Sunday snippets

It's been ages since I've played along with Tinniegirl's Sunday Snippets and seeing as I was a total instagram whore this week I might as well share some of my moments...

MR and I went down south for my best friend's wedding - note pinwheels
instead of flowers!

The groom is a cyclist so there was a bit of a bike theme, plus a special
thank you heart for me

Vanilla panna cotta for dessert, yum!

Retail therapy after unpleasant medical procedure

A sleepless night and a Meow ready for cuddles

Super wardrobe tidy out - look at all the empty coat hangers (that need filling!!)

Three bags of clothes waiting to be taken to the local op shop

Attempting a new Christmas decoration....

And some cross stitch chevrons which will hopefully also be a new Christmas
ornament providing the waste canvas comes out easily like it is supposed too...

A busy week for me!  Not so much scheduled for this week which is good because I need to clean the house ready to put up the Christmas tree and decorations.  Wheeeeee!

Hints, if you're looking for them...

If you could go and watch any TV show being filmed anywhere in the world (the type that has an audience) which would be your top three choices?

I think my choices may just say a bit about my personality...

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

I am secretly in love with this man.  He is hilarious and has just the most delightfully cheeky twinkle in his eye.  MR cannot see the appeal (in the show obviously, not the man).  I blame it on the fact that I may have talked it up a bit much before he finally got to see it (he's not usually up at the hour this is on) because really, best talk show ever!

Top Gear

These guys come up with some great ideas for the show and have so much fun doing it.  Totally crazy, what's not to love.  I actually find the car stuff interesting too!

The Footy Show

I'm not much of a football fan but I've always enjoyed watching The Footy Show.  There's always a good camaraderie and plenty of piss taking of each other.  

Do you think your choices say something about you?

 

Best laid plans

Today was my first at home day where I didn't need to go anywhere in almost two weeks.  This is the longest stretch of 'stuff' I have been busy with since before my transplant so I was looking forward to a bit of relaxing in the morning and a lot of productivity in the arvo, with a big long list of things to do.  I even set my alarm for 9am.

Unfortunately, I didn't sleep very well, waking up in the early hours with bone aches in my arm.  Bone aches seem to be one of the few side effects I get from my leukaemia medication.  They feel a lot like those weird 'growing pains' you get as a child.  I shouldn't complain - I only get them every now and again and I know some people who get them regularly.  

So instead I snoozed until midday, had a lazy brunch of grainy toast with homemade jam and a banana smoothie and proceeded to spend half of the afternoon slothing around until my arm stopped hurting enough to do a few things.

Smoothies make everything better.  I've been a bit obsessed with banana smoothies since I've been able to drink milk again.  My favourite concoction involves two Carnarvon bananas (the sweet little lunchbox variety), a pot of vanilla yoghurt, a small handful of rolled oats, sometimes a spoon of honey, milk and a few icecubes blended together.  Yummo.

What's your favourite recipe?  I'm thinking smoothies are going to feature strongly in my diet this summer so I need some more tasty recipes!

When I'm feeling a bit woeful or too sore/tired for some craft it's time for rereading a favourite series.  Escape my world for a bit.  Have you read this series?  His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I think this is about the sixth or seventh time I've read these now.  You might have seen the first one at the movies, although it is that different from the book I almost didn't recognise it.  The movie is called The Golden Compass.  They haven't made a movie of the second two at this point.  I've never really read a series like it, it deals a lot with religion, but not in the traditional sense.  The story is set in a world similar yet different to ours and deals with other worlds as well.  It follows the life of a girl, Lyra Belacqua, who is destined to play a major part in the survival of the worlds.  If you do read it, a bit of a heads up - there's plenty of teary bits, particularly in the third book.  I'm dreadful at reviews so google one up if you want to know more about it. 

Are you a rereader?  I reread a few of my favourite each year.  I always get really involved in the stories so it's like visiting old friends. 

Thank goodness I have a quiet weekend ahead of me, plenty of time to get that big list of stuff done!

  

Change on the horizon

So far in my seven year teaching career, I have managed to not teach at the same school for longer than two years.  I have spent one year in Yr 2 at one school, two years in Pre Primary in another school, two years in Kindy at yet another school and two years teaching Kindy at my current school (although I had a big ten month break in the middle of this run so it's only really one year).

