What a great idea

I have to share this because it really is a great idea. It is one of those things that I had never ever thought of, but when I did it, I thought why didn't I ever do that.

Obviously this is a clock. I bought is online from typo at Christmas and it has literally been sitting in a box in my room since then, but now it is hanging. Not only hanging, but in my bathroom. Yes.
I had never thought of putting a clock in there but it is brilliant. A lady bought a clock at work because her bathroom one had broken and it was like a lightbulb moment.

Our clock is on the wall. You can see it and easily read it from the shower. It is in reverse but very visible in the mirror and from the bath too. This is even better because it has a timer function that if you are really pressed from time it can ring.

I really cannot tell you how lovely it is in the shower to look at the time and realise, yes, you can have one more minute of relax time before rushing off to school.  I cannot believe we never thought of this.

Book club

i've joined a book club. I never have been part of one before - this is a group from school and hopefully will encourage me to read more - not just childrens literature.

I dont really know what happens at book group, but they told me the book and I suppose I read it. There must be other fronts for just sitting round and drinking?

I have managed to get through this. I have to say I was worried given the last time I had  to read books was in high school and even back then it was easier to get the movie. I would be interested to see the movie of this, considering it is set in Nazi germany and narrated by death. (That is not giving anything away)

In the swim - part 2

Well they're done and paid for. Not sure if they fit but the bathers are doneski!

I used fushia lycra, fully lined with cotton lycra and top stitched with a fluro orange to give it a bit of a contrast. I used McCalls pattern M9352 which is an oldie but a goodie. I think you can find it on ebay.
They look better on than here in this picture, but I didn't need to model that. Use your imagination.

another fencing tshirt

 When I made the tshirt the other day it left me with some nice words all cut our waiting to be used. Mr P also does fencing, so I thought I would try a top for him - but in reverse. I had a navy mens tshirt in the stash so I ironed on the words which were cut from freezer paper.

Then rather than paint I used bleach, or more correctly toilet cleaner. I had it in a dish and rolled it out. The colour very quickly came away. 

But the freezer paper did its job and gave quite a nice results in a matter of minutes. (I did need to get it int he was quickly to stop the bleaching process)

Boys Gift Guide

With a spring in my step, I headed out to the shops on a mission. Birthday shopping. Ugh. Obviously not for my boys but for their mates. This is always quite a challenge because shopping for boys is difficult at the best of times, and when your knowledge of them is limited, it is even harder. Personally I now tend to shy away from Lego packs, especially for a party because there is a tendency for duplication. With Lego out of the mix you need to be a little more creative. I thought I would share with you a couple of the goodies I got:

11 year old boy:
These are notoriously difficult. If it is a big party we tend to all put in to get whatever the boy is into- a basketball hoop or ball, music vouchers, speakers etc. Xandy is the only one celebrating so no option to put in.

The first part is my go to - a hand decorated tshirt. This way I can personalise the gift a little. He isn't particularly sporty, but enjoys fencing, so I cut the 'en garde' on my Silhouette using freezer paper and painted it white on a kmart basic tshirt.

To go with this I got some cycling sunglasses. They come in a good little bag, and we thought they would be useful given the boys are doing bike ed at school in preparation for a cycling school camp.

7 year old boy - twins mate.

These are the ones I struggle with the most, especially since both boys are invited to the party, they both need to do the gifting thing. This particular boy is a bright little button, who has a love of maths. I wanted to get a game for him along math lines.
At the game shop there isn't a lot but I decided on this one- Sleeping Queens which we got for Christmas. Lots of addition in this and simple to play.

From the other twin we got a skateboard. It was on special at Kmart. When giving pairs of presents I like to give something fun and something practical. Then I swap which boy is giving that particular thing.


4 year old boy - into Spy's and Pirates.

There are plenty of spy kits and accessories out there - the big issue is that he is only turning 4. While he is bright, he is still a bit too young for code cracking things. I needed to get creative on this one and realized that he liked to pretend to be a spy, so in reality it is all about the outfit.
A quick trot around kmart lead me to gather this collection of goodies - which tallied up to about $25.
Black tshirt; Black knit shorts; black kids sunglasses; a small torch; binoculars; a stop watch; a black notepad and a black mens toiletries bag.

I wrapped each item with black paper and labelled it with white pen. Like SUPER SPY TSHIRT, SUPER SPY TORCH. This also made the items look like they are meant to be together. Then I packed them all inside the toiletries bag which had plastic zip pockets inside - perfect for keeping all his spy gear together. 

Finally I labelled the bag in the same way.

Crying games

Mum didn't have a good day yesterday. Dad brought her over for a visit, but she only managed the couch. She had a headache and has difficulty managing the pain. When I say that, over the day she took two panadol. One at 2 and one at 4. Just regular panadol - not forte or anything. Just the basic stuff. I say that because I will pop 2 panadol if I have a little twinge before it goes anywhere, or even sometimes, just in case! It obviously got worse, and she was visibly sick. The boys were upset by it and Dad managed to get her home, but of course we were all worried about her.
She is apparently doing better today, but again when you can't see, you don't really know. I went off to my pilates class to relieve some stress and just really to forget about it all. How wrong I was. The myotherapist who treats dad was there and up for a chat. I was telling her about it when my instructor came in. She wasn't really aware of the extent of her illness, because I don't need to talk about it all the time, but in explaining I was getting upset. Rather than moving on and letting me get under control and not cry, she was pushing me more into it (in a nice way).
What she was trying to do was getting me to move through it rather than continuing to suppress it. She put me down the back and encouraged me to cry. Giving me privacy and the occasional prod to keep letting it out. Also movements to help the energy move.
Much as it sounds hippy dippy, it actually worked. I am not cured if there is even such a thing, but it made me feel better. There was no one hugging me trying to console me. I was allowed to just be. The only problem was in opening those flood gates, I didn't know how to close them. I couldn't stop. I was all sooky at home and even at school and basketball training, people are asking for an update and I am bawling all over the place. Not from sadness, just because I can't stop. What was good it that it gave them, and me, the opportunity to talk about it. I'd rather people know and feel able to talk than tiptoeing around. One of my friends recently lost her mother, wrote me a lovely note with this poem:

Hapy little memories go flitting though my mind
All in my thoughts and memories I always seem to find
The picture of your face, Mother; the memory of your touch
And all teh other little things, I've come to treasure so much
You cannot go beyond my thoughts or leave my love behing
Because I keep you in my hear and forever on my mind.

Shop On

I work for my girlfriend in her stationery shop. I say work lightly, because it doesn't really feel like work because it is fun. I say that I get to play shops. I work once a week, have the flexibility to do what I want in the shop, merchandising etc (within reason of course) and then go home. I do however want her to do well and make lots of money. Then at least I can keep playing shops.

Today I got the opportunity to go to the gift fair with her, which is a bit of a treat. This is the smaller one based in Melbourne and unlike last time, we went in with a plan and a much better idea of our customer. We visited our regular suppliers, got some new stock and some top up stock and nothing too
'hipster'.

The main goal of this trade fair, would you believe, is Christmas!! Yes, next week in Sydney all the wholesalers are displaying their Christmas 14 wares to pick. Personally I am so over Christmas that the idea of looking at it is a drag. Having said that we have a much clearer idea of what moves and what doesn't. What is too much and what is a good seller. I think we will have a much better handle on Christmas this year and are ready for the challenge!!