Clothes

Okay, I’ll say it. My kids drive me a bit nuts when it comes to clothes!!

Truth be told, Ethan (almost 5) is not too bad. He dresses himself every morning and he is generally happy to wear any of the clothes in his dresser.
He has moments (like this morning) where he has a meltdown because something he really wants to wear is dirty. Or, in the case of his favourite Spiderman shorts, holey. [I'm going to ask Mum to fix the shorts tomorrow, since I don't have a sewing machine and wouldn't be able to use it if I did!]

On the other hand, Tyler (2 1/2) is a nightmare to clothe. He is an extremely, er, um … strong-willed child. That’s putting it lightly. He also has an extremely poor sense of fashion.

Tyler fights with us constantly about clothes. He goes through phases of liking a particular item, and then hating it. He wants to wear sweatshirts and gumboots in summer. He wants to wear tank tops and bare feet in winter. He likes to “layer” his outfits. But the problem is, he usually wants the baggier stuff on first, with the one-size-too-small stuff on top. Nice.

I usually don’t have the energy to fight with him about this sort of thing. It often gets him wound up and emotional, and that’s not a fun way to start the day. I can tell immediately what kind of mood he is in and whether or not I can persuade him to wear something else. So I usually let him wear whatever he wants … within reason.
He’s worn a Spiderman suit (complete with mask) to the shops.
He’s worn gumboots to the beach. In summer.
He often wears clashing colours, patterns together with stripes, and clothes that are way too small. [I try to hide them, but he manages to find them again!]

Today, while Ethan was at Kindy, he decided to play with the stuff in the dress-up box. He chose a tool belt, a spiderman mask worn as a hat, a pirate “scarf”, a Bob the Builder painting smock, a zebra face mask and a Shrek costume.
He needed help putting some of it on. As I assisted him, I looked at him and thought “you look ridiculous!” and then I realised … this is HIM. This is part of his personality. He’s outgoing, friendly, willing to try new things, messy, cheeky, defiant, funny and creative.
I’m not going to try and change him. I’ll just hope & pray that he finds some dress sense along the way!

Me? Quirky? I think so!

I’ve been tagged by Rochelle. I’m supposed to list 5 of my quirks. And let me assure you, it was pretty hard to stop at just five …

(1) I love to make lists. Lots of lists. All kinds of lists.
“To Do” lists.
I often add things to my “To Do” list after they have been done, and then put a nice neat line through them.
Shopping lists.
On the fridge, there is a jotter pad for listing items that need to be purchased during the next grocery shop. When the day comes to actually DO the grocery shop, I rewrite the list in the order the items can be found in our supermarket (you can imagine my horror when the supermarket decided to have a complete revamp … I had to make a special trip up there just to “relearn” the new layout).
Blacklists.
Just kidding, I don’t have those.

(2) I get REALLY annoyed when there are spelling and/or grammar mistakes in magazines, books and newspapers … or even worse, on signs.
Some people cry when they see dead animals on the side of the road. I cry when I see signs like this: BED’S FOR SALE.
I blame all of this on my job: I’m an editor. Oh, and my mum might as well take some of the blame. She taught me to love reading ~ books ~ spelling ~ English ~ writing. How dare she?!

(3) When I eat M&Ms (or Skittles or Pebbles), I arrange them in groups according to colour. I eat them until I have the same number in each group (preferably an even number), then I eat one from each “group” until they are gone. And the colour groups have to be eaten in the “order” of the rainbow (ie. red then orange then yellow then green then blue, etc).
I do have an exception to this rule. At the movies, I’m perfectly willing to eat them directly from the bag/box, disregarding colours & numbers completely. I feel it would be insensitive to other movie-goers if I was to bring a large torch and a tray on which to arrange my confectionary. Besides, I’d miss some of the movie.

(4) When I am shopping, I push the trolley backwards & forwards whenever I stop to look at something or talk to somebody … just as you would with a sleeping baby in a pram. And my “babies” are now 2 1/2 and nearly 5!! Sigh.
Warning: this is what having kids can do to you!!

(5) I’m extremely particular about how my clothes and towels (OMG, especially towels!!) are folded. In the early days of our marriage, I *considered* banning Rob from folding laundry. But then I realised: what kind of girl would prohibit her man from folding laundry, even if he does it wrong?? That’s right. No girl would do such a thing.
But I have to admit that I often “refold” things. Even after they have been put away in drawers and cupboards. He doesn’t know this. Well, he will once he reads this. And then he will probably cease folding altogether. Doh!