It looks like this is set to continue as I am unable to continue at my current school next year.  If you are unfamiliar with the education department politics and silly rules this may not make a lot of sense but... I am permanent to a different school than where I currently teach.  This means I own a position at that school.  I applied for the position at my current school, which is a school for children with language delays which only has Kindy, Pre Primary and Year 1 classes.  I got the position here but it was a contract, not permanent.  For next year, my current school is not advertising any positions and is selecting teachers from a pool.  I can't apply for the pool because I am permanent.  Only teachers without their permanency can apply to the pool.  Which means I have to go back to the other school.  

I am a bit sad to be leaving because being at this language school was my dream when I was at uni.  I'm so happy I achieved it, even for the short time I was there.  I've learnt a lot and really enjoyed seeing kids come in with only a small handful of words or even no words and leaving with a much bigger vocabulary and greater comprehension skills.  It's really rewarding to see and the changes are so drastic it's very easy to see them improve.

This other school that I own the position at seems like a nice school too - I haven't actually taught there yet though!  I got the transfer to this school a couple of weeks before I was offered the other school and of course I accepted that one instead.  I still own the position there though so that's where I will be next year.

Confused yet?

Anyhow, I quite enjoy a bit of change as a teacher.  I enjoy trying new things and getting new ideas from other staff.  I'm not yet ready to return to full time work so I've told the principal I'm looking at two or three days a week.  He thinks he may have a Kindy position for me and I mentioned I would also be open to Pre Primary - having taught Kindy for the past four years I'd like to head back to PP at some stage as I really do prefer that age group (4-5yr olds here in WA, Kindy is 3-4yr olds).  The principal is going to get back to me early next week he said, with a couple of options.  I'm a bit excited and a bit nervous.  What to choose?  If I taught a Kindy class I would have my own class and do 3 days/wk.  It'd be nice to have my own class again because I do miss that, but it would mean planning, lots of paperwork, assessment, reports.  Lots of afterhours work.  If I did PP I would be sharing the job with someone else or working in a couple of classes while the class teacher is out on planning time.  This would be nice also because it wouldn't be so much assessment and reports and planning.  But the downfall there is you have to work with someone else and you can't really choose who that might be and how well you will work together.  The lady I am working with this year has quite poor behaviour management skills which means the class can be pretty unruly, it's a bit hard to train them into better habits when I'm only in there once a week.  I'd like to avoid having to deal with that sort of thing next year.

I'm already daydreaming about having a Kindy class and making plans of things I can do with them.  Which makes me think I might be leaning towards doing that?  Either way, I can't make any decisions until I'm given some choices to choose from so I'm eagerly awaiting the phone call sometime next week.

Do you like change in your workplace/job or are you a creature of habit?

 

Transformations

from the left... loquat, apricot, white peach, nectarine

I think that sometimes transformations creep up on you a bit.  You think that not much has really happened/been done/changed when in fact quite a bit has (particularly when you look back at photos).  The photo above is our backyard side garden now and the one below is the same from when we first moved in a year and a half ago.  MR has been super busy with the chainsaw, the axe and the shovel.  While it is certainly not finished by any means, all the moaning I do about how not-very-pretty and bare and unfinished our garden looks is a little bit of an exaggeration perhaps.  Because our fruit trees are thriving.

So I thought I'd make up some little collages of our fruit trees progression. 

Apricot tree - September 2011, November 2011, December 2011, October 2012

The apricot tree has gone mad ever since we planted it.  It grows so fast that MR and I often have conversations about how the apricot tree is going when he is away for two weeks.  So far is has blossomed twice but not yet had any fruit.. fingers crossed for next year!

Orange tree - September 2011, October 2012

Unfortunately, the orange did not go the same way.  We actually planted the orange out the front, in a section of garden that I have not had any luck in keeping anything I plant there alive.  We transplanted it this October as it had not only not grown at all, but the leaves were starting to yellow.  Since we moved it the leaves have gone green again and new leaves have sprouted as well as about five blossoms have appeared, the first time there has been any signs of blossoms on it.  It seems to like its new home much better and on the other side of the fence in the neighbours yard in the same spot they have a mandarin tree so I thought maybe they might like to be friends?

White peach tree - April 2012, October 2012

The white peach tree was a present from a lady I work with, a self sown one from their own peach tree which yields delicious peaches.  It's only been in the ground at our place six months now and seems to be leafy all the way up.  I'm wondering whether I should remove the leaves from lower down? 

