Some more words

Miss Libby's vocaulary has just exploded.... we can now add to her ever expanding collection of words....

"Cool"
"dank oo" (thank you)
"yeah"
"essie" (Effie - her beloved elephant)
"tees" (teeth)
"cuggle" (cuddle)
"yay"

That's all that's interesting at the moment in my life. HAH
Will post soon about christmas... and no doubt rain!

Chitter Chatter

One morning last week we were frantically getting ready to leave for school. I popped Libby's shoes on then packed the nappy bag. Once I was finished I grabbed my keys when.....

Libby: "Get GO"!! [Then she promtly marched down the hallway to the front door]
[shocked I burst into laughter and turned to Connor]
Me: "Connor did she just say Let's go?"
Connor: [also laughing] "I think so!".... "Libby, let's go!"
Libby: "get go, get go, get go"

Adorable.

Where did she go?

Her husband steals the computer to take to work during the day.
She is busy! She is looking forward to the summer holidays!
She is stuck as to what to blog about... But here are some things that are happening with her children....

The little one is walking now. Almost running. She is talking a little more too now which is nice (it slowed down after she got her glasses). She says "tank oo", "Daddy", "byeee", as well as all the others that she was saying previously. Quite cute really. She has also learnt the fine art of throwing a DOOZY tantrum. She is the best out of 3 I am sure!!

The middle one is about to turn 5. Yes that's right FIVE!!! My goodness. It's almost the end of an era at kindy too. Off to prep next year. She has decided she wants to grow her hair again too after her last haircut. Hopefully that is a lesson learnt!

The big one is growing up so much! I wish I could remember some of his chitter chatter moments for you. They are so grown up now! He is doing brilliantly at school, reading level 24 books! He has to travel to the gr 2 class room to get his readers now! And he has finally graduated to size 5 shorts. That must mean he is getting taller!

And that my friends is all I have to tell for now...

Procrastination

HAHA This is SOOO us!

So, in other news....

I have made a decision about my body.
This video helped me decide...



I don't want to be continually worrying about my weight and feeling like a complete failure constantly because I don't have the will power to stick to a diet or whatever. I am trying to come to peace with who I am and what I look like.
I see my "skinny" friends and I see what it takes for them to maintain their body shapes. They are gym junkies, carefully watching every crumb that they put in their mouths. I see their skinny jeans getting loose and their collar bones sticking out. Is that the lifestyle I want? And what kind of message is that giving to their daughters? And what about their sons? What message is that sending to their sons about a woman's beauty?
Do I want to be healthy? Yes. Do I want to be hung up on beauty and paranoid about calories all the time? Hell NO! Do I want to be confident? Absoltuely! Do I want to be gorgeous? You know what, I ALREADY AM!! [My husband tells me so and I am choosing to believe him].
This is me!! And from now on I wont be beating myself up. I can still wear beautiful clothes. I don't need to fit a mould that everyone else thinks is normal and/or beautiful. Who gets to decide what beautiful is anyway?
I'm not one of them!! I'm just not! So why should I let them intimidate me?
A lifestyle of workouts and miniscule flavourless meals does not and never will appeal to me. I will always fail at that forever...
A lifestyle of fun, family, friends and food absolutely appeals to me! I am making a choice! Option 2!
I'm not saying that I want to indulge and get fatter. No, no! I am saying that I don't want to be "that" skinny girl. Instead of looking at myself and thinking "fat failure", I am going to look at my life and think, "how blessed am I"!!! And maybe in the whole process, I can teach my children what a positive self image is all about...

Support a worthy cause!!

Check out my For Fun and Fancy blog for this one... Wanted to share with everyone.

This one is for Crazy Sister!

I saw these and thought of your youngsters...





Available to purchase from Sunshine Salad.

I think they are TOTALLY cool!

Reasons to cook food,

I hate cooking.

It's a chore for me. I'd rather clean the bathroom.

Swift Jim has been working very VERY long hours for the past year and that means it is often just me and the munchkins eating together.

I hate cooking. Did I mention that already?