*Disclaimer*
Yes. I do realise that I have about 29 of 30 characteristics of OCD. So there’s really no need to mention it in your comments. Alrighty?

Now I am tagging Karen (girlfriday), Beka and Angella.

Real Mums …

I’ve been tagged by the gorgeous Angella. Here’s what I have to do … Put up a post “Real Moms [insert what you do here]“, followed by an explanation, and a picture. Then tag five people.

Okay. But first I need to announce that this meme is being *officially* changed from Real Moms to Real Mums. At least while it does the rounds here in NZ. Cause we’re not Moms. We’re Mums. Except for Christi and Michelle, they’re Moms.

But I digress.

Real Mums try not to laugh when their kids do something very-naughty-but-extremely-cute-at-the-same-time. And then they take photos of it:

It made it a *tad* difficult to tell him off after I had (unsuccessfully) suppressed my laughter, told him to “stay still, I’ll be back in a second” and gone into the other room to grab my camera! He pretty much got away with that one.

Now I’m tagging Christi, Debbie, Tracy, Michelle and Kelly N.

A good Friday

Today is Friday.

Every Friday I am home with the boys, and I work 1/2 day (from home). Ethan goes to Kindy from 8.45 til 12.45, and even though I still have Tyler, I’m usually able to get a couple of hours work done during that time. Then I get some more done when Tyler has a nap. The rest I do over the weekend. It is a pretty good arrangement and it works well.

But today things were different.

I decided I would leave ALL my work until tomorrow.

So this morning, after we dropped Ethan off at Kindy, Tyler and I had a few uninterrupted hours of fun together. We went out to Gulf Harbour Marina and walked up & down the piers looking at all the boats. He loved it! Then we played at the playground which was one he had never been to before.
After that he said he was hungry, and that he wanted to “go to the shops and get chocolate cake and a fluffy”! So we did just that. It was a really nice morning.

We picked Ethan up from Kindy after lunch, and then Tyler had a nap. I decided to do a project with Ethan. We made a puppet monster from paper plates, an egg carton and paint. I did most of the cutting and sticking, but he chose the colours and did most of the painting himself (I helped him with the fiddly bits).

And here is the finished result! I’m not sure what his name is, but Ethan is really proud of himself and he had heaps of fun doing it.

Right now, I have washing out that needs to come in, more washing that needs to be put in the machine, dishes to put away, beds to make, grocery shopping to do, and I’m halfway through the vaccuming.
And of course I haven’t done any of my work [that will all be done tomorrow morning].

But I’m happy. I’ve had a good day, and so have my boys.

Times, they are a changing!

I wrote a while back about the possibility of being able to work from home full time. You can read the original post here.

Anyway, today I got the final word from my manager that I will definitely be able to work remotely! My last day in the office will be 24 May, and from then on, I will be a Work-At-Home-Mum!

I’m very pleased to have final confirmation on this. I always knew it was very likely to go ahead, but there is something satisfying about having it all fixed in stone. I feel excited about this new phase of my life! I have been searching for a new challenge, for something to keep me motivated. And I do believe this will be it!

Just imagine what I could do with an extra 4 hours each week?? That’s how much time I will save in driving to and from work!

Dig a hole …

Q: What happens if you dig straight down?
A: You’ll pop out the other side of the world.

Q: What’s on the other side of the world?
A: Ummm… China!

Yesterday I was home sick (with a nasty headcold) and I was watching TV. As you do. On the Good Morning show they have a thing called Website of the Week. I made a mental note to remember the address and look it up sometime.

Have you ever wondered where you would end up if you dug a hole through to the other side of the world? Now you can find out!! Go to this website and find your location on the map. You can zoom in and out as much as you like. In fact, you can even zoom right in to street name level! I was actually able to find our section lot on our street, so it means you can literally find out what would happen if you dug a hole in your very own backyard!

Anyway, my hole comes out in Atajate, Spain, near the city of Ronda. I’d never heard of it before, but it is near the southern coast of Spain. Very cool!!

I assume that based on the size of our country, most New Zealanders will end up in Spain, or somewhere nearby. But it is still fun and very educational … let your kids have a play!

Guest Designer

I’m done! The month is not over but I have used almost everything in my kit! I have some chipboard and rubons left over, but only tiny scraps of patterned paper. Meg put together such a great kit, I was blown away by the wonderful stuff in there, and it was SO MUCH FUN to work with!

