I'll play the windowledge game!

Thank goodness I gave my kitchen a huge declutter last weekend, because that means I can play Aunty Ann's game of "Show us your windowledge". Before decluttering there were HEAPs more spices, and a dead plant, but it looks much better now. The tin doesn't have a use yet, but the colors matched the spices, and I felt it needed it's time there for awhile. I think I'll put a sewing kit in it.

Just below the ledge is a glass bowl that we use for dumping keys, jewellery, phones and wallets. It eventually gets cluttered with other things, but right now, it's doing well!

Cheshire Cat cards

I have some new cards for you to see. I only have to make 7 more and my Alice in Wonderland sets will be ready! I'm pretty excited about that! So, this time, the cards are representative of the Cheshire Cat. Again, the link is fairly abstract, but I make the connection with purples, pinks, black, stripes, white in the night, and mystical swirls and shapes among the foliage of Tulgey Wood. Perhaps you can even sense the glimpse of eyes, whiskers or a smile within these designs? Enjoy!

Family ties

We went to Mum's house last Saturday night to celebrate Mothers' Day. My sister Kristie came too, and we were able to catch up, have dinner together and TRIED to take some nice photos. The photo session had us all in giggles, as it was nearly impossible for anyone to be ready at the same time! We managed to get these shots...

but only just!!!!

On a serious note...I love my Mum and I love being a Mum. One of the most defining moments in my life was when I first brought Jack home as a baby, and my Mum held him and loved him. I felt worlds closer to my Mum in an instant, and felt ashamed of the bond that I had let loosen between us from my teenage years, and through my twenties. Here was someone who would love my child without hesitation, and help me to guide, nurture and teach him. She knew his heart. She knew mine. There was a connection.

I treasure the times we spend with my Mum. We swap books, we both love jewellery, clothes, craft, decorating magazines, TV and movies. My Mum taught me to sing along to the radio, made all my highschool ball gowns, and stood up for me when I was bullied at school. We always had heaps of Barbie dolls, and huge piles of presents under the Christmas tree! She always made desserts for after dinner, and often would bake cakes and cupcakes just for fun. She loves working in a thrift shop, and makes friends with everyone she meets.

I highly recommend motherhood! Not only is it a joy to share a little human being with the love of your life; not only do you have an overwhelming sense of attachment, responsibility and ridiculous levels of love for your own child; but also, being a mother reminded me just how important my Mum is to me and to the future generations of our family. Love you Mum! xxxx

Speedcleaning

I have a deep desire to be the perfect homemaker, almost like a Stepford Wife, but not so robotic and perky! I'm thankful to the people out there in the blogging world, especially Ruth from the Sugarpie Farmhouse, who make homemaking seem so effortless and rewarding. Go check out her site!

Yesterday, I bought a book I'd been looking at for awhile, which I'm sure you've all seen before, called Speed Cleaning.

I wanted to see if I could make this whole housecleaning thing a bit quicker, or simpler, or something. Well I gotta say, I wasn't able to speed clean our kitchen in 15 minutes, but I managed the family room in that time! I got to try out my new steam mop, which did a great job, and my husband was pretty impressed at how gung-ho I was about it all. One of the best things about the book was it made me put all my cleaning liquids, sponges, brushes etc into one box as a cleaning kit. This worked really well, and at the end I put the crate into my laundry cupboard. For some people, that is probably a really OBVIOUS thing to do, but not so much for me!

A book I got last year, which started me on my journey of decluttering the house was Cut the Clutter by Cynthia Townley Ewer.

I really LOVE this book! It just has so many ideas for cleaning, organising and beautifying homes. And pretty pictures too! The website is brilliant as well, and has a heap of printable pages to make a Household Notebook (which holds all your budgets, cleaning schedules, addresses, and more.)

I'm hoping our house will be like a display home with heart by the end of this year. There's some renovating and garden overhauls to do too, so the job is a big one, but with books and blogs to help (as well as Ikea and Howards Storage) we might just get there!

Tweedledee and Tweedledum cards

I've having a posting frenzy before I get swept up in school stuff again! Here are some new Alice in Wonderland cards, this time with a Tweedledee and Tweedledum theme. As usual, the link is mainly to the colours the characters wear: yellow, red, blue, white and a bit of green. Also, they wear bow ties, thus the bow feature. I'm thinking birthday cards for the very young, or the very colourful! I love the bright cheerfulness of the cards!

Books to read

Emma's son, Brenden, has been reading the Dragonkeeper series, and this is the first one.

Isn't the cover exquisite? It is a beautifully written story set in Ancient China (one of my favourite settings) and is about a young girl who looks after a dragon. Gorgeous book for readers aged 11 and up.

My Mum got this book from a group of friends for her birthday. It has many uplifting stories, and I especially like the spiritual ones, and the ones about teaching.

Another great book from Monica McInerney! It's a bit Mills and Boonish, but had some family dramas that were interesting to follow.

Our Camping Trip

I managed to grab a few moments from life to post the pics of our camping trip last weekend! We went with our friend Richard to Willowbrook Farm in Gingin.

There were cows,

geese,

trees to climb,

a creek,

a rose garden,

old buildings like the office/kitchen,

and an ancient shearing shed.

They also have a caravan park/camping ground, which is where we stayed.

Richard's tent.

Our tent.

The first night we went to the Anzac Day Dinner at the farm tea rooms where they had bush poets performing. It was great! I'm glad Jack had a chance to hear the poets perform with gusto the old favourites like The Man from Ironbark and Clancy of the Overflow. The meal was amazing! Home cooked chicken pie or lamb roast, with roast veges, and a vast choice of Aussie desserts including sticky date pudding, pavlova, lemon meringue pie, apple crumble and icecream. Mmm mmm!

After dinner we went to the Observatory where we were able to view the night sky and its constellations through huge telescopes. Saturn was pretty impressive, although Jack was convinced it was a sticker on the end of the telescope. Unfortunately there was no moon that night, so we missed out on a big thing there. However, they showed some footage of astronauts mucking about in the space shuttle (which was a laugh!) and a computerised adventure through space, exploring the vastness of our universe. Awesome stuff!

Back at camp, we toasted marshmallows.

The next day we did a lot of sitting about, savouring the peace and quiet, and played games like footy, Uno, The Game of Life and Pictionary. Fun family times! No distractions like the telephone, TV doorbell and housework. Lots of naps and conversations. Real living.

(Okay, we cheated a bit because we had a powered site and Jack brought the laptop.)