So the kids have been eating a lot of sandwiches, eggs and baked beans for tea. Or takeaway.

I hate cooking.

Now I am trying to figure out why? Why do I hate it so much. I'm sure I never used to hate it this much!

Can you help me find reasons to cook for my family? Because I have hit a wall.

A new blog!

I have decided to keep my 1 2 3 4 blog seperate to my For Fun and Fancy blog. I have faithful friends who read my blog for various reasons, so now they can choose which blog they would prefer to read (or both).

For Fun and Fancy

Enjoy :)

Being a parent...

Sometimes involves doing things that you really don't want to do.

Miss Ella's hair was getting quite long. You may remember my post quite some time ago about her slow growing hair. Now by quite long I mean, it had just reached just below her shoulder. The longest it has ever been.

There were however 3 small problems...

1. She sucked her hair the time. Which is gross. It matts the hair and makes it smelly. Gross.

2. She screamed blue murder when tried to brush it.

3. She wouldn't keep it tied up.

So a number of threats had been made over several months that if she kept it up I would have to chop it off.... She desperately had been wanting long hair like her friend from kindy. You can see where this is going!

There comes a time when a mother needs to follow through on a threat [or in this case several threats]...

:( She said to me during the haircut "I will never ever suck my hair again".

Lesson learnt. Good.

She seems to like it which is a bonus, it is awefully cute!

{don't look too closely, I had to fix it up in the morning after i saw the dodgyness lol}

I guess being a "jack of all trades" comes in handy from time to time ...

Neglected.

Once again my blog has been neglected. But I don't suppose anyone has noticed anyway!

Not really sure which way to go with my blog ... It seems to me that my regular readership has lost interest.

Probably doesn't help that I don't post often enough and it's probably not interesting anyway.

Do I keep going with 1234 or do I convert to solely being about For Fun and Fancy?

The disease called Perfection...

Go check out Single Dad Laughing . He has written an incredible post that I believe everyone should read.

I often forget...

I always update my Facebook page with new creations, but often forget to show my non facebooking bloggy friends. My sincerest Appologies!

Let me show you some of my most recent creations! I hope you like them :)

First there is the Lovebirds Dress...

I made this pattern up and am very proud of it! Plus I love the fabric! Have had several orders for this dress style already!

Next Ella models her dress in the same style. Her dress is perfect for tea parties!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Collection is super dooper popular!

Especially this skirt! I have even made a couple in adult sizes!

Boy this 3 piece set has been popular!! Hollie Hobbie is pretty cute!

Everyone loves Dr Seuss!!

I will try to update my blog a little more often :)

Thanks to Angelina Plum!

So a few of you have seen my new look now! I am glad you all like it! I love it!

I have finally found my niche with my sewing adventures and wanted it to be reflected in my logo.

The lovely Angela from Angelina Plum ~ Stylish Invitations redesigned my For Fun and Fancy Logo. And has done up my blog header, business cards, madeit shop banner and facebook avator.

I think she has done an outstanding job!! You can email Ang here and you can fan her facebook page here....

This is my new business card...

And this is my new price tag...

So happy with the finished result!

It's all preeetttttty!!!!!!!!

Do you like it? I will post details a little later on! Just couldn't wait to show you all!

Mysterious Images...

Some mysterious images appeared on my camera.....

Random Stuff...

Then some clues started to appear...

Hang on!! I think I recognise those jammies...

And that face...

I think we have found the culprit!!!

Playing Catch Up!

Good golly gosh!! I am a busy woman!!

I sadly wont be at the Handmade Expo this month. Here is my reason: I have over 10 custom orders and hardly any ready to go stock!!

It's very exciting that For Fun and Fancy is taken off so well!
So this month I am playing catch up, then replenishing my stocks ready for the 3 month run into christmas!!!

I hope you will still visit all my friends down at the Bundamba Turf club this saturday! It's always a fun day out!!

I'm all famous like!

For Fun and Fancy's Vintage Raggety Ann Skirt was featured on madeit's Monday New finds!

What an exciting day!

