It's getting warmer

When the weather warms up here, we start to see creatures around the yard. This little guy was just out near the back deck.

There is an old wives' tale that if you have lizards around, you won't have snakes. I wish it was true.

Summer is coming.

A.W.O.L

You probably noticed my lack of commitment around here lately. I am pretty much thinking that this year is going to be a write off when it comes to achieving even things of a Mid-Craft nature.
I will be posting. It may just be a while in between. I have been in the car constantly it seems and haven't found time for much. And we have been renovating. Tehehehe... I like to say that. It is so great to be make things in our home fresh and new. I also like to say that because as soon as you mention that you are renovating, people cut you a bit of slack when it comes to getting things done :-)

So what have I been up to whilst absent without leave? I have been stitching bits and pieces. I have been getting inspired. I have mostly stopped pinning everything on Pintrest. I am trying to break that habit. For a site so full of inspiration, it has sure wiped my creativity out. There are so many pretty and clever things on there, it makes me wonder why I should start any projects anyway. Anyone else get that?

To kick start my creative juices, I am hoping to do a little blog renovation. I have been researching it and I think I am almost sorted on how to do it. I have no idea how I managed to set up my blog in the first place. Apparently, I have lost some of my tech savviness (is that a word?).

As a photo is always good on a post, here is one of our family on a recent short holiday. We are standing on top of Mount Hotham, Victoria. We hoped to see snow but there wasn't any there yet.

There you have it. I will get my camera out and start taking pictures. I will have something to say about something that I have made. I will have some Mid-Craftiness to share in the future.

See you another day.

Christmas is coming

Christmas is almost here and I am not ready for it at all. How about you? I had planned to be so organised this year and make so many things and be quite festive but it hasn't happened. I have been pinning things on my Christmas board on Pintrest and have been so inspired to make all matter of delightful things, but not this year.

Remember in my last post when I said that Amelia had been to hospital for the day, in the ambulance? Well, the day after that post, Amelia ended up in hospital. She was in hospital, which meant I was in too. The tummy bug got the better of her. Thankfully, she responded well to the treatments and we came home 3 days later. Since then, the whole family has gotten sick, including me.

So anyway, I am writing this post as a sign off, of sorts. I give up, I give in, I surrender. I haven't been keeping up with the blogging so I am taking the next month off. The run of illnesses we have had in the house has really made everything harder to do. It is summer holidays here starting Friday, so it is time for a break anyway. The kids will be home for 5-6 weeks. I plan to rest up, relax and hang out with the kids. I hope we can do some making together and have fun.

I hope to be back to regular (ha!) blogging at the end of January. I need to spend some time going through the mid-craft list and let go of some projects that are just never going to get done. And I need to re-organise my 'to-do' list into what is achieveable and what is not. And then, I need to set myself some goals (New Years Resolutions?) to work out how to make time for my making. I need a creative outlet to keep sane and I have been getting increasingly frustrated that I am not doing more of what I love.

How's that for a post? A bit deep and meaningful? Well, whatever. Had to be said.

I am going to post a few of my favourite random Christmas videos over the next few days in the lead up to Christmas. I am loving youtube for getting festive while we have been housebound.

Thanks for reading along this year and I will see you in 2012!

Deer head making and other catastrophes

Well. We have hit October. I managed one post in September. That is fairly poor isn't it. September was a pretty crazy month here one way and another. I am hoping October is much more straight forward.

I will be playing catch up for a bit, so many things have been going on!

Here's a quick run down on life up to now.

- Amelia had her Broncoscopy at the start of September. This is a routine procedure for CF she has each year to check the condition of her lungs. We thank God that this year's was uneventful unlike last year's.

- Amelia turned 4.

- We had a clinic visit to the big building for Amelia's results. Everything came back clear and she is as well as can be expected. Thank you God again.