Those who know me well will understand how much I enjoyed the challenge of working to a deadline and knowing that people had expectations of me. That’s how I function best. So now I’ve experienced that, I’m positive I could cope with being on a DT for a whole year … hint, hint!

Anyway, I wanted to outline what Meg included in the kit:

10 sheets of Scenic Route patterned paper (2-sided)
3 sheets of bazzill (red, gold, green)
1 sheet of fancy edge bazzill (red)
1 sheet 3 Bugs in a Rug letter stickers
1 tin Maya Road “Blessings” rubons (over 1000 rubons in the tin!!)
1 packet Cherry Arte chipboard brackets
1 packet Urban Lily “His” printed chipboard circles
3 paper frills (white)

So my layouts are now up in the gallery at Scrapbook Essentials. I’m not going to upload all the photos here because it would take forever, and I want you to click on my links that I have painstakingly put in!

I did 5 layouts and one OTP project. I had another project planned but ran out of supplies! That was going to be an altered magazine file. But I’m happy with what I got done.

Click on the links to see the finished result:

(1) This Is Summer – a layout from our Hahei holiday in February. I love this photo of Ethan swinging!

(2) Reason #29 – something “different” for me, I don’t usually leave so much white space. But I do love how it turned out.

(3) Lots’a Bubbles – Rob took these photos and I have been waiting for ages to scrap them like this. The Scenic Route papers were just perfect!

(4) Cousins – again, a little out of my comfort zone since I don’t scrap girly! But this paper was gorgeous and I knew this photo would work.

(5) Wonder – I took a bunch of great photos when I visited Niagara Falls last year. Many people struggle with how to scrap scenery photos, and I’m one of them! But I really enjoyed doing this one.

(6) Family Recipes – I decided to alter the cute tin that the Maya Road rubons came in. I made a bunch of recipe cards to fit inside. On both sides of each card, I added favourite recipes that have been passed through the generations in our family. The tin was a gift for my sister Leah, who has just gone flatting. Hope you like it, sis!

Once again, I just want to thank Meg (and Millie) for choosing me to be Guest Designer this month. I’ve had a blast, and I think it has been good for me to push myself and do more scrapbooking than I usually would in less than 3 weeks!

ABC muffins

My boys love these muffins, and they are great for me to make since I don’t like banana and therefore I’m not tempted to eat them! I’m fairly certain this is a Simon Holst recipe.

2-3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 Granny Smith or Braeburn apple, grated
2 cups self-raising flour

Preheat oven to 210C.
Mash bananas. In a bowl, mix together bananas, sugar, salt, oil, egg and milk. Stir in chocolate chips and apple. Stir flour in its container, then spoon into cup without packing it or banging it down. Sprinkle over top of other ingredients then fold in gently without overmixing.
Spoon into greased muffin trays. Bake for 10-12 min until tops spring back when lightly pressed. Leave to stand for 2-3 min then remove.

Makes 12 regular muffins or 24 mini muffins (my boys love the mini ones!)
Suitable to freeze.

I’ve been tagged …

… three times, actually! And I’m ashamed to say it was quite some time ago! Oops! Anyway, I’m doing it now. And please forgive me if I tag you and you’ve already been tagged!

1. Find the nearest book:
[I can't be bothered taking a photo, sorry.]

2. Name the book & the author:
The Broker – John Grisham

3.Turn to page 123.
Yep …

4. Go to the 5th sentence on the page & copy out the next three sentences onto your blog.
The Universita degli Studi was found in dozens of handsome old buildings, some five hundred years old, most of them packed end to end along Via Zamboni, though over the centuries the school had grown and now covered an entire section of Bologna.
The Italian lesson was forgotten for a block or two as they were swept along in a wave of students hustling to and from their classes. Marco caught himself looking for an old man with bright gray hair – his favorite Communist, his first real acquaintance since walking out of prison.

5. Tag 3 more people.
I am tagging Angella, Danica and Christi.

Sneak peeks …

You will have read on here that I was chosen to be Guest Designer at SE this month. I’ve been busy working away with the wonderful goodies in my kit. Since it is now halfway through the month, I thought I would post a few sneak peeks (probably the only time I’ll ever get to do such a thing!):

 

 So far I have done 5 layouts, and I’m currently working on an OTP project. If it comes together as easily as I hope it will, I have a second OTP project up my sleeve. That is, of course, assuming I actually have time for it!