midge & judy

:: a hive of activity ::

i'm settling into the routine.
a busy start to a busy week.
monday spent at home and it proved to be a hive of activity.

 the smell of honey biscuits filled the house and made me very hungry.
one pair of "lapins", done

one pair to go before they are popped in the mail.
a cheery batch of cottons ready to be snipped

 they were magically transformed into a box of bibs

how was your monday?

did you have a busy start to the week?

 

:: why you wascally wabbit ::

in the words of elmer fudd it seems to be wabbit season.

it started with a set of amigurumi easter bunnies. tiny rabbits made of crochet cotton.

 they each have a basket of easter eggs, a plate of hot cross buns, a little chick and a giant egg.

they sit on a little mat that becomes a carry bag. these little guys proved to be a big hit at the yarraville market last weekend.

 with easter just around the corner i decided to make some little easter egg hunt carry bags. something for wee ones to stash their treasures in.
i really enjoyed the process of making these. the bunny is painted on using fabric paint and a freezer paper stencil. i have wanted to try out this process for some time and it was easy, enjoyable  and i was well pleased with the result.and finally as if the rabbit inspired projects were breeding like rabbits i got a phone call from an old customer who wanted to re-order some baby shoes. she has gifted the le lapin shoes to expectant mothers several times in the past and it has become her tradition. i consider it a very great compliment when people come back time and again to order their favorite pieces. 
you will have to wait for some snaps of them, they are a work in progress. 

:: a day at the office ::

today was my first day back at work. work for me is at home, in my crafty cottage in the garden. i don't have a roster, i don't get a lunch break  or days off. i love it. i love to sew, knit, crotchet, print and create.

working from home has huge benefits for me. i'm here in the morning before school, i'm at home when the kids finish school and i can go out and work at any time of the day or night.
the only problem is that it is too easy to get distracted by all of the family and household  events. often work gets postponed in favour of washing, cleaning, cooking.....

today was the first day that i have had to myself in several months. the kids are settled back at school and the mister went back to work.

i had the luxury of several hours of peace, tranquility and stitching.
with the sun peeping through the window and the wispy curtain billowing in the breeze time went all too quickly.

there's always tomorrow 

:: taking charge ::

do you ever feel like you are the lunatic in charge of the asylum?
i think that's just how i would sum up my life at present.
the start of the school year is always a little bit crazy, but this is a whole new kind of crazy.

 we are dog sitting for my brother. his cute little miss is a stubborn, and sometimes naughty 8 year old jack russell terrier named syd vicious.
she also happens to have the worst halitosis in canine history

 she has been a very good little dog in his absence. she has even obeyed the occasional command, a whole new experience for her.

 mr norris is not too happy about his territory being invaded by the cat despising syd. the poor little ginger boy has taken to hiding under the kitchen table safely tucked in the space between the chair and the table top.

 but spare a thought for the meat in the sandwich (metaphorically speaking of course)
clive the cockatiel is the pride and joy of miss 12, he is in fact the love of her life. he hates every one else in our home, hissing loudly when we approach.

 the present situation is that my time is completely consumed by attempting to separate the waring animals. i keep them all safe by staggering their bed times and waking hours, feed times and walks. their days are micro managed to prevent them from coming into contact with each other.

 the dog wants to eat the cat and the bird, the cat hates the dog and wants to eat the bird, the bird lives in fear of the cat, the dog and every member of the household except miss 12 and i am the lunatic in charge of the asylum.

lucky i love you syd

 

:: aus style ::

we have been taking advantage of the beautiful summer days here. the weather has been quite moderate. we usually get some long stretches of unbearably hot weather. so far this summer we have enjoyed sunny hot days and cool nights for comfortable sleeping.

 
we celebrated australia day with family, enjoying a BBQ lunch and ubiquitous australia day treat such as pavlova and chocolate ripple cake with peppermint crisp sprinkled on top (i'm not sure how it happened but the ripple biscuits may have found their way into a bowl of tia maria before the cake was assembled, and they might have accidentally soaked up vast quantities of the delicious liquor)


we have spent more time on the coast hence the absence of blog posts.mobile phone access is scant down there and so internet access is out of the question.
sometimes it is good to have a forced break from technology. it leaves me with a lot more time to read, hook and watch tennis into the wee small hours.


somehow enjoying slow food is also high on the priority list. food seems to taste better when eaten outside in the fresh air.
my number one favorite dish at present is this delicious asian coleslaw, presented here with lemon grass chicken. if you are cooking it when the household budget is in the black substitute the chicken tenderloins for prawns-i use meaty green prawns with the head and shell removed and tails left intact.