- Esther developed a cough which got worse and eventually affected all of us (except Amelia!!!). Esther had weeks off school and we finally found out, after 3 trips to the doctors, it was whooping cough! That is a horrible condition and if you can be immunised against it or need booster shots, do it. We were in isolation for a week! After the whole family had a course of some really yukky antibiotics we were no longer infectious and could go out again! Esther and Ellamay are still coughing but it has improved a lot fortunately.

- School holidays with sick kids! Need I say anymore about that?

- Squeezing in a little bit of me time crafting to make a few random and quick projects to try and keep my sanity! The deer head photo above is one of those projects. I started that about a 3 weeks ago and it is still in that same state of mid-craft. I did actually finished a couple of things which I will be sharing soonish :-)

- We just welcomed to the world a new nephew. I have been working on a stitching project for him but it is probably too ambitious for me to be doing at the moment. It has already had a change of design once, it might need a second just so I have some hope of finishing it before he is a teenager.

So there you have it. Really, everything has been ruled by the kids lately. Esther and Ellamay were given a clean bill of health by the doctor yesterday so they will be off to start the new school term on Monday. HOORAY!!! It will be a "just you and me" day with Amelia at home. I have a terrific friend who has offered to have Amelia on a couple of days next week just so I can get some extra kid-free time and try to turn my house the right way up again. My friend is the bees knees.

I hope to get back to some kind of regular posting in the next few weeks but we shall see.

Grey

The weather has been grey and cold. We have had sick kids and Tim has been feeling miserable too. We need a good dose of health around here. Esther and Ellamay are back to school on Monday after 2 weeks school holidays. I am glad to get back to routine again. I probably say it every time school holidays roll around. The girls like their school routine! So do I actually. Hopefully by the time the next school holidays come, we will have their bedroom finished. Tim is still working on their new beds and I am excited to see the finished product and get on with the fun decorating part.

I have been working on a few different projects lately, all of which I need to photograph and work on more. I am afraid I am still creating more mid-craft projects. I was trying really hard to resist starting anymore projects but have been unsuccessful. I keep finding all these fabulous ideas on the internet. How about you? Do you have that trouble?

Anyway, I hope to get a few more posts up in the next week. Don't hold your breath though :-)

What's been happening here...

I'd best type quickly. I am home alone. No kids to be hassling me about food or wanting their turn on the computer. No husband wanting to do work on the computer. Just me. I should be doing housework. But I am not. I thought I better let you know what's been going on around here otherwise you will all think that Mid-Craft Crisis has become like one of those blogs that has heaps to say and then one day it just stops. *waves* Don't worry. Still here. :-)

This month has been crazy from the beginning. So much going on and so many changes.

~Esther and Ellamay turned 7! There were the usual family celebrations and an un-party for them too. I will have to post some pictures from that at some stage. By the way, an un-party, in my definition, is a party you have when you are not really going to have a party. Savy?

~Tim resigned from his job last month and started a new one on the 14th. It is so perfect for him. He doesn't have to be away on overnighters each week now either. YAY! He is so happy in his new role, which makes me so happy too.

~We got a new family car and Tim got a new car for work.

~I got a new smart phone which is sending me crazy to work out. It is prepaid and I think either my kids are somehow using up the cash on it - or someone has been using the wi-fi connection on it. (Do I sound like I know what I am talking about? Because I totally don't!)

~House culling! I am so proud of myself. I have been letting go of so much stuff. My goal of having the house down to the very least amount of stuff by the end of August seems achievable. How amazing that is going to be! And then we can get down to the fun part of renovating!

I should probably mention that the picture up the top there is of me. It was taken the evening after the girls un-party when their guests had gone home and my sister and her husband had come for dinner. We had some fun with the photo props (from the un-party) too. Ellamay said that we were being too silly and grown-ups shouldn't be silly. Well, being silly was heaps of fun!

I have been keeping up with all the blogs I follow on my reader. It is so bad doing that though, don't you think? One is less inclined to comment on people's posts if one is not reading the blog itself. I think I will have to work on that. Call it a mid-year resolution.

