Don't Say I Didn't Warn You!

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Hahaha

I've been working long and hard on my goal of finding some way to consolidate/link my blogs (#81). Finally, I decided to just start a new blog and have them all converge there.

So here's the scoop:

Starting today, all new posts will only be at my new blog.

For all you who subscribe to my blog, have RSS feeds and such, now is the time to change it! Or you'll be missing out on all the fun and you don't want that, do you?

http://btsoi.blogspot.com

And the minor details:

Most of my old posts (from this blog and my paper blog) will find their way over there soon, if it's not there already.

I'll still be playing around with things for the first little while until I love what I see, and hopefully you will too. Feedback is always welcome!

See you there!

Taking A Break

April 8, 2011

It's been a little busy at home this week and once again, I'm coming down with a little something. It's becoming a weekly occurrence. So to ward off whatever might be causing my sniffles this week, I'll be taking a couple days off from blogging to give myself a little TLC.

To all you back home who rely on my posts to ensure we're still alive and well, this is your heads up. We're alive, just not online. So please don't call the local hospitals, police or the consulate looking for us. Unless of course you have a perfectly legitimate reason to. Then, by all means, call.

Another reason I'm taking a break is to finish up on a little project I've been working on. And that's all I'm going to say about that!

Want to find out what it is?

Check back in a couple days for the update.

Play Date Success

April 6, 2011

The play date was a success (as the title implies).

We arrived a little late. I miscalculated how long it would take to put Caleb down for a nap and feed him. It's like every other week, he decides to switch his schedule up just enough to throw me for a couple loops.

But Nathan was super helpful and got himself ready and we rushed out the door.

We got to McDonald's to find our friends were already playing. So we let the boys play for a little longer before we had lunch. Then we went in and had a quick lunch. Both boys had chicken nuggets. Nathan finished in record time. Must have been because he knew once he finished, they could go out to play again.

Nathan and his little friend ran around Playland pretending to be ninjas and Ben 10 characters. They looked like Batman and Robin. Nathan was Batman. His little friend was Robin.

Caleb sat contently on my lap and watched the big kids run around. It was nice to just sit and chat in the breezy autumn air. Yes autumn. It's autumn here and my brain and body are getting so confused.

Play Dates

April 5, 2011

Nathan has this week and next week off school. I'll have both the boys home all day, every day and then Nathan will start full day! I'm actually a little anxious for him. Not sure if he'll be able to last the entire day.

I know he did full day back in Canada, but there's something about it here that seems to drain Nathan and turn him into a cranky little boy by dinner time.

Maybe it's the fact that he runs around and plays for almost an hour in the playground after school when I pick him up before lunch. Or maybe because the hot weather makes him hot and sticky. I know I get tired when it's too hot. Or maybe his brain is just working too hard. Whatever it is, there's going to be a lot of schedule-tweeking over the next couple weeks and I have a feeling it's going to be a lot of adjustment for everyone in the house.

* * * * * * *

We have two play dates scheduled for this week and next week.

We never really did play dates in Canada until this past summer. Nathan befriended this little boy at summer camp and they both loved cars. And all they did on their play date was play with cars and watch movies about cars. His mom was super nice and invited Nathan over a couple more times before things got too hectic for us and we moved.

That was also when Nathan learned our phone number.

Anyway, we weren't really "into" play dates back in Canada. But now that I'm home all the time, I can't really use "being too busy" as an excuse to not get together with other moms and their kids.

When Nathan plays after school, I stand around and chat with a couple other moms who also let their boys run around before lunch. Last week, they invited us to join them for lunch at McDonald's during the break, and the boys could play in PlayLand. I accepted their invitation.

We're meeting up tomorrow and with Caleb (and his once-again-unpredictable schedule) in tow, we'll see how it goes!

She Sews

April 4, 2011

A couple weeks ago, Andrew bought me a sewing machine.

I had been talking about getting one for quite some time now and one day, Andrew had enough of my talking and went out and bought one for me. He's a get-it-done kind of guy. Most of the time ;)

He chose a pink one for me. It matches our pink iron.


