Wishes.

I apologise for being absent lately, it's been busy, it's been beachy, it's been snuggly, it's been cleaning out and cleaning up, it's been catching up, it's been hanging with my two darling boys, friends, family, visitors, it's been all the things that this time of year is famous for.

Special thoughts to our servicemen and women so far from their homes and those closest to their hearts. Also special thoughts to those trying to get their flooded homes back in order, and bracing for more ill weather to come.

I am on holidays at the moment and not sure when I will be back, but I wanted to say hi, I want to wish you all a wonderful New Years Eve, I want to wish you all the very best of health for 2011, I want to wish you much making, and time for YOU, I want to wish you snuggles and cuddles, I want to wish you love and laughter for every day, I want to wish you all the things you need for a happy home, I want to wish you all that makes you content and fills up your hearts.

Joyce. xx

Merry Christmas

Santa's little helper here is still wrapping, making, sewing, baking, tagging, melting stuff, singing, and loving each and every minute of the season. The adrenaline has kicked in to keep up with the late nights and early mornings of preparations, but she would not change it for the richest of riches in all the lands.

To you and those you hold dearest to your heart, I wish you a wonderful Christmas - may the joy of the season be with you not just for Christmas Day, but every day.

Thank you for your wonderful friendship through blogging. Thank you for your laughter, thank you for your comments and encouragement, thank you for sharing bits of you. Thank you for laughing at me and with me. I am honoured to have the pleasure of getting to know you all.

Have a wonderful Christmas at your place.

. . . . And the stockings they were hung by the chimney with care. . . .

We don't have a chimney, but I do like that line from 'The Night Before Christmas'. I still have my huge, hard cover story book from when I was a little thing that I read to my boys each year too.

So onto today, four sleeps til Santa at our place. I had grand plans - hugely grand plans of being at home, a little baking, a little cleaning, you know, the all important little preparations that happen four sleeps before Christmas Day. *ahem* none of the above ended up happening at our place today.

Before I begin, I will give you a picture of our family at Christmas. We don't do lists of 'stuff we want', we don't buy for each other, we don't fill trolleys in a frantic state of panic just because. Santa does the children and maybe something small for Pappa and Mumma, but that is all. To be quite honest, I like it this way, I like to be able to enjoy the season of gifting, the season of loving, the season of cooking and baking all sorts of delish sweets the season of sharing and basically just 'hanging out together on long summer lazy days'. Pappa isn't into all the commercial rubbish either, even less than me. I am the one that does the tree and the lights, I love doing all the decorations with the kids, I love the carols - the louder the better, I love the Santa photo. Pappa comes for the ride, but slowly I have been noticing the last two years, he is a little more eager to partake of this wonderfully magical season that I love so much.

Yesterday evening he surprised me yet again when he come out with 'Do we have Christmas stockings?'

Me - 'ummm, no, no we don't - you aren't into that. I was going to make the boys one each years ago, but haven't gotten round to making them.' (yes, yes, I know, naughty, naughty Mumma!)

Him - 'oh well I might buy us some then.'

Me - *feeling rather feint right now from shock and horror* 'No! What are you going to buy them for!! I can make some, gosh, don't go buying them, that's crazy!' *recovered from shock and horror, already contemplating something to make*

Him - 'Don't go to any trouble - it's ok I was just asking.'

Me - 'Consider it done.' *Instantly thinking woo hoo I need to go shopping for fabric. Oh and I need some inspiration for a wrapping idea for some home made goodies to gift to his Mum and Dad.*

You are thinking Spotlight or another fabricy type store aren't you? Hmmmm No! Then come shopping with me to the op-shop this morning. Yep, first thing out the door to the op-shops, quick sticks boys we have work to do. Can you believe it, op-shop one we walked into there was in the tub, a huge roll of Christmas red cotton fabric. 10mtrs for the total sum of $2.00. Next to it were two lots of 1mtrs of Christmas fabrics they were $4.00 each so I grabbed them. I think they are quilting fabric, they are lovely and thick and cottony. Just perfecto. This op-shop also had other treasures of bias binding, satin ribbons, fat quarters, lovely pillowcases, and a bucket of army men plus a fire truck that was a torch. (the last two treasured items were discovered by my boys - they were delighted at the bargains they found). Oh and I did end up finding some lovely inspiration for gifting my homemade goodies, but you will have to wait for that post to come.

Home again, home again, jigety jig.

As you can see, I won't be going into the production of Christmas stockings anytime soon, but you know what, they are fully lined and apparently they are ok. *giggle*

Pappa has me rather excited now, wondering if I will be getting a surprise this Christmas. I do love surprises that's for sure, especially of the present kind, because it's just so rare. Maybe he has tickets for an afternoon of sleeping, or a home made gift voucher for a head massage. Oh I know, he is going to fill my stocking with vanilla candles, choccies and bath bombs and a mixed tape of our fave songs from when we were 'young'. I know, I am a simple little thing, but it doesn't take much to get me excited.

How has your day been today?

What have you been up to at your place?

Did you get a little shock of the nice kind too?

Multi-saving, savings.

Time saving,

Tree saving,

Money saving,

Space saving,

Landfill saving,

and the occasional little smile while attending to jobs.