Pretty cottons and other distractions

Hi. I didn't mean to have a blogging break for so long. It just kind of happened. I am mid-craft so many things at the moment. Aside from the crafty things, I am trying to get back into the decluttering of the house again. I was going strong and then one thing and another came up... like boredom. :-) I have managed to get rid of quite a few more bags of old clothes and toys though. I have a goal in mind now so I must get serious about it. More on that later.

The kids holidays finished just after Easter. School holidays were quite full on here. Heaps of kids making. Easter crafts and anything else they could come up with. We even managed an adventure. It's good to get back to some kind of routine though.

I have just picked up a stitching project again which I started a while ago. I am having trouble concentrating on it though. A lot of sleepless nights lately. Amelia has a cough again and so I have spent a lot of nights up with her lately.

Lately, we have had sick and miserable kids - the wintery weather has brought with it the coughs and colds we hate. The kids have been creating - I have been working on lots of things for the kids to do on the pump with Amelia. Tim has been crazy busy trying to catch up at work because of all the short weeks because of public holidays around Easter. And there has been a lot of changes going on around here one way and another.

I have been completely distracted lately too because I have been googling around for inspirations for a renovation. We are planning to start working on our house, room by room, to update everything and make it lovely. Tim has started building Esther and Ellamay some loft beds which will help with the limited storage situation at our house. I am very excited and so are the girls. And I think Tim is loving to be out in his shed again.

Anyway. I should go and do something else. So many things to do and so little time. Sigh. I will be catching up with posts in the next few days (hopefully) about our Easter and adventures.

Still green and other things

Autumn is here and I am waiting for the leaves to turn. The weather has been so cool lately. Not at all normal for this time of year. We are still usually hitting 30 degree C days at the start of March but its been in the low 20's. Not that I am complaining. I prefer this temperature and I love autumn. The kids are disappointed though because they were hoping to go swimming once their ears had healed enough from the grommet operation.

I am so behind in my posting of stuff! I will have to get a couple more photos taken so I can post some actual crafty projects. I have managed some lately. The girls have friends with birthday's this month so I have been sewing like crazy trying to make something for them. And I am proud to say - I have achieved! I made some note book and pen holders slightly different to the ones I made for Esther and Ellamay's birthday's last year. Now that I seem to have hit upon an idea with them, I am going to (try) to sew up a couple more to stash away in the cupboard for birthday's later in the year. Won't I be terribly organised then?

It's been grand having Tim home on holidays this week. I am a bit sad that it's almost half over already. We went out together yesterday without any kids and investigated new heating and cooling options for our house. Might sound boring but it really was a nice day. And I did drag him around a few shops I wanted to look at too :-)

How's things at your end of the world?

Thread of Sunshine

My life is but a weaving, between my Lord and me,

I do not choose the colours, He worketh steadily.

Oftimes He weaveth sorrow and I in foolish pride,

Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Not til the loom is silent and shuttles cease to fly,

Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why

The dark threads are as needful in the skillful weavers hand,

As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

Things have been getting the best of me lately. This life we have is full of stress. It can be so wearing. When I was having a bad day recently, my mum happened to show me some family history stuff she had been working on about my Nanny. Mum showed me this poem which had been in the front of Nanny's bible. It brought tears to my eyes. How true are these words. Even though things seem to be a bit of a mess, "the dark threads are as needful in the skillful weavers hand, as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned."

I can't control what happens in this life but I can change the way I look at things in this life. I know I am a bit late for new years resolutions but I want this year to be different. I want to spend more time looking at the blessings and gifts that God has given to me instead of getting weighed down by the grief in our life. I want to make the most of what we have and not need things to be different to make me happy.

It's a lot to aim for in an unpredictable life but you know what? I have everything I need to get there. I just have to work out how to use it.

