Doing it all

Sometimes people ask me how I do everything I do, or make comments like "I couldn't do what you do".  I have always been uncomfortable with these conversations, but never sure why.  Then I stumbled upon this blog post  about the great myth of having everything together and being able to "do it all".  People who comment about what I do must think I have my entire life "together".  Reality is so different.  The fact is that no one can do everything [even though sometimes I wish I could].

I thought it would be fun to list some of the many things that I don't do:
- I don't knit, I've always wanted to, but I don't have the time or patience to bother trying
- I don't play with my children nearly enough
- I don't exercise
- I don't get enough sleep
- I don't use my time as wisely as I could [I'm always choosing to watch tv or browse the internet over other things]
- I don't read enough [my growing tower of books I want to read on my bedside table is proof]
- I don't read to my girls enough
- I don't keep on top of my housework ... ever [my house is really dirty]
- I don't keep in touch of my friends/family the way I'd like to
- I don't remember birthdays
- I don't dust. Ever.
- I don't eat fruit [unless my kids are watching and then I have to]
- I don't keep on top of my photo albums [Miss 3 and Miss 5 don't have baby albums at all yet!!]
- I don't put the washing away until I run out of baskets [and I own heaps]
- I don't positively parent my kids the way I'd like

So while I have four children, keep busy running my home, helping in the classroom, leading bible studies, helping out at church, bake and cook from scratch, and sew and garden when I get the chance, I am far from  doing it ALL.  But that's okay.  I have a Lord & Saviour who makes up the difference for me in all the areas of my life where I don't measure up.  I am so thankful for Him.

Ideas for school holiday fun

It is the winter school holiday/break now in Queensland.  Two [or three] weeks of no school.  I am definitely going to use some of the 75 ideas from this blog to keep the girls amused and have some fun with them.

I've also been collecting ideas on pinterest for us to do together. 

Usually I choose a few favourites, show the girls, and then they come up with a list of 10-15 activities they want to do too. 

I LOVE school holidays.

The completed bridesmaid dresses - and lessons learned along the way

I've done it.  They are  complete.

The dresses look lovely.  And now I can move on to other projects.

I have learned a lot of lessons from making these dresses:

1. I enjoy sewing formal dresses, 'couture' sewing, if you like.
2. I find it difficult to stick to a pattern, but like to alter it [same with recipes] as I always seem to find a way of improving it.
3. It is good to give yourself early deadlines, so that when the things of life come up [sick kids, funerals, unexpected crises etc.] there is still time to complete your project.
4. I do not enjoy sewing three identical items.
5. Chiffon is not as scary as I thought it would be to sew.
6. Chiffon is really difficult to cut out.
7. Making a dress for a lady who has just had a baby will mean multiple fittings and alterations.
8. It is essential to let your fitees know thay have to wear THE SAME undergarments [ie. bra] to each and every fitting.
9. Plan how long it will take you to hand sew the hem and linings and then multiply by 2 or 3.
10. Rolled hems are a great finish for chiffon.
11. Measuring hems from the ground up is the easiest way to get a straight hem.  Use a ruler.
12. Invisible zips are not that difficult to insert, and give a far better finish than a regular zip in a formal dress.
13. Always make sure the base of your iron is clean BEFORE you press seams, or iron the finished garment.
14. Sharp pins are essential for any sewing, but even more important when sewing satin and chiffon.
15. If you have snags on your finger nails, file them before handling chiffon.
16. Read the pattern all the way through before starting to sew.
17. It is more efficient to sew the same seams three times in a row, than to make each dress one at a time [production line sewing].
18. I have now realised that I enjoy sewing for my family, but I would not like to sew as a career, it was not fun by the end.

Christ is risen - He is risen indeed

Jesus Christ is risen from the dead - Hallelujah!!

Today the girls have an Easter egg hunt in the backyard [or we hide them in the house if it's raining], we attend church, and we spend time together as family.  No presents, no commercialism, no weird bunnies that have nothing to do with Jesus.  I love how simply we celebrate Easter.

My favourite quote about Easter is from a children's song:

He died for us to give us life, and to give us hope He rose.

Happy Easter.

Why you should always pre-wash your fabric

This is the inside of a hat I made for Miss 8 recently.  Her school swimming carnival was the other week and her team is red, so she wore it inside-out [team spirit].  The floral fabric was pre-washed, as I do with all my fabric when I first purchase it.  The red spot fabric I didn't pre-wash, as I used it to make the strawberry bags I made as Christmas gifts late last year.

Of course the day of the swimming carnival it rained.  And this photo is evidence of why you should ALWAYS pre-wash all the fabric that enters your sewing room:

 Unfortunately the photo doesn't do the pink mottled flowers justice.  I know it's annoying to pre-wash fabric before you use it, but believe me, it is worth it.

