52 Weeks of Happy 11/52

Hello there.

How is your week going so far? 

This time last year I was green with morning sickness and could barely get off the couch when Easter rolled around. This year I am feeling very excited about Easter and have made a start on making some Easter-y things. 

Here are my 4 happy things for the week - little things that are bringing a smile to my dial.

1. A year ago I saw these knitted nests on Annie's gorgeous Blog but because I didn't know how to knit in-the-round I put the idea aside. Well a year of knitting later and suddenly these things don't seem so hard at all. They are super sweet and I love how realistic they look by using the right a combination of these two yarns. Annie's tutorial can be found here and revelry details here. The kids already love them and can't wait to collect their eggs in them . Three down, two to go! 

2. I've worn glasses since I was 4 years old but I was having difficulty working out all of the word verifications that some of you have on your blogs. I used to get them correct straight away but noticed it was taking more and more attempts. Very frustrating! So I had my eyes tested a few weeks ago and there was talk about short eyeballs and old age (ahem!) and a need for stronger prescriptions. I picked up my new specs and it has made a world of difference to everything. I've gone for these dark frames this time and Specsavers had their two for one deal so I managed to get some prescription sunglasses too.

3. "Twister" - $3.00 from the op shop = hours of fun for the kids after school. This brings back fond memories from birthday parties attended in the 80's.

 4. Something very exciting appeared in the mailbox today. Can you see from the sticker who it's from? I am over-the-moon thrilled to receive this kit from Alicia Paulson - it's a kit for her gorgeous Miss Maggie Rabbit. I adore her Blog and the things she designs and makes and when these came up I quickly bought one without even knowing whether it would get to Australia in time for me to make it up for Eleanor for Easter. Apparently they all sold out on the first day so I think I was super lucky! I hope I can do Miss Maggie justice. I can't wait to show you the finished product but needless to say, if you never hear of Miss Maggie again on this Blog then we can safely assume it was a disaster. There's a handwritten note from Alicia too - how sweet is that!

Mel x

Linking up with Jen from Little Birdie.

52 Weeks of Happy 9/52

Hello there. I wasn't going to do a post tonight but I've been a bit slack with my weekly happies and I also needed a distraction from the large Bushfire that is raging out of control right now on the hill neighbouring our property. This Bushfire is much closer than the last ones. There were 28 fire trucks and 3 helicopters dropping water bombs on the area all afternoon. It seems OK at the moment but there is a predicted wind change this evening so I doubt there will be much sleep - we are still on a "Watch and Act alert". It was another 30 degree day here today - so much for the end of Summer!

Anyway, in the 24 hours before the Bushfire broke out there was plenty to be happy about but here are my 4 happies for the week. 

1. Dusk. It's been beautiful lately and last night I captured it from the bedroom window as I put Flynn down to sleep.

2. I awoke this morning to an equally beautiful Sunrise (Thank you Flynn for the early wake-up call :-) ). I didn't even get out of bed to take this shot - just snapped it on the iPhone while I fed him. With mornings like this, he may just make a morning-person out of me yet.

3. It was a glorious day and I went for a brisk walk along the beach after dropping the kids off at school. It makes me so happy that we live so close to the beach and that it is so pristine and never crowded. I go there a lot with the kids but it's been years since I've been able to walk along the beach on my own and at an invigorating pace. Today it was just me with Flynn in the sling and it was lovely. 

4. Finally, is there anything more gorgeous than a lovely elderly couple. I watched these two for a good 20 minutes as I walked back in their direction. She with her hat and frock watching him while he had his morning dip. When I walked passed she was asking him all about his little swim. It just made me so happy. I hope The Pianoman and I are like that in our old age, preferably with me in the water with him!

While I'm here, a big thank you for all of your very encouraging and supportive comments lately. I really appreciate each and every one and apologise that I've been slower getting back to you since Flynn's arrival. And welcome to any new readers who have hopped on board. Please sing out if you have a Blog of your own that I may not know about yet won't you? Have a lovely week xxx

Update: The Fire is out thanks to the amazing and tireless efforts of the Tasmanian Fire Service as well as Mother Nature who finally provided some much needed drizzle the past few nights. Thanks for all your well wishes and concern.... 