A new adventure for me!!!

So today I signed up to become an independant trader for Phoenix Trading!

I will be selling beautiful cards, gift wrap, notes, gift tags and other lovely gifts.

I am very excited about this new adventure! A little extra cash plus I can work around the kids! Perfect for me!!

So no more hairdressing afterall!! That makes me happy!

Getting restless....

Two things normally happen when I start feeling restless...

1. My blog template changes.

2. I get a new hair do.

Stay tuned...

How do they do it?

Working mum's that is....

I have been thinking about getting back into the work force lately. Mostly to support my spending habit! Hehe...

Now before you say, but you sew! Yes I do, but that has a very tiny profit margin. It's more a hobby than a job! Unless I went fully gunho with it, but I am worried that the joy will be taken out of it if I do that....

The thought of going back to hairdressing really makes me anxious. I just don't want to do it!
I have thought about doing wedding and formals only, I enjoy that. However that involves saturdays. Blergh.

I am feeling all useless. I don't know what to do!!???

Oh how delightfully sweet!

My friend Catherine from Bumpkin Bears is showing off her new Summer Hill collection [which is divine] and she is having a giveaway to celebrate! I am oh so excited!!





Go check it out her blog for your chance to win too!!

Spring!

My favourite season of all!! Finally winter is over. You may remember that I really do not like winter at all.... here's my list of loves about spring....

• Sunshine!
• warm days
• t-shirts and shorts (no more bulky layers)
• cotton dresses
• pretty flowers
• Jacaranda Trees in full bloom!
• Longer days
• cool breezes
• more energy
• Strawberries!!

Ahhhh I just LOVE it..... What can you add to the list?

One!

Can you believe it? I can't ...

Mandies

This is the view from my back door.

A tree FULL of not so tasty mandarins.

What to do with not so tasty mandarins?

Boil them up with sugar and make marmelade. That's what.

Have I ever told you how much I like cooking? Let's just say I wont be making jam again any time soon!

I'm in love...

With this...



You can find this beautiful quilt here

I can really imagine matching ones in the girls' room. DELICIOUS!
Now before you say "you could do that yourself"! Do you remember my post about Connor's Cowboy Covers? Well, they are 1/2 done. I find it very tedious and I fear he will have grown out of cowboys by the time I actually finish it! HAHA

Maybe I will have to save up and pay someone else to make them. That is achievable for when Libby goes into a bed in about 9 months time....

So pretty!!

A special one this month!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY

To celebrate the festivities on the 21st August, For Fun and Fancy (that's me!) will be offering all my blog readers and facebook fans a special discount! You will will recieve 10% off any of my items at the market!

Just mention my password which is NANCY!!

It's going to be a really fun day out! Check out The Handmade Expo blog for all the details. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Did you know?

That you can follow For fun and Fancy on Facebook?

Click the facebook link on the right hand column to find me and follow! --->

Thirty.

Swift Jim is now old.

Ok Ok so I know the the majority of my readers are also old, I don't mean to offend, but whilst I am NOT yet old, I will rub it in. hehehe

I love him.

I love them.

Happy Birthday Swift Jim!!!! Love you sooooooooooooooo much!

The world through the eyes of Toys...

After watching Toy Story 3 recently I can't help but feel compassion for toys.

Like when Woody got shelved early last week (before our trip away) because Connor was playing too rough with him. He got left there all week and I felt so guilty. Poor Woody...

Then there was the time we went to the shops and Libby's "Effie" somehow fell out of the pram without being noticed and she is lost forever. I can't help but wonder if she is trying to find her way home? Poor Effie...

It made me feel all warm and fuzzy when I saw this today...

Here was Woody sitting having tea and cakes. How nice I thought. Woody would be so pleased, but there were no friends in sight. He was all alone. I once again started feeling sad for Woody. But I shouldn't have been worried, his Barbie friends were just getting dressed for tea...

The life as a toy must be grande :)

Spontaneous.

I am very spontaneous.