He walks before me

In the busy weeks of the start of 2012 it has been difficult at times to 'be still'.  One thing is for sure, however:  God walks before me.

There have been numerous times when I have prayed, often in desperation, or worry for my sick child, or in panic.  Each time I have been answered, but not necessarily how I expected the answer to come.

Events that could have gone badly have not gone as 'bad' as they could have.  Circumstances and 'coincidences' have occurred so that the best outcomes could happen.  I have learnt more about trusting God, even when things seem to be going wrong.

I have been reminded again that every circumstance, every event, every person that I meet, all of this is forknown, prepared by God beforehand, part of his marvellous plan.

He walks before me.

Back to school

My kids went back to school yesterday for the 2012 school year.  This is what I've been doing in the last week to get ready:

Washed, ironed, and labelled all the uniforms.

Sorted out the hair elastics, clips, headbands etc.

Covered and labelled all the books, lunchboxes, and other school supplies.

 

Named and waterproofed the school schoes.

Made pencil cases and library bags.

We have also practiced our morning routine for the last week of the holidays, to help Miss 4 with her transition to school this year.

What do you do to get ready for a new school year?

Practice with purpose

I have been teaching myself to play piano for a few years now.  I purchased a dvd course to learn at home, and if only I practiced, I would probably be where I want to be.  Recently I played piano at church [for the first time ever].  I was totally terrified, made quite a few mistakes [thankfully the band covered a lot of those up], and finished much more confident than I ever have been before.

I had forgotten how important it is to have a purpose for playing.  When I learnt musical instruments at school I was in the band or orchestra [depending on which instrument I was playing at that time] and that gave me a purpose for practice.  I find this with craft - if you don't have a purpose for the craft [eg. a gift, to use yourself] you really don't ever get around to doing it.  I imagine this is why I haven't scrapbooked in so long... I forgot the reason why I was doing it.

It is the same with reading my bible.  If I am reading because I think I 'have to' [like it's a rule] I will eventually stop because there's no purpose for reading.  When I read God's word with purpose, I get more out of it, and I won't stop because I see the value in it.  The question is then, how does one read the bible with purpose? 

I read the bible to learn more about God, which is the most important thing I can do in this life.  It is not a self-help book, I don't read it to improve myself.  The more I read, the more I realise it's not about me.  It's all about Jesus.  And getting to know Him better, by reading the bible, is fun, amazing, and life-changing.  Getting into the habit of reading the bible can take practice, but more than anything else in this life He is worth the effort.

2012 is here.

I don't make new year's resolutions, they always fail.  But I do like to think about the year gone, and what I can do or hope to achieve in the year ahead.  Sometimes it's a home organisation goal, sometimes a review of my craft 'to do' list, or other things.  I'm going to review my blog 'to do' lists, and get them up to date.

Happy New Year. 

God's love...

is bigger than it looks. 

Merry Christmas! 

THE GREAT WEED BATTLE

At the moment I am at war.  It's not pretty.  This morning I suffered my first injury.  But I'll be back tomorrow to continue my advance.

6 or 7 weeks ago I began the long journey to getting my front garden from work site to garden.  I planted 35 baby rose bushes with the intention of them becoming a hedge in a year or three.  Then we got sick.  I mean, all my girls and me.  Really sick.  Influenza.  It was unpleasant and has taken until now for us to all be over it.

During that time we have had a smidgen of rain, the roses got a bit of water from a hose if Mr E or I remembered, and it has become spring.  Beautiful, sunny warm days and the nights are warming up too. 

Being a pretend gardener [I'm VERY new to all this] I had thought I would come back and mulch my new babies in the school holidays which is now, and all would be well, no weeds, no problems.

Ahem.

I do not like weeds.   At all.

While I was pulling weeds and getting scratched by thorns and crawling around on all fours this morning a passing walker commented "I had no idea there were roses in there".

I have been out early attacking the weeds 3 mornings now.  I am not yet halfway.  This time I am mulching as I go.  On the up side, being outside in the garden between 5.30 and 6.30am is lovely, and a great opportunity to pray and think.

I have no doubt that the victory will be mine.  Hopefully soon.  Did I mention that I do not like weeds?

UPDATE ON HOMEMADE LAUNDRY POWDER

I made more laundry powder today. I had enough for one more load. That means that my first batch lasted for 40 days.

Someone asked me how economical it really was to make my own powder so I went through the maths just now to check. As I've had the ingredients in my cupboard for a while [thinking I'd need to make more weeks ago] I couldn't remember what it all cost so I just went on to the Coles Online website to get approximate prices. I'm pretty sure my ingredients cost me less at my local IGA so this is probably an overestimate:

Sard wondersoap $2.50
Homebrand Laundry soap $2.17/pack of 4 so $0.55 each
Borax $4.30/500g pack [I use 1 cup = half of this per batch] $2.15
Washing Soda $4.90/1kg pack [1 cup = 1/4 of this] $1.25

So the batch of washing powder cost me at most $6.45 [remember I paid less for these ingredients, online prices are often inflated].