Floods

This is just a giant puddle by comparison to the flooding that is happening around parts of Australia. The sky turned blue today here for the first time in days. It has been raining constantly and the puddles were getting bigger and bigger. Coming home from town today was an experience I would not like to repeat. Flooded roads, fast approaching too deep to pass. Tonight, Tim is out helping with sandbagging homes near the river. They expect the floods in this area to peak tomorrow. We are high enough but people close to the river and creeks have a nervous wait. And so I am blogging instead of sleeping. Because who can sleep when there is so much happening.

It has been great to see on the news tonight that the Australian spirit is alive and well and people are coming from all directions to assist in the clean up in Queensland. So much loss and devastation and yet perfect strangers are stepping in and lending a hand. I am so glad to be Australian.

I came across this post over at Meet me at Mike's all about different ways we can help out with the effort. Go over and see if you can help out. Thanks.

Locusts

We have a bit of a locust problem around here at the moment. Those little specks in the photo above are locusts flying. It's kind of creepy being in the middle of it when they are really bad but I like to imagine that we are actually in the middle of autumn and those are just leaves. Much easier to cope with than these little things.

It is kind of messy to drive through them too.

Water

Hi. I am still here. Just trying to catch up on life again. You will be happy to know that Amelia is continuing to improve and is much happier now than two weeks ago. Phew! Anyway, I am posting some catch up photos here. We have had a lot of rain here lately. Especially two weeks ago just before Amelia went to hospital. Flooding rains. A lot of people would know what I am talking about here in Victoria (even some other states too). The drought has definitely broken. One extreme to the other.

Roads flooded.

Bridges washed away.

Rivers flooded.

We don't live too close to any flood plains and we are not farmers. It was looking a bumper year for them. And now if their crops haven't been flooded they have been damaged by the rain. I feel badly for them but I must admit I am fascinated by the flooding. And the kids - they have not seen anything like it in their lifetimes. There is more rain coming. Looks like it might be quite a wet Christmas. Full of big puddles and mosquitoes.

Stormy weather

What a week it's been! Lot's of stormy weather here and some drama thrown in for good measure!

Last Monday, Amelia was taken to hospital in an ambulance after complications from a bowel obstruction. I stayed in hospital with her for two nights. We made it home Wednesday night. She was put onto lots of medication to clear the blockages.

That is a very short explanation of our drama. Amelia is doing a lot better this week. She is having her moments but we are hopeful that she is really on her way to recovery now. It was a horrible thing to go through but now at least there is progress. People finally listened to me and we finally got some action.

I am very proud of my little family after this week. Amelia was a super brave girl. Esther and Ellamay were super brave girls too. And Tim was a wonder husband and dad (as usual). We survived a hospital admission for Amelia. We have been dreading it. She will have to have one eventually for a (CF) 'tune-up', which means having IV antibiotics. That will probably be a much longer admission. We did survive this one though. And at the moment - that's all that matters.

Aside from having to take all the medications that she is not use to, Amelia thought hospital was a bit of a holiday. We got to have tea parties and ride the tractor in the play room and go for a walk to the cafeteria to buy potato chips and apple juice.

We are so thankful for all the help people gave us and messages of support.

Getting no where

I feel like I am getting no where lately. Amelia has been unwell now for over a month and it is very wearing. I hope we are making progress with her. She has been a brave little girl and is still smiling for the most part but it would be nice to get her well completely. I have had to let go a lot of the crafts I had planned for Christmas though I am afraid. If I get to make anything its all about kids craft for pump time. Oh well, at least that is a little bit of creativity to take the edge off.

Which part?

I thought this was hilarious when I first saw this. Had to share it.

Hope to be back this week with some Christmas crafts. Have a good week :-)

Knitting at the War Memorial

I asked Tim to take this picture. This lady was waiting for the next changing of the guard ceremony to begin. I thought it was kind of funny to be knitting at this time, in this place and had to get a photo. She actually packed up her knitting and moved while the ceremony was on and then when it was finished, she perched herself back there again. I hope you don't mind me getting your picture, lady. You are part of our War Memorial memories now.