Last Thursday morning I decided to go and visit some family in Sydney with the kids. I left that very afternoon! It was a looooooooong drive but not as bad as I thought it would be and I am very glad I did it. It was lovely to catch up with Aunties, Uncles and cousins..... We arrived home tonight. I think it will take me a few days to catch up on blogs (and sleep) so bear with me there...

On another note Bumpkin Bears has been working on some birthday invitations for Miss Libby, check them out!! I am thrilled with the finished result. Thanks Catherine xo

Snakes.

I thought of another positive about winter. The snakes are in hiding. I like that a lot!

neglected...

My blog that is.

Truth be told, I don't have a lot to blog about! But let me try and update you all...

Me: I have had a month or so off from sewing. It's been good! But I have rethreaded the machine and my head is running wild with ideas, so that's fun!

Swift Jim: Is at work. And that pretty much sums up his life. :( He will be turning 30 in a couple of weeks, so I am enjoying rubbing that in!

Chestnut Cheeks: Did really well on his first ever report card and I am very proud that his teachers reported that he is "well mannered". We must have done something right!

Almond Eyes: Is being hard work lately. I think she is really bored at home. Bring on Prep next year!

Chubby Bubby: Is growing mightily fast! She is now 10 months old (!!), she is crawling everywhere and saying ; mum, dad, bub, yum, non non (connor), eya (ella)... she is awefully cute!

I will have to think of something worthwhile to blog about soon...

Love to all xoxo

Chitter Chatter, sort of.

Connor did his homework this morning while I was still in bed. I had a look of it over breakfast.

Spelling: Great.
Sentences: Awesome!
Writing practise: FABBO
Then....
He had to write 2 describing words for each thing...
1. Horse: Brown, Smooth
2. Dog: Cuddly, Fluffy
3. Boy: Short hair, tall
and the clincher...
4 Lady: Long hair, fat.

FAT! *sigh* sheesh tell me what you really think.

Winter.

Scurrette got me thinking about winter.

I don't like it at all. Nope not even after a crazy hot summer.

Here's why...

• The days are too short.
• My skin gets dry and itchy.
• I hate having to wear layer upon layer to feel warm.
• My arms can't move freely when I have to wear layer upon layer.
• I much prefer to wear flip flops than closed in shoes.
• I never know whether my babies are warm enough or too warm.
• There is only a small window of time during the day in which the clothes will dry on the line.
• The toilet seat is freezing!
• We run out of hot water in the shower more easily.
• The towels don't dry out properly between showers.

The only positive things I can think of about winter are...

• Comfort food.
• snuggles.
• The walk to school is quite pleasant (when the wind isn't blowing).

Chitter Chatter

... with my littlest one...

me: say mum mum mum
Lib: Dad dad dad
me: mum mum mum
Lib: dad dad dad
me: mum mum mum
Lib: dad dad dad

Typical! hehe

So overwhelming....

In 10 months Swift Jim and I will be celebrating 10 years of marriage.

The thought of that is overwhelming me. Not because I don't want to be married for that long. No. I am excited about that bit! What is overwhelming me is the thought of looking like this for that occasion.....
See after we got married, I got fat. I had always told myself that I would lose it all before our 10th Anniversary. Because not only are we 10 next year but I am 30 next year. I have spent my WHOLE 20's feeling awkward and embarrased about my size. I don't really want to feel like that for my 30's and beyond...

Ten months isn't long. To lose 30kg's in 10 months, that's overwhelming!!!!

Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Lite and Easy, Tony Fergusen, The Biggest Loser Club, Calorie King, Boot Camp......... ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Why did I have to get fat!? Being skinny was SO much better.....

Four reasons....

As to why I should apply for the Biggest Loser Australia...

1. I would lose weight.

2. I would get fit.

3. I would get a makeover (if I stayed long enough)

4. I would be forced to stop procrastinating....


As to why I wont apply for the Biggest Loser Australia...

1. I would have to leave my family for potentially up to 3 months.

2. I would have to strut my stuff in front of the nation with all my wobbly bits hanging out.

3. The commando.

4. They would make me jump off something REALLY high if I were to make it to the final 4.

Smething New! Something Fun!!

