happy new year

Blog posts have been sparse as we are spending all our time in the pool, eating watermelon and laughing with friends. Other pursuits include battling a gigantic jigsaw, colouring in with the kids and wondering what day it is. Christmas was joyous, the New Year will be Happy and I will be back soon.

back garden (with apologies to David Hockney)

Our back garden. I don't know what we will come home to in a fortnight but right now it looks beautiful (if you click on this collage you will get a BIG picture to look at).

all wrapped up

All the presents are wrapped and packed into the back of the car to take to Adelaide. This year my dominant design brief was low budget, I ended up taking inspiration from Mary Poppins - brown paper packages tied up with string. I filled the brief in terms of budget - a ball of bakers' twine, the end of a roll of washi tape and some brown paper, the whole thing came in under $10. And I think it looks great.

the creative hub

Emily and Sam at the art table in the play room this morning.

last day

Sam has graduated from Prep. His report is glowing, his paragraph in the school year book tells us that he wants to be a race car driver (!) and his teacher tells me that he is amazing and she would be happy to teach him forever. His efforts this year have been amazing - it seems a long time since his first day of prep (here)

A quick exit interview:
What was the best thing about school this year? Learning to read and now I can write everything I need to.

Three words to describe Miss Donnan - Awesome, smart, kind

What did you learn? Everything.

What are you going to get better at in Grade ? I'm going to write longer stories next year.

sick and tired

Milly has been sick since Friday morning. She is slowly getting better, today she fell fast asleep on the couch, snoring.

best thrift ever?

The author of one of the blogs I like to read (Paper Dolls for Boys) posted a question - Favorite Thrift Ever? Granted she asked this question way back in August when life overtook me and I was neither posting on my own blog nor reading other people's. So I am late to read her post and answer this. But answer it I will, as my fascination, fixation and fancy of op. shops (thrift stores to the Americans) often borders on the unhealthy.

I look around my house and wonder how to settle on my favourite find. Quickly I realise that I will never be able to choose one item. To compare it to choosing a favourite child is a poor analogy (for about five minutes of most days I do have a favourite child - the one being the least demanding). It is obvious I will need to settle on a category of favourite op. shop finds.

Now to choose... Kitchen - pyrex dishes, jars, cannisters? Sewing - threads, scissors, tape measures, patterns, knitting needles? Sporting - tennis racquet frames, darts, felt penants? Children - books, toys, readers, games?

Perhaps not a cateogory but a colour... Red - picnic suitcase, metal cake tin, enamel milk jug? Green... painted meat safe, vintage tape dispenser, globe? Blue - shoe lasts, Belgian glass bottles, Meakin dinner set?

Perhaps not a colour but a material... Metal - vintage cake tins, enamel trays, wire baskets? Glass - jars, hollow stemmed champagne flutes, pressed glass compotes? Wood - cotton reels, printers' blocks, my set of trivets?

As I struggle to decide and the full extent of my op. shop obsession begins to dawn on me Michael looks over my shoulder and makes a derisive noise (halfway between snort and guffaw) as he reads my dilemma. He tells me the answer is obvious - chairs. And he is right. Those of you who know me know that my chair "thing" is most definitely a "thing". I have most definitely reigned it in in the past 18 months. I now only buy kitchen chairs if they are part of a set of at least 6. Armchairs are considered on a strict "one in - one out" policy". Outdoor chairs are restricted to split cane. I do have a love for chairs. So here is my chair story....

A set of ten steel stackable chairs bought from a kindergarden fete for $1 each.

These oak chairs are part of a set of 12. A sign of my chair "thing" is that my father found these in a shop in Adelaide (for $20) and asked them to be held. I happily made the trip over, packed them into a trailer and drove them 700 kilometres home.

 

I have slowly acquired these step stools (not strictly chairs but part of the "thing") since we moved into our house almost four years ago. I have paid between 4 and 12 dollars for them. I currently have six at the bench and two in the garage. I continue to look for them. The hunt will be complete when I have a 6 matching Namco brand in various vinyls.

A pair of split cane armchairs from the op. shop I frequent most - across the road, about 100 metres from our front door. The pair cost $15. (This photo is Milly waiting for Sam to come home on the first day of school).

This is my favourite chair. We were on holiday and I found it. When I found it was $10 there was no option of leaving without it. With much huffing and puffing Michael put it in the back of the car and I drove it home while he stayed at the beach with Sam. To add to the insanity of this purchase, there was no room in our old house for it so it was stored in the garage for a year and a half until we moved.

So, to answer the initial question, chairs. It can only be, has only ever been, chairs.

at the moment I am...

watching...

My So Called Life. A series I first watched on Foxtel in 1999. It stars the very young (who am I kidding? She is still young) Claire Danes and Jared Leto. I think it is the ultimate high school teen angst series. I picked up the dvd last week in Borders and it is as good as I remember.

waiting for...

my Rudbeckia Maxima to flower. This is one of the perennials I am babysitting for Kate while her house renovations take over her garden and I love it. It will definitely be invited to stay permanently. It is the upright plant with big blue green leaves in the centre of this photo of the border next to the verandah.The tall spikes are hiding their coneflower-like yellow flowers. Once they open up and stick their heads above the Coronation Gold Achillea in the foreground this bed will be perfect. (I am well aware that I am waxing lyrical about these perennials and only one person who reads this blog will care - so: Hello Kate, and  just to let you know, the purple bonariensis and buddleja are perfect foils for this yellow border. Wish you could come and see it.)

reading...