Nectarine - April 2012, October 2012

The nectarine we bought and planted at the same time as the peach.  There's been a bit of growth and plumping out so far.  This one got a lot of blossoms at the end of Winter/beginning of Spring and actually had about ten little fruit appear which we pulled off so it could grow more.  Nice to know it will fruit though!

Unfortunately, I don't really have many good shots of the loquat from when we first planted it to show the growth but while it is going a bit slower it is still coming along well.  That one is a cutting from Mum's tree.  No sign of any blossoms or fruit on it yet either.

Gooseberry - December 2011, October 2012, the first gooseberry!

Now, I know this isn't a fruit tree but it is the only thing we have gotten any fruit off so far.  Three gooseberries in fact!  I'm hoping it will thrive and we will get heaps more next season because I do love gooseberries.  There are still heaps on the bush but they take ages to ripen.  As you can see, I picked the first one a little bit early because I just couldn't wait any longer!  When I was in junior primary we had a gooseberry bush in our back garden next to the pool and I have fond memories of jumping into the pool and then out and gobbling gooseberries and then back in again.  This bush took off when we planted it at the end of last year but the all of a sudden it started to die off.  Not sure what I did wrong but thankfully it stopped dying and started to regrow again. 


So there you go, some actual garden stuff is happening after all.  The next thing to do is get rid of that horrible red curbing edging business that we have happening (you can see it in the top picture) and edge it with some big rocks out the back and limestone blocks out the front.  After that we can get all soil level and then put in a proper veggie path and start really getting a bit more of a pretty looking garden happening. 


What's been happening in your garden lately?

A bit of sewing

While I love the idea of sewing, the actual event of it never quite goes to plan and so I don't often do it.  It has been like this always, from when I was at high school doing home ec.  I would have an image in my head of how things would work out and just not have the skill/talent to make it happen.  I can do it, it just doesn't come naturally to me - most of the time.

However, I recently did a bit of basic sewing that turned out just how I pictured.  My best friend is getting married in two weeks and me and another of her friend's planned a 1950's housewife theme hen's night, with a cooking class to make a Mexican feast for dinner.

We themed it in black dresses, pearls and aprons so I whipped up an apron for me and one for the bride.

white and lacy for the bride

spotty and doily pocketed for me!

The hen's night was fantastic.  If you are a Perth dweller and are looking for a fun place to do a cooking class as a group (or even by yourself) I highly recommend The Cooking Professor as a place to go, the food was amazing and we had great fun!

 

Today

Today has been a housey sort of day.  I've been quite busy this last week and things are getting a little bit untidy around here.  Even for my poor standards!

There's been some washing of clothes and dishes, a little bit of gardening and lots and lots of putting things away.  There has even been some craft room sorting.  The craft room is permanently the biggest pigsty in the world.  Every time I try to tidy it, it just seems to revert straight back to chaos.  You may think I am exaggerating, but I am most definitely not.  So today I took in some plastic boxes and starting sorting the piles and piles of crap all over the floor.  A box for paper craft stuff, one for embroidery bits, another for rogue ribbons that have escaped from my last attempt at trying to organise the craft room. 

Actually, I'm quite proud of my ribbon organisation. I saw the idea on pinterest to wrap ribbons around a popstick but I had a bag of dolly pegs lying around and decided to have a go at doing that.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I need to go and get another jar for some more.  The back jar is all my grosgrain ribbons, just clipped together with a paper clip and I left all my stuff on spools, on spools and sorted them neatly into a storage box. 

If only I could snap my fingers and make the rest of the room look this organised.


Another box I sorted holds a bit of a mish mash of items.

Some knitting I started with a scarf in mind until I decided that the ribbing was too tight for how I wanted it to look, as well as some buttons and some material scraps from my drawers of such goodies.  What for?

Well, every year (apart from last year) since I started blogging I've thought about making a softie for the Softies for Mirabel drive run by Pip.  And every year I fail.

This year I'm determined.  In fact, I want to make more than one.  I feel like I have catching up to do.  So this box holds the ingredients for the first one.  Thursday's creative space perhaps?

Now however, it is time to wade back in return to the craft room and try and get a few more little spots of organisation happening.

Wish me luck!

Sweet moments

Like the surprise you get when  a gorgeous bulb flowers in your garden, that you didn't plant. This time last year I was still in hospital and the year before that we hasn't even started house hunting. Thank you garden for making me smile.  (Can anyone tell me what it is?  Some kind of lily or iris?)