ASIAN SALAD WITH LEMONGRASS CHICKEN 

marinate the chicken or prawns for at least one hour in
3 stalks of lemongrass (soft white part only) 
2 garlic cloves
3-4 tablespoons of peanut oil
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 teaspoon of fish sauce 
pound the lemongrass and garlic into a fine paste using a mortar and pestle then add the remaining ingredients

shred a half of a small white cabbage and a brown onion very finely  (i use a mandoline)
a lebanese cucumber cut longways into fine ribbons
2 carrots finely julienned
handfuls of coriander, vietnamese mint, thai basil and traditional mint leaves.

make a dressing by pounding
2 garlic cloves,
1 long red chilli
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
3 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 tablespoons of lime juice
2 tablespoons of rice vinegar
together in a mortar and pestle 

cook the chicken & prawns on a BBQ or hotplate
dress the salad with half of the dressing, divide it between four serving plates, top with chopped dry roasted peanuts and fried shallots.
top with the chicken/prawns
and serve with lime wedges and a cold beer 

enjoy. this recipe is adapted from les huynh's blue ginger-one of my favorite asian cookbooks

summer in australia, kids, the beach, great food, beer, tennis what more could a girl ask for? 

:: summer daze ::

on a melbourne sunday, when the temperature tips 31〫and the family are at a loose end it seems right and good to head for the beach.

 it's a simple matter of throwing some food into a cold-bag, grabbing the boards  and heading down the highway.

 a mere hour later we are happy to be back on our familiar patch of sand at torquay surf beach.

 the usual choices of beachy activities were at our disposal.

 i needed no encouragement to choose the lie on the beach and read option.

 a little while later there was the drink cold beer and vodka option 

 followed by the home in time to watch the aussie open on the teeve option.

now i will admit that one does not need to look too far  to see those with more energy

and i applaud them for their effort and admire their enthusiasm,

 

we all have a role to play, and some of us just do it in more lay-back fashion

some of us have youth on our side and energy levels consistent with youthfulness

and then there are some of the youthful crew whose energy levels are more consistent with those many years her senior

we all enjoyed our day in our own individual way.
there was not too much wrong with it at all.
how was your sunday? 

:: silver linings ::

i wrote a post last week in which i was lamenting my sad tale of a nasty quip that was made about my blog content. it was no big deal, just thoughtless criticism from a family member who isn't a happy person and feels the need to spread the negativity.
in response to the post i got lots of positive feedback in the form of comments left and emails sent from long term followers who offered words of encouragement and support.
it seemed that the universe sensed my dissolution  and sent gifts of love and fellowship from afar.
the first delightful surprise arrived in the mailbox.
it was from the lovely bron in WA who had a gorgeous blog known as taylor made.
she sent me a crafty parcel, wrapped in a blue floral (my favorite kind of rosy goodness) containing a book with it's very own handmade vintage linen bookmark-because in brons wise words-every book deserves it's own.

 the book was originally gifted to bron by mandy at fell 4 u 

 i decided that once i have read the book i will gift it with it's own new bookmark and pass the book on to another bloggy recipient.

 i will keep and treasure my bookmark and the new reader can have the new bookmark.
i plan to write the names of the readers inside the book
mandy-fell 4 u
bron- taylor made
michelle- midgeandjudy
who's next?
watch this space.
thank you bron, you are ace.
another of my big loves in life is baking.
enter gift #2 

 a set of ducky measuring spoons gifted to me by my kids half sister.
so sweet.
and finally (as seen here earlier)
on a day when i was searching for the perfect receptacle for my hooks my brother arrived with a reclaimed snail planter.

 he is quirky and cheeky and sits so perfectly on the shelf in the crafty cottage holding my family of hooks.
and so the moral of my little story is simply this,
every cloud has a silver lining, especially in the land of blog. 

 

:: playing in our backyard ::

those of you familiar with my blog will know that i make no secret and no apology for my sadness at the finish of our road trip. a three month adventure that ended all too soon. an adventure that we desperately want to progress to the second installment.
given that we returned from the road trip in mid november we agreed that we would not take holidays over the christmas school break. that said the kids and i have been suffering a little dose of cabin fever. the school holiday weather has not been great and we have been somewhat lazy choosing to sleep in and potter around rather than get cracking and make our own adventures.
today was the first day that the mister has been rostered off in a long time and so we decided to go exploring in our neighborhood.
a 15 minute car ride up the calder highway landed us in the
organ pipes national park.
so named because the basalt rock formations look like organ pipes.

they formed after a volcanic eruption over a million years ago. the larva followed the natural water flow lines and quickly cooled to become the column shaped rocks that remain.
some of the formations have an interesting rosette appearance.

 the place was teaming with bird life. we even spotted a falcon nesting.

