the road ahead

Who knows where the road will lead us all in 2010.

May the journey for us all be a pleasant one with clear weather, fluffy white clouds, soft breezes and straight roads (gentle hills will be okay!).

Happy New Year to my family and friends (that's you!)

Love Emma
X
and the rest of us here in sunny Melbourne - actually we're in the middle of a wonderful, warm, summer thunderstorm after 38C and a BBQ with dear friends in the middle of the raging heat.  Call it 2009 craziness!

a new leaf

The Moleskine.

My all time favorite diary/notebook.  Which is no small statement!  I was a Filofaxer from the 1980's and was given my first one by my Dad's friend who was  a buyer for Neiman Marcus at the time.  I really thought I was pretty groovy!  It's still a lovely diary but it's pretty worn now and as it's one of the original numbered Filofaxes I'd be scared that it'd fall apart completely.  Being a stationery nut I'm sure one day it will be worth a fortune!  Delusional? Maybe!

Anyway the Moleskine has stepped in and filled the Filofax's shoes for the last 3 years and I can't see myself going back.

What do I love about it?  Well what's not to love about it.  It's slim (I'm envious).  It holds its shape all year (even more envious) although it's had a year of loitering in foot wells of cars, the bottom of milky nappy bags and worse I love it's soft flexible cover.  I love the layout with the diary on one side and a ruled page for notes on the other.  Just perfect!  

I'm sure I could adjust to a whizz-bang techno gizmo but I like having these neat little books lined up on the shelf and I like to be able to refer back to them.  Mostly it's the mundane tasks that fill my day, reminders of birthday's coming up, the week's menu plan.  Every now and again it hold secret words, inspirational words, memories of wonderful outings, dates marked with HUGE stars as family are scheduled to arrive from overseas and even huger ones of teardrops as their trip comes to an end.  They will hold no value or interest to anyone but me and that makes me like them all the more.

There is something hopeful, optimistic, promising, about a new diary.  Opening the new pages.  The spine still a little stiff.  The pages crisp and unmarked.

 For this coming year I have decided, as I have for the last two years, that I will not have a list of new year's resolutions that will slip by forgotten, goals that are not measurable or unrealistic.  I will hold on to a word as a guide. 

2008 - FATIH - it helped enormously.

 2009 - ORGANISATION - it worked for the most part!

2010 - DISCIPLINE. 

Although it might help if I applied it in relation to my children's behaviour, it is not my main goal.  More a desire to follow my own rules (no dirty dishes left overnight), to develop a routine (do the ironing before it explodes out of the basket, leaving me with 5 hours to do in 32C heat!), to do now rather than leave until later, leaving me feeling guilty and disorganised, such an awful vicious cycle.

To live a more orderly, self-controlled and structured existence would be much more peaceful than that constant chasing of my own tail ...

What would your word be?

good stains

I was recently given a lovely bag of girls clothes for Woo.  Amongst them was this slightly grey broderie anglaise, shirred top.  It was really pretty but I thought would require quite a lot of environmentally icky bleach to bring it back.

I thought it would be fun to stain it a whole other shade and promptly boiled the kettle!  The tea-bags were steeped for 5 minutes before dunking the top in amongst the golden liquid.  Meanwhile my cup brewed and we waited.

At two minutes - I'm so impatient -I had a look and rinsed it all out.  It needed another few minutes.  I repeated the rinsing and then thought it would be fun to soak just the bottom half for a little longer to see what would happen - knowing that I would be able to re-soak the whole lot to even out the colour if I didn't like the blended look.  I can't remember how long it stayed in (enough to finish the ironing!).  The top was well rinsed and dried in the hot sun before ironing the stain in with a very hot iron.

What do you think?  Pretty huh?  I'm afraid the model was being very $10,000 a day and was not interested in  my offer of anything to try it on.  Between you and me, she had a big ol' swollen face with huge mozzie bites that had all merged into one giant lump.  Poor little thing. 

I'll try and book her when she's looking like herself.

It will require handwashing which is the only downside as laundry soaps are so good now that the 'natural' stain will wash out if I throw it in the machine.

Look who has come to live with me! At long last I have a laptop. Courtesy of dear Flossy, who never used it, because she spends all week at work on one and can't bear it on her days off. Thanks Floss.

Her name is Ruby and I love her!!

It's probably not that exciting, but it means I can do this while I sit at the kitchen bench, instead of in my hidey-hole, away from the children who then hover around me, pulling things out of my drawers.

Now, Tigs is happily reading (in the loosest sense of the word) his new Tag book.  His sweet, warm feet are resting on my lap and we're peaceful and harmonious together and immersed in our own thing at the same time. Although I find him irresistible and can't help but watch on as he does things.

Have a lovely day.
E x

christmas wrap-up - Wigilia

So here we are at Wigilia which is held on Christmas Eve at Greg's parents house.  It means I have to be super organised for Christmas Day at my house the next day and thanks to my Mum and Flossy we were pretty well sorted. 

Wigilia starts in the late afternoon.  It's full of wonderfully old and symbolic traditions. 

A bundle of hay is placed under the tablecloth to symbolize the fact that Jesus was born in a manger.

Another tradition is leaving one extra empty place setting for a stranger, called the "Unexpected Guest" so there would be a place for them to sit. It also represents a place for family members who have died or, in some homes symbolizes hospitality for baby Jesus.

Before the meal we celebrate by breaking the Christmas wafer (opłatek) which comes from the Polish Church that Greg's family go to.  It symbolises the sharing of everyday bread.  The opłatek is broken and pieces are given to everyone.  Then everyone breaks off a piece of opłatek off each other's bread wishing them luck and joy in the upcoming year, as Christ has been born.  Then we kiss each other on the cheek three times, no less!

