate.com)

...the more that I think about my family in a 30 foot RV travelling around the Grand Canyon,
the more I worry that we will end up channelling the Griswolds from a National Lampoon's Vacation movie.



Liesl cardigan-
Ysolda Teague

...I finally beat my nemesis in the knitting pattern world
but I never want to make it again.




Funky Pants- Crafty Mamas

...I have been sewing. Lots.

...School bullies suck
and I want to take my beautiful boy,
smother him with hugs
and turn back time
so that he (and I) don't have to face the crap that comes with growing up
out there in the big, wide world just yet.

This Week....July 9th, 2012

(thomasszabo.deviantart.com)

...We have been enjoying Miniscule.

My absolute favourite is the outdoor spider with the long legs 

but I really want to squish that wretched, irritating ladybird...

...my first-born baby turned 9.

Happy, happy birthday, my beautiful big boy...

(theage.com.au)

...The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

broke my heart...

(lasvegas.about.com)

...We booked our first Vegas show for our suddenly-not-so-far-away USA holiday...

(tailgate365.com)

...I remembered when Tom Cruise's first marriage ended

and I thought (as a single 21 year old) "Yay"

(a purely youthful and hormonal response)

I remembered when his second marriage ended 

and I thought (as a happily married 32 year old) "Boo"

(Just when we thought that it was a Hollywood marriage 

that was going to work)

Now that his third marriage has ended

I am thinking (as a judgemental, harsh 43 year old) "Care?"

(Don't get me wrong- it is a shame, especially there is a child involved

but really I have never felt the same about Tom since he jumped all over Oprah's couch

and dissed Brooke Shields for taking medication to help with her post-natal depression)

(As an aside, it is interesting to note

that each of Tom's marriages have ended when his wives were 33.

Scientology conspiracy theory anyone?)

(Honeysuckle Vine beret- Janice Garett)

...it has been about knitting hats

for cold winter days...

...My 7 year old roped me into being his partner for a little 1000 piece puzzle

for the weekend...

then more or less disappeared...

apart from turning up to announce what a great job we were doing...

Lucky that I love him.