I wash 1-2 loads every day. Sometimes more than that. My last batch of homemade powder cost me at most 16 cents per day.

I'm impressed with that. I've made another batch today, and I still have plenty of ingredients for another 2 lots in my laundry cupboard [I stocked up on Sard wonder soap when it was on special a while back]. Our clothes are clean and we aren't being exposed to unnecessary perfumes and irritating chemicals, all while saving some money. I suspect Mr E thinks I've become a bit of a hippie, but I can live with that :)

Home made laundry powder

For a long time now I've been wanting to make my own laundry powder. The more I read about the fillers and foaming agents that are added, the more I think I do not want those things in my clothes, and those of my family. So last week I had a go, and it really does work.
I just used my food processor to grate one bar of laundry soap, one bar of Sard wonder soap, 1 cup of borax, and 1 cup of washing soda. From my reading you don't need the Sard soap, but my kids are such grots I feel I need the extra stain removal powder. I made a batch up without it, and it washed okay, but didn't get the worst of Miss 1's shirts clean. This lot, with the extra soap, works brilliantly.

It doesn't suds up like store-bought powder, so it's fine to use in a front loader. You only need 2 teaspoons in a front loader, and 3 teaspoons in a top loader. This batch is going to last me ages. VERY economical.

Organising my laundry [or I am obsessed with my labeller]

I have been organising cupboards non-stop since the school holidays started. Getting things out of the shed and back into the house, finding things not seen for months [or longer]. One room that was really bothering me was my laundry. Since the renovation it is an amazing room, and should have been amazing to be in, but it has been our dumping ground since January! It took a day and a half, but now it's beautiful again.

It all started because my new washing machine was being delivered this week. I needed to make space for the delivery guys to be able to get it into the room. And I didn't want to be embarrassed when complete strangers came into this most horrible messy room in my home.

To reward myself for the hard work on clearing the bench and floor, I started to organise my cupboards too. I love to organise cupboards, it's one of those things that brings me joy [strange, I know]. But a cupboard isn't organised to me unless it's also labelled. Otherwise it doesn't stay that way. I sorted the linen cupboard [above and below]: The overhead cupboards:

And the cupboard under the bench and sink also contains baskets and labels:

The funny thing is, now I have a lovely laundry, I've caught up on my washing, and I'm motivated to keep up to date. Having a pleasant room makes it easier to do. I hope this is a turning point in my love-hate relationship with the washing.

My new sewing & craft room - BEFORE

Here are some "before" shots of my new sewing/craft room. I had hoped to have it furnished and in use by now, but that wasn't to be. Hopefully progress will happen steadily from now: my shelves are in the garage ready to put together, then I have the old change table to paint and work surfaces to build [with Mr E's help... if I can drag him away from the cubby house he's building]. I am nearly finished with tradesmen now. Just a few days left and the house will be mine again.

Now to get our things out of the shed, organise cupboards, and get my craft room built!!!

PLUGGED BACK IN

Almost another month has passed, and instead of blogging more, and crafting more, I've been organising for school and extra-curricular activities, picking out fittings for bathrooms, helping with homework [including some rather big kindy projects], downsizing into 1 bedroom and a rumpus room... very little crafting. I have taken up an adult dance class for fitness, started a ladies' bible study, and managed to juggle 4 kids and their activities for the first 4 weeks of a new school and kindy. I have felt overwhelmed, under-equiped and stressed for much of that time, which is normal for the beginning of a new year, but not ideal. The renovation-that-became-a-rebuild [as I like to call it now] is on the downhill run to being finished, and over the next 2 weeks I will have more rooms come online.

Mr E and I are still sleeping on the sofa bed in the rumpus room - even though we have a second bedroom finished now. It's a beautiful big bedroom with freshly painted walls, new carpet, big wardrobe, and and ensuite just next to it. It appears perfect and ready to be used. But we can't use it because the power hasn't been turned on to that part of the house yet. There are lights and fans, but no electricity to run them. It's a bit like how I've been surviving over the past month: I APPEARED ready for the new year, organised, and coping well [we only forgot show & tell once so far] but there was nothing powering me and keeping me refreshed. This week I plugged in MY power source: I started reading my bible every day. I am so much more refreshed, less overwhelmed, better equiped to cope, and I've remembered what really matters in this life. What a difference!

Now if only we can get the power turned on in that new bedroom!!

