Mummy, why do I have to wear sunscreen?

Do you remember,

as a child,

...running under the sprinkler,

playing for hours in the heat of summer,

without regard for water shortage or cost?...

(from mdpropertyinc.com)

...eating whatever food came your way

without worrying about trans fats, artificial colourings, additives or use of growth promotants?...

(image from images.businessweek.com)

...running to catch the plane with your pocket knife in your pocket

and no security checks to slow you down,

not fearing catching any contagious disease from your fellow passengers?...

(from challengefactor.files.wordpress.com)

...flaunting your body in the sun without any fear beyond some painful sunburn?...

(image from cosmosmagazine.com)

...watching music videos on telly where the most offensive thing

to a 10 year old were the flares, tassles and sequins?...

(from esarsea.files.wordpress.com)

...living in a time when the words "global warming" and "carbon footprint"

weren't part of everyday language?...

(from home-air-purifier-expert.com)

...when your folks pushed you out the door in the morning

and you wandered back in sometime late in the day when you'd finished playing with your mates

around the neighbourhood, and were hungry, dirty, tired, and happy?...

(from alignlife.com)

I do.

I remember those times as I answer the question of my 7 year old who wants to know why there is so much security at airports.

I think about them as I explain to my kids why they need to wear hats and sunscreen if

they want to play out in the sun.

I appreciate my childhood as I tell my children what makes some foods good for them

and others, really bad.

I cherish those few times that we can pull out the water slide in the backyard

and let the kids use it for a little while

without concern for wasted water or breaking the law.

I am in wonder that teaching our kids about

recycling, wastage and the conservation of our planet

is a part of their learning process from the word go;

that it is a fact of life.

I am a little melancholy when I remember my holiday days

wandering off with friends to catch tadpoles,

or wander through the neighbourhood fields

as I try to explain the idea of "stranger danger" without scaring my children.

Don't get me wrong.

My kids are having a pretty good childhood.

There are so many opportunities and options today,

improved health and medical care,

increased acceptance of minority groups,

more freedom to live your life as you see fit without being judged

and amazing access to resources and the world.

But I am a little sad that the world has changed forever

and that it is a fact of life that our responsibilites have changed and increased.

Our kids are growing up with

an awareness of what we need to do to look after our planet and each other.

Something that we adults have really only had to learn in the past 10 years or so.

I'd go and treat my melancholy with an iced donut...

if I didn't know about those bloody trans fats.

A hospital holiday (yes, holiday)

I recently had a five day stay in hospital.

Don't panic, folks. Elective and nothing too serious.

But seriously,  I was so looking forward to it.

Packed the iPod,

piled craft magazines into my suitcase,

along with many books,

knitting projects,

 food treats

and some decent tea and coffee bags.

(A bit of a bugger that there was no room left for clothes and toiletries

but they are over rated anyhow)

To have a stretch of time post surgery where I had no demands on my time

from children, husband or normal domestic life,

to be able to knit, read, sit up late watching movies without hubby's disapproval,

it felt like a holiday.

OK So there were a few physical constraints

(post-op recovery and all that)

and mental restraints

(why are nurses so perky and chatty at 1am and 5am

when they wake you up to check and records all those bits and pieces?

Seriously, you wake me up

and expect a coherent conversation when you ask

"Wow. That looks good. What are you knitting?" at 5am?)

But no nasty jabs in the butt or anything

(something from the dark recesses of my childhood memories

when I had my tonsils out as a youngster)
And I do find that, after 3 pregnancies and child birth experiences,
 there isn't much that makes me squirm these days
when it comes to having my body poked and prodded.

(the first photo shows truer colour)

Pattern: Garnstudio and DropsDesign Lin tunic with shirred pattern

Yarn: Panda 8 ply wool crepe (in grape purple)

And to top it all off.

my folks got our last one almost toilet trained while I was away.

There may well be a bonus in their babysitting pay packet this visit.



A Tasmanian holiday



So my parents didn't retire to the warmest place that there is,
(there was snow on the mountains when we stepped off the plane)
and even when you visit in summer,
you need to pack for all seasons,
but as hubby said,
it really is a place where you just point your camera and shoot.

Last holiday we went for a beach walk and were escorted by an inquisitive ray.
This time we got checked out by a little shark,
watched a pod of dolphins cruise up the estuary from my folks' balcony
and stopped to say hi to an echidna on the way to the beach.

Life is good.

Stunning in its simplicity.

Tikki's rainbow dress

(Georgie Hallam)

Yarn- Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8 ply

in a colour chosen by the little goddess

(hence pink and not the gorgeous green and purple yarn that I was waving in front of her face)

(truer colour)

Simple with a gorgeous result.

I love the line of the dress body
and the clever way that the neckline is formed.

I think I am quite smitten with knitting for the time being...



Knit picking

Technically I am a knitter.

If someone asked me "can you knit?",

the answer is "oh, yes, but I haven't for a very long time"

As in about 30 years.