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. I am enjoying his latest. Amber sent it down to me and it is great to read something that is light and quick but well written. I will pass it to Michael next. It is rare that we enjoy the same author but Nick Hornby appeals to us both.

coveting...

a fat vintage demijohn bottle in greeny blue grass. I can think of at least five different places in my house that would be improved by one of these. It is high on my Christmas list and may require a trip to Drysdale to see Eli who usually has one or two amongst the treasures in his shop.

for the grandparents

Mum and Dad are in the UK at the moment, as a result I am posting more than the normal amount of gratuitous shots of the kids. I snapped this (with my phone - hence the haze) after school on Tuesday. Sam was having his 'screen time' and Milly sat down to join him.

big news

Milly has been growing her hair for a few months now. The two things she wants most in life are a pony and a ponytail. She is NEVER going to have a pony but yesterday we managed to drag 80% of her (still quite short, bobbed) hair into a ponytail. She was simultaneously exhilarated and overwhelmed. After ten minutes it got too much for her and we had to take it out.

drum roll please...

...today has been declared “watching tv upside down day”.

work friends

This year I have loved work. I am part of a team of women who are all inspired and inspiring: they love their jobs and enjoy the kids. Listening to demoralising staffroom moaning about admin, kids, timetables etc is a thing of the past and has been replaced by conversations about what worked in our classrooms, strategies to connect with kids, sharing ways of managing tricky kids as well as talking about our lives and developing friendships. I am a newcomer to this group and it is so nice to have colleagues who have welcomed me to the team and become my friends. It is the first time in years I have felt part of a team at work (and let me immodestly say - it is the gun team in terms of teaching and learning).

Last night we all got together to celebrate the end of year. The plan was to come over for an afternoon tea and it stretched late into the night. Lots of laughter and gossip, throw in some fabulous Kris Kringle gifts, St Germain and Champagne cocktails, husbands arriving to act as designated drivers (and staying for a drink) and it was a fabulous night.

...and it feels like the holidays are almost here, only a week to go.

cooperation

Every now and again the kids talk to each other, then they play with each other. It really is quite nice.

Emily

  

While it is true that Emily is more feisty than feminine she has been toting her baby doll around for weeks and every now and again she dons her crown and waves her wand around just like a little girl.

fun "run"

A few weeks ago Sam and I entered a Fun Run. We walked the 6km circuit and felt very pleased with ourselves at the end. While it is true that a day of shopping around Chadstone wears me out more than the pace Sam set, it was a great morning and Milly has decided that she will join us next year.

christmas party - the kids

 

 

 

This is the first year we have had a daytime party and included the kids. It is staggering that we since the first party eight years ago we now have five kids running around us (with another on the way and two in a different country). What is more amazing is that they are at an age where we can relax and enjoy the day. Sam made his debut as the cocktail waiter mixing champagne cocktails like an expert and Milly made an effort to share all her toys with the girls.

Steve and Noel have christened the overgrown tunnel (pruned at child eye-height for Milly and Sam to explore when they retrieve eggs) “The Grotto” and made a Hot Wheels track which Sam tired of before they did. Annie and Diana kicked the kids off the trampoline for a while and bounced around wildly (no mean feat for the bladder of a mother of two!)

Brought about by necessity (i.e lack of babysitters) the experiment of including the kids this year seemed to work.

christmas party - the people

 

Annie and Steve were in the country and it was great to have them both at the Party for the first time in four years. Greg’s fiancée Heather experienced her first of what will be many Christmas Parties and it was lovely to welcome her. James and Craig came straight from a Bike, Swim, Paddle race/extravaganza which meant James was wearing a towel as per tradition. Diana was the picture of Garden Party elegance in vintage straw hat and party frock, Noel did bring a coat hanger with shirt and suit on it but never quite made it out of his shorts and t-shirt (until very late in the evening but that is the subject of another post altogether). Nick and Lara arrived without Sally the dog which was a disappointment to Milly. If Amber and Russell had been able to get here it would have been perfect.

christmas party - the look

 

 

The Christmas Party was yesterday. This year for the first time we had it during the day, the garden looked amazing and I took masses of photos of the set up before people arrived. I was a little impressed that all our spring time work in the garden paid off at exactly the right time.

amber's colour and wonder

In what has been the busiest few months I can remember surviving (a touch dramatic) one of the best things about my days has been when there has been an email from Amber with images of her poetically named “colour and wonder”. Beautiful things which make me smile and can lift my mood. Even when I have to squint as I peer at them on my iPhone screen (as I seem to only open the laptop sporadically) they brighten my day.

This is a selection from my inbox this week….

I feel like I have a subscription to a magazine which understands my aesthetic and oddities (the colour spectrum of candles) perfectly.

i think i can, i think i can...

I am almost at the top of this mountain - reports are written; our family routine is starting to return to normal; the Christmas Party is on Sunday; I only have two weeks until holidays. It seems I may get my life back soon and this means my poor neglected blog will again receive attention. And I declare now that I will never again work 4 days a week.

In the meantime, how beautiful are these trestle tables? I spent time this afternoon cleaning them up and and think they are treasures. They are on loan from the depths of the storage shed at school. I am hatching a plan (which may not come to fruition) where I offer to replace them with new ones. Wish me luck.