After a lot of huffing and puffing, I finally worked up enough courage to cut some fabric for a project. Then, I sewed, pressed, sewed, and pressed one more time and voila! My first piece was complete.

It was far from perfect.


In fact, it was quite atrocious on the inside.


See? "It's little, and broken, but still good. Yeah - still good." (Name that movie!)

But the next night, I went right back to it. I chose a different project. This time I made a passport sleeve. (Another super simple project with a really cute tutorial!)

I even put a little ninja on the front for fun. It's a little snug but my stitches were a lot straighter.


I forfeited a lot of sleep for this one, but it felt really good to make something useable and cute.


The night after that, I got a little ambitious. I cut enough fabric for 5 passport sleeves. Five!


My first one was a little big. I was super excited about the colour combination of the fabric and didn't want it to be too small so I cut it a little larger. It was a bit too much. It took me a long time to decide to rip the seams open and try again. But I did it and it was much better.


The rest have to wait for another day. I have tons of designing and sketching to do.

Smile

April 3, 2011

What do you get when you combine the bright Australian sun with Andrew being off for a week (aka home during the day)?

A perfect opportunity for family photos.






Poor Nathan. He didn't really want to join in on the photo shoot. Then when he finally joined, Caleb got hold of his hair and just wouldn't let go.

Prewashing Fabric

April 2, 2011

When fabric comes with prewash instructions, suggesting you hang the fabric to dry, and to not tumble dry, it's probably a good idea to follow those instructions.

Even if you think it'd be a better idea to tumble dry because it's faster.

Especially if you're new to this fabric/sewing thing.

Case in point:

Whoops!

* * * * * * *

I was up at the crack of dawn this morning with Caleb. Not wanting to wake up the other boys, I got a little bored. I wanted to embrace the early morning sunshine and the fresh air that comes with it. It was a beautiful day.

Ever since we moved here, I've been fighting my urges to fling the sliding doors wide open in fear of bugs and other creatures making their way in. But bugs and creatures will find their way in if they want to. A doctor told me so*.

So I abandoned my fears of bugs entering our home, flung those doors wide open and welcomed the cool morning breeze in.

It was so refreshing and beautiful. Caleb loved it.

But even that wasn't enough. Being on the balcony wasn't enough. So for the first time since landing in Australia, I put my running shoes on, put Caleb in a carrier and took a walk around the block.


* * * * * * *

Before I left for my walk, a fly flew in.

I quickly re-evaluated my leap into Australian-ness and closed all the sliding doors. I mean, you can only take things so far before they get out of hand.

* * * * * * *

We met up with Rani and Philip at South Bank today. While we were talking, I mentioned that geckos have been entering our home and I have no clue how. All our doors have been closed (well, until today...) and it's not like we have insects that they can feast on inside.

*Philip mentioned that windows and sliding door tracks here tend to have a bit of a gap to prevent air pressure build-up in case of cyclones or things of the like. Good to know!

* * * * * * *

Throughout dinner, I heard the fly that had entered earlier today buzzing around us. But I couldn't see it. Then after dinner, I saw it fly into Daddy's Dungeon. I had to put an end to this annoyance.

I went in, closed the door behind me and yelled to the boys not to open the door. There was work to be done.

It was me versus the fly.

I quickly closed the mirrored closet doors so I could have an even better view of the room.

I pushed the chairs in so I could get around the room faster.

With a rolled up magazine in one hand, I watched the fly as he buzzed around. He knew I was coming.

I missed a few times, then finally swatted him down mid-air. As it lay on the ground, I prepared to give it another swat but was distracted by a voice calling from the other side of the door. Andrew suggested that we trade positions and that he go after the fly and I hold Caleb. But I refused. I let the fly in... I would get rid of it.

Refocusing, I watched the fly buzz around again. Then, it landed on the mirrored sliding door. I knew I had it.

With one solid whack, I hit the fly! And all my courage instantly disappeared and I ran out of the room screaming and jumping around because the fly had gotten squished on the glass in a nasty wet mess and the mix of adrenaline and victory was too much for me to handle.

Gross. Gross. Gross. Gross. Gross. But I got it!