winteritis

I have two things to say. One: I’m leaving tomorrow. Two: That could change.

We watched D18’s namesake in Eagle vs Shark on Saturday night. Nope, the littles didn’t watch it. Yep, it’s worth seeing at least once. That’s one of my favourite lines, and I think that the film will become one of our family's "cult movies" for sure.

Over the last fortnight, while I’ve been journaling pink and sparkly and delish and sunshiney and sparkly and speshal days, my head has been whirling on an off-centre roundabout. Ever since I was six, I’ve naively fought every Change Of Season tooth and nail. I have a love-hate relationship with Growing Up. I am deeply in love with my current season of “Mummy who goes beaching with her babies, relishing in beautiful things and making sparkly days”. But babies grow up. I can sense another Change Of Season about to happen and I am doing my usual fighting-it-off.

I’ve been in my timewarp for sixteen years now and I am Just Wondering if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence? See, Bulldog has applied for a scholarship next year to knock off his Master’s Degree. The last few years have seen him juggling a full time job, five kiddos, a Rather Blonde wife, keeping fit, mowing the lawns, and getting an A grade in four university papers, not to mention sleeping. I’m over it too. We need an oasis. So I am thinking, if he’s having a year off teaching and is gonna be in Study Mode, perhaps I could take a year off and do it too? Ya know, upgrade my teaching degree and go back to *duh duh dunnnn (drum roll)* The Classroom?

Part of me feels a desire to prove myself to myself, getting back to uni and Being Intelligent could be a fabulous confidence-booster (or it could be hell lol). Money is getting so tight and a beautiful sunny artsy classroom part-time could be just the ticket (the ticket to the snow - which my kids have never seen, the ticket to Sydney to see Sue and Cambodia to see Fleur and London to see my Brother and Sister, and a ticket to the cinema for the kids, and all those things I THINK we’re missing and kiss off because I've spent my life pouring into my own kids’ lives instead of the bank account). I love kiddos and if mine are ready, then I’d be the ninja at creating a gentle growing-up environment for other peeps’ kids. But could my Unschooling Buzz translate to the classroom? And could I find a Happy Place for my fellers? Could I bear to be separated from them? Would they be okay without my kisses showering them every minute?

Maybe my timing is a little rushed - originally I thought that S10 and M6 would have 2009 and 2010 at home, then go to school when S10 is year nine (the entry point for all the other brothers and sister) and M6 is year five. But I’m also seeing that I’m running such a Boring Ship here at home: I am running outta enthusiasm. I need an injection. That could be the effects of Winter...

I’ve also noticed that I’ve been holding my kids' hands a little tighter since I started thinking of The Big Wide World for them next year. We do have a family-ish school up the road with small classroom sizes, but it’s a highly structured environment and rather prescriptive in its expectations, which doesn't really fit with my idea that kids thrive in The Big Wide Open Spaces.

Still, I wonder if there’s change in the wind...

virtual sparkles

AOTEAROA BRACELET: three strands symbolising beautiful New Zealand, to celebrate your visit to The Land of The Long White Cloud: freshwater pearls (very cloud-y) surrounded by the calm Atlantic Ocean and the wild and carefree Pacific Ocean - with love from Katie to Pauline X

BLACKBERRY JAM NECKLACE: five strings of big fat juicy blackberry beads, hawaiian pearls, crystal sparkles and organza ribbon, clasped with a heart - with love from Katie to Antipo. Can't wait to meet up for a Real French kiss rofl X

see food diet

it turns out that D18 has recently GONE VEGGIE.
What do you mean he don't eat no meat?
Oh, that's okay. I make lamb.
(guess the movie line)

alas and alack, that means:
no pork
no lamb
no beef
no tshicken (sic)
no fish
... a veritable VEGETABLE-arian then???
I'm a vegetable-arian too. (guess the other movie line)

enter pumpkin soup, pumpkin and fetta frittata, pasta and sauce, rainbow veggie soup, felafels and salady-bits in pita breads, olives cheeses and a broken piggy bank crostini, a BIG SCRATCH OF KATIE'S HEAD AND A DESPERATE BEG TO THE BIG WIDE WORLD FOR 3 WEEKS OF veggie RECIPES/IDEAS...

well actually, upon clarification, D18's decided that he won't eat things that have a brain. aha, he makes his own rules then, just like me.

enter Green Lipped Mussels:
enter the resident muscles

and a prize for the best Frank Spencer facials.
enter a swish of this, a tin or two of that, and a teaspoon of this:

a little reduction, add the scrubbed brainless mussels.
whang on the lid, boil to death for 8 minutes.

ohhh la la, a veritable "vegetable-arian" feast.

teen spirit

The boy is back in town again and the roof is lifting off:

With the lights out it's less dangerous

Here we are now

Entertain us

I guess it makes me smile
And for this gift I feel blessed

Our little group has always been

And always will until the end

dinky pinky: the good old re-fashioned way

R15 has always been a girly girl. Which is fantastic for moi, cos there's a lot of testosterone around here and I *love* having someone to share my own love of pink with. The other day as I was dashing around my fave fabric barn, I noticed the end of a bolt of polar fleece and could. not. resist.
So I bought it for Woozie, for her Birthday Extreme Makeover: yep, we're looking at a new quilt (cos we're all about The Quilt), a new austrian blind (cos the old blue-boy-roman-blind has been fixed and fixed and is looking so *skody*) and mayyyyybe a pink feature wall (just have to negotiate where to put all the furniture so that we can actually *see* the pinkyness) !!!!!

The instant her gorgeous sewing machine arrived, which even makes our breakfast threads its own needle (we are in SEWING MACHINE HEAVEN!!!) I edged the butterfly fleece in pink satin and turned it into a snuggly throw for watching movies in making huts with the end of R15's bed. And then we fossicked around for something to refashion into a curtain, and finally settled on a duvet-cover of mine that we unearthed from the death trap: be VERY careful how ya open the door linen cupboard, cos REALLY, pink gerberas are rather a girly thing to put on Bulldog's bed, aren't they? So we dyed the fabric girly-pink (cos it was originally white), and teamed it with an apple-green gingham from Floss's stash... and lookit:

one dinky pinky window to the world.

now to stop procrastinating get started on The Quilt...

wild thing... you make my heart sing!!!

lookit what my fave FLICKR CHICKR, the ever-so-talented Hay sent to my email inbox this morning:

cos i was loudly coveting hers yesterday...
dontcha think it's oh! so perfickly perfick?!!!
it has five-petaled flowers and all sorts of retro getro, da keeedz, La Tour Eiffel, our mountain, the Tardis, and the delish Monsieur Depp (cos we're all about The Poirate)... and my favourite colours!!!!!
it's totally *sunshine*.
it's the best Early Summer Unbirthday Pressie i've ever had.
Hay... you make everything *groovy*!!!

Funny ol' world, innit?

A pirate walks into a bar

with a steering wheel

down his trousers.

The barman says,

“Why do you have a steering wheel

down your trousers?"

The pirate says,

"Garr! It's driving me nuts!"