I was asked recently by a friend to make some fabric memory cards for her son's up and coming 1st birthday. You know the game memory?

Here's what I came up with.....

Do you like? I think I will be making some more for the next market!

Do you find THIS cute?

A while ago I posted about my little Graffiti Artists. Even though I didn't, most of you found it cute.

On the weekend Swift Jim found some more art...

This is an outside wall....

Just below the window sill....

They hung out the window to reach.... See how high that window is?!!!

BTW it's permanant marker....

Not so cute after all...

Crazy Cute!

Kate reminded me that I need to update pictures of My Libby. She's not so little anymore. My baby girl is big. SO big infact that she is off the charts! In the 100th percentile for her height and weight. In proportion of course, but she is big. At the moment (at not quite 8 months old) she is the average size of a 1 year old. INFACT she is taller than Scurrette's recently turned one girl....

None the less, she is adorabe!! Love her to bits!

Six.

Happy Birthday Chestnut Cheeks :) (for last week)

It's that time of the month again!

The Handmade Expo time of Month that is!

I have been rather busy this week trying to get enough goodies made for this Saturday's market!
I am really looking forward to it! Hope to see you there!!
Check out The Handmade Expo blog for details :)

[almost] 6 year old boy + Eastern Brown Snake = SCARY

The Eastern Brown Snake is the second most venomous land snake in the world after the Inland Taipan. Their venom is very toxic, and can be fatal; even juveniles have caused human fatalities. The venom contains both neurotoxins and blood coagulants. Eastern Brown Snakes are also aggressive. Compared to most snakes that will flee when ever possible, Brown Snakes are much more likely to stand their ground, heightening the danger in an encounter. Without medical treatment, death is highly likely

At 11:35am on Friday my boy was biten by a juvenile of these. He was playing at a friends place in the cubby house!

The scariest day ever! However, thanks to my friend's swift first aid, and a ride in the ambulance to the waiting medical team and LOTS of prayer partners, my precious boy was saved!

It has never been more evident to me than on friday that God is looking after us. He is a powerful God who still performs miracles and he most certainly performed one on my little boy.

Not only did he survive, but he didn't even get sick! It's not uncommon for brown snake bite survivors to need to stay in hospital for 2-3 weeks. All that was required of my Connor was 24 hours for observation.

We are counting our blessings today!

Here is a picture of the snake bite 2 and a bit days post bite. On Friday the bruise was blacker and the foot more swollen. You could also see where the venom had shot up his foot, however today it has faded. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me on Friday!

A close up!

I think you should watch this video for laughs! Funny? Maybe not yet?

Cloth nappies (my version)

After Crazy Sister had a lovely post about cloth nappies and how wonderful the "Little Squirt" is, I decided I must share my story about the little squirt...
When I had Connor I used disposable nappies. I didn't know any different, I didn't know anyone who used cloth nappies. Then Kate had a baby and she used cloth nappies. So when I had Ella I decided to give cloth nappies a go. I used regular terry cloth for a while, then discovered Modern Cloth Nappies (mcn's) WONDERFUL!! So convenient! I also invested in a Little Squirt to make cleaning up the nappies easier....
This is a Little Squirt, a hose that attaches to the toilet so you can wash the mess down the loo before washing the nappy...



All was going smoothly for about 6 months. I managed to get the angle right on holding the nozzle as to not get back splash. I was a pro! Until....

Ella was almost 12 months old. She was teething. It was those blasted eye teeth. The ones that really hurt and often are accompanied with a fevers and the runs. Yep the runs. You know this is going to end badly right?

So after cleaning her up this particular afternoon I went to dispose of the mess into the toilet. Now you'd think someone who was a pro at the Little Squirt would realise that the pressure of the hose would be too much for liquid poo.... Hmm well lets just say I wore it. The walls wore it. The floor wore it.

I promptly gave up on cloth nappies and sold my little squirt.

Needless to say that Libby wears disposable nappies. I have been ruined for life!