And the moment when you realise you've picked a winner of a novel.  I randomly grabbed a book off the shelf at the library because I liked the name and it had pretty metallic green leaves on the spine. Usually I read the back but this time I barely glanced at it. It was like I just knew. And I'm loving it so far. This moment was sealed on page 21, where a minor character, Mrs Kranowski, was introduced as "a spindly old woman with a hairdo that looked like vanilla soft serve ice cream". How could you not love a book after reading that? Possibly the best image evoking character description ever I think!


What unexpected sweet moments have popped up in your life recently?

A Typical 1:10 - 1:57am in my life

Prologue
11:30pm - think about going to bed, decide to finish chapter of book first
12:30am - three chapters later, guiltily close book, flap around for twenty minutes brushing and flossing teeth, glaring at stupid pimples, counting current grey hairs, resisting urge to pull them out.
12:50am - procrastinate on phone, Instagram, words with friends, email etc.
1:10am - finally turn out light and try to sleep.



....



- settle on one side. Stretch
- take slow deep breaths, try to empty mind
- mind resists, find myself counting heartbeats. Heartbeats are way too fast for relaxation. Try to count slow breaths instead. Succeed for count of about 59 and then realise I've reverted to counting heartbeats.
- roll over to other side, stretch.
- wonder how long it will take me to cut out all the monkeys the kids drew at school
- think about what my first day of relief teaching will be like tomorrow (today)
- tell myself to stop thinking about school
- roll over
- think about what clothes I might like to buy with money from relief teaching.
- think about... where is Meow, why can I never sleep when I need too, if anyone else ever gets that weird feeling when they close their eyes to sleep of heaviness and mindless clutter and babble filling their head.
- decide that it's probably just me.
- roll over
- think about... school again, holidays and how I should put away some of my relief teaching money so I have some money, how annoying it is when you have the money to buy a desk you can't seem to find one you like on gumtree, school again, my friend's upcoming wedding down south, where else can I look to find a dress for said wedding, needing to book accommodation for down south, why the hell I am all of a sudden not tired, why am I surprised?
- roll over
- think about... what I need to do this weekend (make two aprons, buy prizes for hens party games, help sister pack and move house, go to Brown Owls), what WIP should I take to Brown Owls, how annoying it was that I never found that bag of craft stuff I misplaced somewhere in the house and had to go buy it again, whether I should apply for a job as a mystery shopper, Christmas present ideas for people, when I might have time to fit in a couple of days visit to MR's parents with him next time he's home, how my sore throat that appeared yesterday morning thankfully seems to have decided to disappear after two doses of panadol.
- feel immensely frustrated at my ridiculous sleeping efforts
- try to switch off brain again by counting breaths.
- instead end up thinking about how I tried the counting backwards theory last night of starting at 1000 and taking away 13 repetitively until you fall asleep. Apparently not many people get below 600. Last nights efforts went all the way to zero.
- ponder on how good I'm getting at mental maths of the -13 variety.
- grumble and sigh.
- realise I'm tapping my teeth together in a fast pattern, put my tongue in between my teeth to make myself stop.
- think about what to tell MR about on the phone tomorrow (first day of relief teaching, remind him to have his birthday card out ready for opening on Sunday morning)
- day dream about how awesome it would be to meet Maggie Alderson on her book tour if she can talk her publishers back into a Perth stop. Feel special because she replied to my comment on her blog about being devastated about lack of Perth visit.
- Think about what I would wear to meet her. Have no luck in coming up with outfit. Decide I need to donate three quarters of my wardrobe to the good sammys and go shopping to reinvent my boring old style.
- wish I had enough money to do so
- decide that even if I did have enough money I'd have no idea where to start. Firmly stuck in 90's fashion of hipster jeans and printed tight tshirts.
- wish I was more stylish
- think about how boring my blog has been lately.
- decide to write inane blog post on the scattered mess (just typed scatteredness and iPhone auto correct changed it to scattered mess, much better!) of my brain at sleep times in an attempt to empty it so I can finally sleep....


....



Epilogue
2.47am - wish me luck!

Christmas Ornament Swap

As you probably already know, I particularly love Christmas crafting. 

So of course, when I saw Gladys in the Garden advertising this swap over at Christina Lowry Designs I headed straight over to sign up!

You can to, you've got until the 21st October to join in the fun.