Echidna Day

James the Echidna

On Saturday, we are going to celebrate our 3rd Echidna Day. It is our homemade celebration day to remember all the good stuff and a day to count our blessings. Here is the story.

The 16th October 2007 was a breezy spring day. Tim went off to work and I was home with Esther and Ellamay (three and a half at the time) and Amelia (five weeks old). I was talking to my mum on the phone about what the kids were up to and no doubt about how much sleep we were all getting. I looked out the kitchen window just in time to see an echidna come from the fence across the yard. I couldn't believe it! I told Mum and said I'd better go. I took Esther and Ellamay and we crept outside to investigate. (I should point out that yes we live in a rural area but it isn't common to have an echidna wander into our yard!)

We found it under the bush by the back door. It was so exciting. I had never seen an echidna before. And of course the girls thought it was amazing. It buried its head under the leaf litter and didn't move. We stayed back and watched. I rang wildlife rescue and they said they only move echidnas if they are in trouble. The echidna would leave when it was ready.

So we watched. The girls pretended to take photos with their shoe 'cameras'. Amelia slept through all the excitement. We came back inside to have our lunch with the promise of more echidna watching after. By the time lunch was over, the echidna was gone. We spent the rest of the day on a grand adventure in the back yard trying to find the echidna. Ellamay named it James "like on Top Gear" (one of Tim's favourite TV shows!)

On October 17th, again Tim went to work. After everyone was organised and Amelia was asleep again, we went out and checked for James. I had to come back inside when the phone rang. It was the doctor. "We have some results back from Amelia's heel prick test. I'm afraid it's not good news. She has Cystic Fibrosis."

Our world turned upside down with one phone call. The weeks after are a blur of medical appointments and grief. My mum suggested that perhaps God had sent that echidna the day before the news so that we would have something happy to think about during all the overwhelming worry and uncertainty.

So we choose to focus on Echidna Day. To get through a difficult anniversary.

This Echidna Day I am counting my blessings. I am so thankful for our little family. I am thankful we have made it through another year of joy and trials. We are blessed in so many ways.

This photo was taken a few days before Echidna Day.

I have a few Echidna Day activities to share. Come on back and see what we have been making. :-) Have a great day and I hope you will join with us and count your blessings too.

Changing the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider

While we were at the War Memorial in Canberra, they had the changing of the guard ceremony. It was amazing to watch. The kids were mesmerised by the marching. They changed every 15 minutes and we stayed and watched it 3 different times. Tim took these amazing photos.

I think this was my favourite part of the War Memorial. Apparently, the reason for the ceremony was the anniversary of the Battle of Britain. I am so glad we saw it.

Working on travel journals

Here are the kids in our cabin in Canberra working on their journals. I made up packs of all kinds of making things - stickers, textas, glue sticks, coloured paper, patterned tape and paper shapes so that could record our trip in their own way. Whenever we went anywhere we collected brochures and postcards so they could stick them into their books. They worked on them every night before bed and had them in the car to work on while we were driving long distances.

I have printed out lots of photos for them now to stick in as well. They love to show people all about their trip and the fun we had together.

Miniature world at Cockington Green Gardens

I have wanted to go to Cockington Green Gardens since I was in Grade 6. That is... hmm... maybe 20 years ago. (!) When we went to Canberra, I finally got to see what it was like.

There was so much to see. The kids loved running around discovering things and Tim and I took turns taking pictures. I had the big lens on my camera and an old couple actually stood back out of my way so I could take a picture. They said "She's a professional." I laughed. They didn't realise that I was shooting on full auto and getting some pretty average pictures.

We walked around quicker than I would've liked. The kids were to excited to see what was around the next corner so we had to keep up. The only reason I wanted to go slower was to take photos and I probably took enough of them anyway. :-)