my place and yours – 5 minutes peace

Outside!  See Meet Me at Mikes for more…  (see how I’m talking less and less? Must be that time of year…)

maisie for baby…

I made this dolly for a new baby on the weekend from this book – More Softies… there’s also a free pattern on their website HERE.

something I’d like to make with the kids…

Note to self and anyone else who is interested – instructions are HERE from Ann Wood – isn’t it beautiful?

always my favourite Christmas song…

something new to try this Christmas…

The last couple of years I’ve wanted to try a chocolate Christmas tree and this recipe seems easy and yummy!  Any of you trying something NEW this year?  I’d love to hear about it…  By the way, I went to Southland (shopping centre) twice today …. and I survived to tell the tale…

my place and yours – wherever I lay my hat…

Wherever I lay my sugar bowl… doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?  I’m a bit precious about a sense of history and things from the past in our family – as there isn’t very much in that respect…Both of my parents fled their native Poland with very little – just the clothes on their backs.  When they met in the Middle East and got married they were given this Persian silver sugar bowl as a wedding present – it was one of the only things they brought with them to Australia…. it’s been with me for a while and I love the sense of connection it gives me when I look at it ….. (and in the end ‘home’ isn’t about things…. and maybe that’s why the heart made it into this picture….)

christmas things…

This is the latest batch of my printed birds and angels for Christmas…. check out these places for lovely handmade festive things – Little Shop of, Carnegie or Lumina Gallery, East Malvern.

where the wild things are…

We took the kids to see Where the Wild Things Are on Sunday…. 3 of us (me and 2 kids) cried quite a lot… Spike Jonze has really put a contemporary and more adult slant on this story.  Where the book has plenty of space for children to use their own imaginations, the film is so prescriptive and tells us too much about Max’s family and it’s issues – single mum, distracted older sister…. and the displays of Max’s anger are quite upsetting for young and old. The scenery, the costumes and the music are appropriate and beautiful…. and I just wondered how the monsters would have been if they didn’t talk….

cooking with mama…

Me as 50’s housewife – how did that happen?…..  A while ago dear Sonia came up with a lovely idea about saving recipes for your kids in their own special book – especially the family favourites that have been passed down from generations….  I then came across this fun idea from Sportsgirl of all places – a journal to record all those fave recipes with a space to put your own picture and name (the ‘mama’ didn’t turn out too well – I might need to have another go at that!)  How are your Christmas preparations going?

hot and not this week…

I was just thinking today that there is quite often both hot and not to one situation… for example…..

HOT – making my beloved a cake for his birthday, NOT – finding old chips in the oven that I was ‘keeping warm’ about a week ago!

HOT – Nim’s new short haircut and earrings, NOT – the feelings that came up for me about my daughter growing up and making her own choices (and regrets I may have had as a child….)

HOT – all the lovely stuff I find on blogs including today’s find Habit, with it’s lovely photos and poetic lines, NOT – not always having lovely and inspiring images to share… (just old chips…..)