And as to what I ever knitted, I don't think much at all.

I could cast on, knit, purl and cast off.

But I have never ever knitted anything beyond a scarf

(and a very plain one at that)

The knitting bug hit me a few weeks ago.

And this is where the "impatient git" label in my personal profile can be noted.

Instead of making a few scarves or dishclothes or the like,

I started buying dress and jacket patterns for me and my offspring.

So making the following was a bit of a learning curve.

It wasn't really difficult

but as a beginner knitter, I did learn a lot.

Pattern: Garnstudio and DropsDesign wrap-around jacket in 2 strands

Yarn: Cleckheaton Country Natural 8 ply

It is knitted as a double yarn

and in spite of the pattern stating 700 grams (14 balls).

I used 30 balls of wool.

So it is heavy, very warm and very expensive.

First lesson learnt- check the wool you are buying to that the pattern is made for.

I didn't make the collar as wide as in the pattern.

I wouldn't have had enough wool but I also didn't want it to be too droopy.

Overall I am only unhappy with the final cost,

not helped by the fact that I bought most of the wool at spotlight the day before their 60% off yarn sale started.

I can't begin to tell you how heavy it is and it is chunkier than I was thinking

but as a "snuggle up and keep warm" jummper for winter,

it is perfect.

Shame that it is 25 degrees here today...



The Old Woman Crush Syndrome.

(glitteruniverse.com)

I have been feeling pretty darn good since I hit my 40s nearly 2 years back.

My 30s were a fantastic time:

we achieved a lot in terms of family, home and business

and there is a confidence I achieved finally escaping most of the peer pressure

that I felt as a teen and in my 20s.

I have an ever increasing sense of mortality

which I think has been associated with becoming a mother.

I fear that I wont be around to see my kids grow up to be

(hopefully) healthy and happy and settled in their lives.

But now that I have settled into my 40s

(and have been assured that I am not mid-life yet-

someone said it somewhere, once, and I am chosing to believe them),

I am starting to definately feel like I am coming down the other side of the hill.

Little bits of the body here and there are starting to slow down or fail.

I am slowly but surely getting out of touch with the youth culture

(though once I have 3 teenagers,

I am guessing that I will be back in touch in no uncertain terms)

Planning my 50th birthday will happen before planning any of my children's 18th birthdays.

But my secret fear is what I call "the old woman crush" syndrome.

When does it become a bit...you know...inappropriate to have a crush on someone?

Expected as a teen,

natural as a 20-something- year old,

not surprising as a person in your 30s, dare I say?

But is it a bit (or a lot) cougar-ish when you are in your 40s?

Or is it OK till you are 50? Or 60? Or as you squeeze out your last 93 year old breath?

And then there is the issue as to what 

(or I should say who)

 is an appropriate crush.

Too old could be a bit yucky.

Too young would not be something that you'd be sharing with the ladies on tuckshop duty,

now would it?

For tween gals at the moment,

it would appear that you are meant to swoon

at the mention of Justin Bieber.

(www.gossip.whyfame.com)

I thankfully have no vestige of interest in the likes of tween heart throbs.

I think more about giving birth to them than kissing them.

What about teens?

Break out in a sweat at the thought of Zac Efron?

Nope. Doesn't do it for me either.

No idea (no interest?) who's hot for a 20 or 30 year old.

Maybe something with fangs and a six pack.

I grew up in times when Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt were dubbed

"The Sexiest Men in the World"

(Personally I think that Johnny Depp is still right up there)

(from images.starpulse.com)



As a teenager, I adored George Michael

(before he came out)

As a late teen, Rupert Everett

(before he came out)

(http://www.imstars.aufeminim.com/)



Yes, OK There would seem to be a pattern there but let's just not get distracted for now.

(And I am loving the fact that the photos that I spent hours gazing at lovingly,

longingly as a teen

nearly 30 years ago,

 have been immortalised on the web.)

Peter Davison was the Dr Who of choice.

Loved Tom Baker but in a platonic way

while Peter was so darn cute.

(http://www.sella.co.nz/)

Did anyone else love Mickey Rourke?

(before he turned into plastic fantatic)

(But not gay as far as I am aware)

C'mon, he was hot!

Ever flutter the heart a little bit at Bill Pullman in
While You were Sleeping"?

In my 30s, I think I was too busy with conception, gestation and newborns to have the time to worry about who had a six pack or not.

Then, as I regained my sleep, my pelvic floor muscles and ownership of my boobs,

men on the screen suddenly seemed to be interesting again.

Mmmm, Gale Harold

(playing a gay man in "Queer as Folk"...

OK, still not going to go there)

David Tennant,

the thinking woman's Dr Who heart throb.

(http://www.sandalsandsocks.typepad.com/)

Pierce Brosnan,

the perfect 007.

Well. he was on the list till I heard him sing in "Mamma Mia"

Now I just have to step back on that one for a while and recover.

Colin Firth

(whom incidentally shared the screen with Rupert in "Another Country" all those years ago

and I didn't look at him twice)

(static.open.salon.com)

John Barrowman.