(apologies for the blurry zoomed in pic)
miss 12 was feeling quite stylish and ignored our advice regarding sensible footwear. opting instead for the strappy roman sandals and a fashionable handbag.
in spite of her newfound fashionista passion she found time to commune with nature the mister slipped easily back into the cammo gear and quickly morphed into his harry butler alter ego.
his well trained eagle eye got a workout and spotted the smallest of teeny tiny lizards lurking in the undergrowth
mr ten and his BFF were happy to clamber over rocks and search for wildlife and occasionally throw a rock into the river.
it was lovely to get back to the routine of looking and listening, exploring and discovering, even if only for a couple of hours.
we felt like we were back, until the roar of a jet taking off from the all too nearby tullamarine international airport broke the sounds of the bush. still, it was a fun day out and just a hop, skip and jump from home. 

 

:: finding positives and putting my feet up ::

from the day that i started this blog i felt that i was fairly clear in my mind about what i wanted from it. i had been a long time reader of great blogs. i knew what i liked. i love gorgeous photos that capture moments in time. i like short narratives and i appreciate humour. it was on this basis that i threw caution to the wind and plucked up the courage to tap tap my way into the bloggy kingdom.
sometimes my blog has a purpose.

it facilitated a daily record of our caravan adventure. when we got home after three months on the road it was a gift to be able to look back at my posts and go back to the moment when those magical days were lived by our little family.
upon our return i converted my blog posts of the road trip into a book to gift to mr midge for christmas.we are all so thrilled with the result. it is better that any photo album with words and pictures of three months of exploration and adventure captured in 220 pages of glossy goodness.

on the other hand sometimes my blog is about absolutely nothing. sometimes it's about a rainy day at home with the kids, an afternoon playing games or watching movies or baking biscuits.
when it's about the simple things in our home life it's all about helping me to focus on a small but positive aspect of the day.
recently a negative comment made me question what i do in this space. it robbed me of my confidence and my purpose. it took away the pleasure of spending time here.
i have thought about it for the past week or so and have decided that letting another person's negativity creep in and invade something that you love is a waste of time.
this space was never about making an announcement to the world that i can bake biscuits. it is about loving my family and my home, my craft and my friends and  it is especially the bloggy people who understand it. 
and so it goes. i will continue to look for good things to blog. i will smile at the lovely comments and friendly emails that come my way from the blogging community. and i will try to develop a thicker skin when it comes to negative people who feel the need to spread their grumpy ill will.
on a lighter and much happier (and more positive) note we have been kicking back and enjoying the holidays here at club midge.

the new chook house has been constructed (well converted from it's flat pack state) and awaits some occupants.

 my dear brother hung my shelf in the crafty cottage giving me the impetus to get sorting and organising.

 and the same dear brother gave me this cheeky snail pot that he found abandoned on the nature strip.
it was grubby and had weeds growing in it but it scrubbed up beautifully to be the new caddy for my hooky friends.
i hope that you are finding some time to kick back.
i hope that your day is packed to the rafters with positive comments and cups half full. 

  and loads of homemade pizza for lunch.

:: HNY ::

2012

how did you welcome in the new year?
our family tradition has become to pack the kids and us off to a city hotel for the night. we did it last year and enjoyed it so much that we decided to go again this year. an afternoon swim at the hotel, too much food and too much to drink and then off to the yarra river for the festivities.

in the shadow of the setting sun we took up our piece of turf in the park and waited for the show to start.

mr 10 was in the mood to party. he found bubbles to chase and yellow suited roving entertainers to high five. 

the city of melbourne was resplendent in the late afternoon light. the crowd was large (600,000 reportedly) families were well represented and the atmosphere was happy, friendly and welcoming.

 before we left home i packed away all of the christmas decorations. i like to start off the new year without all of that tinsel clutter. something about january first makes me want to get in and clean. i have been decluttering since our return from the trip and this week the plan is to continue the cull.

 i don't make a big thing about new year resolutions. i think they set me up for failure. it usually goes well for a couple of days and then opposite day  comes along turns it into rubbish.
 
in consideration of new years resolutions if i were to make them i think they would be quite simple things like drinking and eating less. it occurred to me this afternoon that if my track record is going to continue in 2012 then maybe i should resolve to eat and drink as much as i possibly can, then in a few days time when opposite day rolls around i will be virtuous and achieve my real objective. so far today i am on target having consumed my weight in celebratory drinks, post drinking bacon and egg breakfast and a peach frangipane after dinner. 
how did your celebrations go? did you make it to see the new year in?

do you make new year resolutions? and, how do they work out for you?

 are your celebrations loud, proud and in a crowd or are they layback and intimate?

however you choose to celebrate-

 i hope that all of your fireworks go off with a bang in a shower of light and colour,
i hope that all of your hopes and dreams come to fruition,
i hope that your cup is half full
and that 2012 is all that you wish for and then some.
happy new year