Happy Belated New Year

Well I'm back after a VERY long summer holiday. Looking back at the end of 2010 I got really slack at blogging. I have a few excuses:

- my Mum's health took a downward turn for a while [thankfully she's good now]

- we moved in with the folks while our house got pulled apart [renovating]

- the end of the year is always busy, with ballet concerts, school concerts etc.

- my crafting and cooking became focussed on what I NEEDED to do for that week.

- this situation has continued until today, when I finished sewing kindy sheets for Miss 3 ready to start kindy this Friday.

- it has been Christmas holidays so I've had all 4 cherubs home and too tired at night to craft much

- here in Queensland we've had major flooding, including in my hometown

Anyway those are the excuses... I have a few pics of projects I've completed over the past couple of months. Unfortunately more missed out on photographs than I thought:

Firstly, a nappy cake I made for a friend who had a new baby:



Then, the christmas gifts for each of the girls' school teachers [all 7 of them] - a set of homemade cards in matching box, with a block of chocolate.

I can't find a photo of the 3 string bags I crocheted for my MIL and SIL's for Christmas, or the 5 crocheted kitchen hand towels, or the dress I made for my niece's birthday. I also missed photos of the towel elephants I made as Christmas gifts for other family members. Not to mention the cooking... I even had a go at gluten free crumpets.

Oh well. At least writing that list, I realise I haven't been idle. I'm planning to blog more regularly in 2011. And craft more.

In case you're wondering, the house isn't finished, we'll be living in a work zone for a few months yet.

My gluten free journey so far

A dear friend asked me for some advice last week about gluten free food for children. It took a little thought, and while pondering my answer, I thought about my gluten free journey so far, and realised how far I'd come.


A bit of history: my 7 year old daughter was diagnosed with coeliac disease 4 years ago. My MIL and SIL already had coeliac disease so I was aware of gluten free food to some extent, and had cooked some things gluten free for family gatherings. However nothing prepared me for the first shopping trip after my daughter's diagnosis. It seemed there was nothing that she could eat. And anything she could eat, was inedible, either because much of the gluten free food available in the shops is gross, or because she was 3 years old, and therefore a picky eater.


I joined the coeliac society, which was a help, spent a fortune on food, threw out every loaf of gluten free bread [read: brick] I made for nearly 6 months, and had to re-learn how to bake and cook. I spent a fortune on tupperware to colour-code my pantry [black lids are 'bad', red are safe for her], and obsessed about every meal.

Then we had to contend with kindy and school, and lunchboxes - SO much harder to find gluten free food that travels well and is still edible by lunch time. And THEN I got gestational diabetes while pregnant with my third daughter. And let me tell you, low-GI food and gluten-free food are almost poles apart. Now there was nothing I could eat. It was back to square one with meals and food obsessing... I typically made two or three different meals every night as anything my daughter could eat [potatoes, rice etc.] I could not. I am thankful the gestational diabetes ended with that pregnancy. And anyone out there who has both coeliac disease AND diabetes [the two illnesses are related] - I take my hat off to you!

I work really hard to make sure my daughter doesn't miss out on too much: I make fish & chips at home [yes I own a deep fryer], I'm always trying a new gluten-free challenge [eg. donuts, pancakes, dumplings] with mixed success. We have cupcakes in the school freezer so when there's a birthday cake she gets a treat too. When there's cooking at school I supply gluten free ingredients [I used to bake oval-shaped biscuits every Friday morning in prep until I found out they froze well!]. Mostly she's content, but occasionally she gets down and wishes she didn't have to eat gluten free food... my SIL said even as an adult she still has the occasional day like this.

Having a child with coeliac disease is difficult, stressful, and worrying. Each time she accidentally ingests gluten [it does happen] it is an ingestion of poison that has short-term issues, and long-term risks. However it is also a disease that is cured with a dietary change. Yes, a strict diet, but hey, it's not leukaemia or some other devastating illness. As a family we eat very little pre-prepared food so we eat a very healthy diet on the whole [though the countless cupcakes on my blog may imply otherwise].

Why am I telling you all of this? I guess I just want to share some of my experiences with others who may be in a similar situation, or who want to understand more about what it's like. Drop me a line sometime if you, too, have to deal with any of these issues... it's always good to share ideas!

How to buy fabric with young children

I stumbled across this post from IKAT BAG and had a big giggle. If you've ever tried to buy fabric [or anything] with young children you should read this.

Everything Liah says is absolutely true. And I learnt the hard way to do all these things.

Mastering the cupcake swirl

I've been practising at least once a week, and I think I'm finally happy with my cupcake swirls, both with fluted and smooth piping nozzles. In fact, I took cupcakes to playgroup yesterday and the girls thought they looked professional, so I'm happy.

Now to master the icing rose...