Torchwood, theatrical leading man, someone once said "sex on legs"

and yes, gay.

(Maybe I am attracted to gay men as it is a pretty safe fantasy world)

But interestingly all my current crushes are men of similar age.

Do you think that most people

are naturally inclined to be attracted to those who are of a suitable age?

(even if not suitable sexual preferences)

So, c'mon, share.

If I can own up to George Michael posters on my teenage wall,

surely you can own up to someone past or present

who floats your boat.

It'll just be between you and me.



No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Maybe. No.

(image from blogs.adelaidecitycouncil.com)

My hubby and I are (hopefully) at the end of near to 2 months

of interrupted sleep (some nights)

or plain old sleep deprivation ( on the other nights)

thanks to a 3 year old

who would rather sleep on the hard, cold coir mat of the corridor

than snuggled up with her fleecy well loved hippo pillow under her Dorothy doona.

But the psychological and physical negotiations associated with that saga

are another story.

Let's just say that the midnight, 2am and 4am dramas

have been almost clockwork

and very wearing.

Result?

2 grumpy, impatient and intolerant parents.

And I am now that queen bee mummy of "no".

(image from www.2time-sys.com)

"Can I...?"

"No"

Some are well founded...

"No, you can't climb that ladder onto the roof."

"No, you can't walk to school alone."

"No, you can't both sit on top of your 3 year old sister"

Others (I should admit most) not so well founded...

"No, you can't spread your own toast."

No, you can't play in the bath for another 5 minutes"

No, you can't be banker for Junior Monopoly"

"No, you can't have vegemite on sultana toast"

And the only thing more infuriating than have a child ask "why not?"

when you have said "no" with good reason,

is having a child ask "why not?"

when there is no good reason

and being stuck for an explanation as you grapple with guilt.

"Because I said so" is one of those answers you swore you would never give your child.
But "Because I am tired and crabby" isn't really much better.

(image from 2.bp.blogspot.com)

It is now a habit.

Easy to say it without thinking.

The same way my 5 year old finds comfort in having his hands tucked in his trousers

and the way my 7 year old finds fun by sucking on his collars and bedsheets.

No thought.

Just habit.

Of all the parenting advice we have been given or have sought in the past 8 years,

the one we both most clearly remember is

"Try to say yes more often than no"

Not sure why we remember it.

Perhaps it is because it seems to be a reachable goal in the grand scheme of positive parenting.

I would hate to think that I am weilding the "no" weapon

just because I can.

As a power play.

I know someone who used to do that to her teenage son

and it was awful to see.

I just need to stop,

think about the pros and cons,

and say "yes" where possible.

I know that there are times when I need to say "no".

Like when my 7 year old wanted my email address

so that he could sign up to a chat room

(on a child's site but the answer was a firm no regardless)

But with my fatigue and intolerance,

I have lost the ability to empathise with

the feelings of my young kids.

So I need to get more sleep,

say "yes" unless it is going to result in head trauma,
something burning
or the next world war
and maybe even try vegemite on sultana toast one morning

and see what my 7 year old is on about.

(image from losingterry.com)

And I could even let him spread it.



Scientific Seamstress Portrait Peasant top

If you like pink, floral, ruffled and generally girlie,

you are going to love this one.

Personally it is a bit too pink, floral, ruffled and girlie for me,

but I am not 3 years old

and apparently she who matters adores it.

The pattern is well explained and comes together very nicely.

There are variations on length, dress versus top, number of flounces and the like.

I fussy cut the border print fabric

so that the pattern intensity increased with each flounce.

I like the effect though I am not sure it is appreciated by the 3 year old recipient.

The length with the 4 flounces that I chose is a bit awkward for her current height.

But there is room for growth so I think it will be perfect past this summer.



Sis Boom Maddie top



The Sis Boom range of patterns are some of the most comprehensive and laid out patterns available.

There is a lot of information about the variations of the pattern,

how to size,

fabrics to use,

plus garment construction.

The step by step photos can be a great help to get you over any bumps in the sewing road.

I made the short (top) version of the Maddie pattern.

I love the ruffled bodice neckline.

The neckline is the same at the front and the back.

The little goddess wanted pink

- as to be expected-

so I offered up some fairies with sparkly bits

and all was good...

(Michael Miller Flower Fairies)

My only comment on these patterns is to read them on your computer first

then print out only the pages that you need.

They can be well over a hundred pages

as there as so many sizes within each pattern.

Within the text, a guide tells you very helpfully which pages to print out

for each size and the variation that you are after.

A Sunny Day sun hat

This pattern is from Tie Dye Diva and Monkeysbug Tees

and is superfast and easy to make.

It has a ruffled or straight brim variation and is fully reversible.

I think it would be supercute on bubs and toddlers.

I did wonder if it might look a bit like a shower cap on older kids.

But the little goddess is very impressed and wont stop wearing it

so it gets lots of brownie points.