We have gone through all the school books and craft that have come home for the year. Oh my gosh, my two have a rather large collection of books, journals, and artwork. It's difficult for me to part with it, but I just cannot keep it all. I have resume binders that I keep special pieces of artwork, we use some for wrapping paper, we use some to post away. I have decided to keep their kindy books, but from then on we just keep their journals and story books. I so love to read back over their writing and see where their imagination takes them or how they retell a book studied in class in their own words/pictures. Each year I do try to cull a bit from the previous year, and this seems to work - sort of - just a little bit. (not really Joyce!)

Anyways, some of their books that we have decided to part with still had some unused pages in the back and so I have made notepads, phone message pads, to do lists, and shopping lists.

They are a little crude looking, but they will still provide rather useful. Some of the fronts are covered with some artwork, others with writing, and through each of them there are bits of handwriting from pages not quite filled up, so that while I am checking my shopping list at the markets, I can savour a little of my boys writing or a cute little maths equation written in their little hand. (I am not a fan of doing groceries and being out and about doing 'chores' so this will totally brighten my jobs list.) Can you see the cover to the bottom right? This was done by my youngest in a little exercise book I gave him when his big brother started school. He used to so seriously hold his little pencil and 'write' letters to people. When I found this book I just had to use one of these pages as a cover. I don't mind using these pages, because they are all well over a year old, and now I have room to store 2010's 'great works'.

Those poor trees worked very hard to become paper for school books, there was a lot of energy involved in making them school books. We did pay for the books through the school fees after all, and my wastepaper shopping lists from last year are running very low of stock.

What do you do with your childrens school books/artworks and journals? Can you bring yourself to part with them? Do you recycle unused pages, do you make coasters or laminate pretty artworks for placemats? I would love to know how you do end of year school bits.

Have a lovely day at your place.

Bitsa Joyce

Work is finished for another term, school is out, study books have been hidden - for now.

It's time to get busy!

home made bling for our Christmas tree. . . .

home made rocky road for gifting . . . .

cupcakes for us . . . .

wrapped by Joyce . . . .

rum balls for gifting and rum balls for us . . . .

birthday card making, cause you know, there are still birthdays being had at Christmas time . . . .

and lovely crochet whilst singing very loudly to carols, snuggled down on blankets and pillows in our lounge room.

(I so wish I could sing for real, just imagine being in a choir, being able to create that spine chilling tingle through your audience simply through your vocal chords. *sigh*)

What are your bitsa's this weekend?

Have a lovely 6 sleeps to go at your place (7 if you are still in Saturday).

P.S. my little project is coming along despite not having mentioned it recently. It's rather a silly time of year to begin such a venture, but like Elvis sings, 'It's now or never'.

Upcycled or Recycled?

After reading the meanings of recycled and upcycled, I am quite sure this next item is upcycled. We have certainly improved on the crappy junk mail brochure that was with the hundred thousand other junk mail brochures that have come through our letterbox these last few weeks. I tell you our letter box looks a bit like Santa's jolly belly some afternoons. It costs nothing at all to make these other than your children's time.

Would like to say a huge thanks to Ana from i made it so, who sparked the inspiration for this lovely idea. Hers is much, much prettier and Christmassy than ours, and she has added lovely little diary notes of things they are doing along the way. Thank you Ana for sharing this lovely idea.

In regards to craft at our house, it has to be a little bit messy, it has to be cutting and pasting, it has to be lots of colour and minimal fuss, and most of all, it has to be quick. Much to my own disappointment, as I love me a bit of craft, actually I love me a lifetime of makin' stuff.

So not wanting to pull out a heap of craft items for a only a few minutes and then me having to pack it all away again, we just pulled out all the christmas brochures, and some wrapping paper from my youngest' recent birthday gifts, and put this little countdown together.

It really did only take a few minutes to put together. They love it, because they made it, and because they know how many sleeps there are to go. It's hanging at their level on a kitchen cupboard door, right where they walk past throughout the day, and already they are in the habit of swinging it as they pass and counting the numbers.

I am visiting other blogs the next few days to find lovely recycling and upcycling ideas. I will share them with you, because I want you to see these lovely blogs and lovely talented people for yourself as well.

What have you been upcycling or recycling at your place lately? Let me know, so I can share your blog with everyone too.

Have a lovely day at your place.

When A Child Is Born

Happy Birthday to my darling little Min today.

My baby turned 6 at 6.34am this morning. I will never forget him being born, I will never forget that feeling of touching his soft little head as he was being born from my body. I will never forget the feeling to push. I will never forget the agonising, burning pain, ripping through my body and celebrating it, knowing the honour of being this little childs Mumma. I would do it all again in a snap. It was worth every moment. I remember feeling through the strongest contractions it was like it was happening to someone else and I was watching it all happen from beside the bed.

I will never forget his wet, naked little body was laid on my naked body. Skin to skin, everything around me vanished, it was just he and I. Two little dark eyes squinted open in the light, black wells of velvet where I drowned, falling, falling, into those eyes, and six years later, they are still as dark as the day he was born. Still they capture me just as on that first day.

I hope I haven't been too 'gross' but I use my blog as a journal and these are the thoughts I have at this moment. Each of my boys birthdays I have a 'tug' feeling inside my chest. It's not so much a tight feeling, but just a tug. I cannot explain the love I have for them, it goes beyond words, as I am sure Mummas everywhere feel the same.

I feel very blessed and honoured to be given the opportunity to be the Mumma to these two beautiful, cheeky boys.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with love that you cannot find the words?