52 Weeks of Happy 3/52

Hello. Did you all have a lovely weekend? We spent most of the weekend at home, cleaning and de-cluttering but rewarded ourselves with an afternoon at the beach playing cricket.

I can't thank you enough for all of your lovely comments about my new foray into sewing as well as your helpful tips. I love that I can come on here and be in the company of so many like-minded and creative souls. I really appreciate your help :-)

I also forgot to thank you for all your encouraging comments (and empathy) about Flynn's sleeping habits, or lack thereof. He had his 6 week check last week and apparently his 'bad' week can be put down to a growth spurt that often occurs around 6 weeks. Now why didn't I think of that?!? What a goose. That explains all the crankiness between feeds and not sleeping well. It seems 4 years is long enough to wipe some baby things from the old memory. He's back to his happy, smiley little self. I am still working on him loving his cot but as a few of you said, it's early days.

 Here are four things that have made me happy this past week. I missed last week so I've doubled up a bit on some items.

1. Once a flower that I didn't really rate highly, the humble Agapanthus is the ONLY thing flowering in the garden at the moment and I just love them. I have them scattered all over the house, I was mesmerised by these beautiful Bumble Bees even though they are invading Tasmanian gardens and are having a devastating impact on endangered Tasmanian wildlife after being snuck into the State 20 years ago.

2. I picked up this cute Vintage Biscuit Tin for $5 (Contents Included). This was from a second-hand store where everything is a standard $2 so I peeked inside and was so happy that I did because look what I found - a huge pile of embroidery threads. I have no idea if this is a bargain or a rip-off but I love all of their gorgeous colours and decided to buy it. You know, for when I get some time to do a bit of embroidery :-) Does anyone know what the numbers relate to?

3. The hot and dry weather has brought the Wallabies into the house paddock and even though we see them all the time up the hill I still get a thrill seeing them out the window in the garden at dusk and dawn. 

4. Finally, the purchase of an electric pencil sharpener has brought all sorts of happy to my life, especially after a thorough de-cluttering session resulted in a ginormous pile of blunt pencils to be strewn across the kitchen bench . I tried to resist the urge to sort them into colours but as you can see the temptation was too great.  With most of the house in a general state of chaos the look of them all lined up makes me happy beyond belief. I'm betting they'll be a jumbled mess of liquorice Allsorts by the end of the week but I'll cope with that just fine :-)

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.

52 Weeks of Happy 1/52

I've been wanting to join in one of these 52 Week projects that are doing the rounds in Blogland for some time now but because I am slightly obsessional about things I really needed the weeks to correspond exactly with the weeks of the calendar year. For some reason I couldn't get my head around starting a yearly project, say, on 23 September. So I've been waiting for 1 January to roll around to begin something and here we are. But what? There are so many interesting and wonderful ones around. Some I already loosely participate in - there's My Creative Space on Thursdays which I'm hoping to be a bit better at this year. Others are just not my thing. At the end of the day I really wanted something fun, easy to stick to, inspiring but not too serious. To that end, I have joined Little Birdie's "52 Weeks of Happy" project. The idea is to focus on just four little things that have made you happy during the previous week. Lovely!

So to kick things off for 2013, here are my 4 happy things:

1. This great new Book - full of lots of simple but inspiring projects I hope to do during the holidays with the Kids, some which I'll post about.
2. Watching my Husband (who never stops) relaxing and snuggling baby Flynn on the sofa (together with the Whippet) is a sight to behold.
3. We enjoyed a lovely catch-up with some dear old family friends  - one family who were visiting Tasmania for a holiday and the other family who have moved back to the State to take over historic Redlands Estate. It's been over 2 years since we've all been together but felt like only 1 week had gone by as we caught up on old times and ate home made pizzas in what used to be the old Bakery.
4. Seeing my first ever knitted garment, the Pebble Vest being worn by Flynn. At the rate he's going, he will outgrow it by the end of the week!

I hope your week is going well so far. To those of you in Bushfire zones around Australia, please stay safe.