After first star appears in the evening sky and we've shared the opłatek, the supper begins. And oh what a feast it is!  Wigilia is known as a Black Fast, so we don't eat meat on this day, although plenty of fish is served.

We eat mountains of traditional dishes beginning with a clear red beetroot soup, barszcz, with uszka (small dumplings stuffed with wild mushrooms), which is known, rather awfully as "Blood and Babies Ear soup" by Greg, his brother and cousin.  It's an apt name though.  Thankfully it tastes wonderful.

There are four courses, the soup, cold dishes, hot meals and dessert.  Usually we eat each course a couple of times over.  No place for poor appetites here!!  And definitely no breakfast or lunch required beforehand.

After the main meal we need all need a break and the children go off to play.  St Nicholas sneaks in and leaves presents under the tree, requiring stealth, devious tactics and ploys and speed to beat the children to the tree, leave the presents and disappear off into the night sky without being seen! 

It's such a fun evening and we all head home feeling full, tired and filled with the joy of Christmas.

merry crim-as

From our house to yours we hope you have had a peaceful and happy Christmas.

If I'd only thought to ask Tiggy directly and sooner. As I was pacing the house yet again and grumbling over my lost 'Silver', Tiggy piped up, "Oh do you mean your little silver one? Well last time I saw it it was in my dress-up box. And hey presto I'm blogging again. What is a blog without photos.

This pic was taken before Crim-as (Tig word). These were for his friends.

Back soon. Now I've found my camera again.

remembering

Thinking of friends winging their way, at long last, to be united with their little boy.

What a Christmas it will be for them, Seoul will be cool, in both senses of the word! I remember someone telling me she picked her daughter up from Seoul in -10C (it may have been lower) and arrived home to +40C.  We had snow in Korea the day before we flew home with our own beautiful child.

 

Tiggy. The morning we arrived home in Australia. 

We stopped a while at the airport to have a coffee with friends and family who had come to welcome our precious boy to his new world.  He sipped a little 'oo yoo' and fell into a deep sleep in my arms.  I love this boy with every ounce of my being and find it almost impossible to believe that I didn't give birth to him. 

last weekend

I seem to start a lot of posts with "last weekend", but this was a fun one!  We went with 7 other families to spend the weekend at beautiful Merricks.  We awoke on our first morning to this.   

If you click on the photo you may just see the eagle hanging in the air above the large tree.

Later in the morning the boys, big and small, headed on to the lake while the mummies stood on the pier watching on proudly and somewhat relieved that there were no emergencies out there!

Having a ball.

Michelle organised the entire weekend away.  She is unbelievably organised and efficient and it's all done with a smile and calm!  I know it was quite a challenge to meet everyone's requirements and so, Shell, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Tiggy made a new friend which was pretty special.  These two shared very similar, and quirky, interests and although they're both quite shy, managed to overcome it to befriend one another. 

And this little rat monkey beast sweetie (said through gritted teeth) decided being away was so exciting she would stay up until 11 something on the first night and 2am + the second and both mornings she woke at the usual time of 6.30am ready for the day.  I found it difficult to be her friend...

She redeemed herself, somewhat,by looking super cute in her new swimmers bought by Momo on her last trip to the States.  It was her first time wearing a bathing suit and her first time in the water at the beach.  She was completely unafraid and had a ball, grazed her knees without a whimper and scuttled all the way down the beach by herself - I followed but she didn't actually care about me at all!  Come to think of it the feeling was mutual as I peered through sleepless eyes and flumped my way after her, dutifully. 

Miraculously, I was able to tell her that I still loved her even though she was not my friend!

x

You know why and hopefully you know just how much it means to me.

EJ x

100!

Well who'd have thought I would manage to post 100 times in a year, not even a year. 

Naturally I had to share some photos of my beautiful children to celebrate this milestone.

We had glorious weather yesterday, just right for washing bikes, setting up obstacle courses and riding thorough the complicated track.  There were also rules, which I quickly realised I would never have a proper grasp of.

And then it was time to lasso the baby and play horses.  There was one slightly tense moment when I feared the baby would be garrotted.

She refused at the double and nearly threw her rider. 3pts

Her new/old helmet.  We call her Mushroom!

A Tiggy titbit:

While 'helping' me hang out the washing he asked what else he could hang up.  I rifled through the basket and pointed out some socks, a bib, my knickers!  He looked up aghast and in a quiet voice, the one he uses when he fears that he might have  to do something, said, "I'd rather do something sensible.  Like a tee-shirt, please".  Poor child, but I did have a giggle inside.

reverse strip-trees - introducing 'Treesa'

Here she is ladies and gentlemen. 

My naked lady!  Watch as she gets dressed.

Da na na. Da  na, na, nah!

I have always had a

real living/dying Christmas Tree. 

Each year I drag whoever I can to the Christmas Tree farm about half an hour away.  We run through the fields, splitting up, to find the 'perfect' one.  We take it in turns 'bagsing' the best tree and when we think we have it, it is examined thoroughly from every angle before summonsing the always cute, always muscular, always semi-clad (I kid you not and I'll tell you where you can go to see them if you like!) wood choppers!  I think it's part of the job spec!  

Now she's wearing a skirt and some shiny lights

and is protected by her seemingly startled bodyguard.

The strapping lads are then prevailed upon to jam the typically hugely pot-bellied, 7 foot plus beauty into the boot. It's usually threaded right through to the front of my car and although we have remembered in recent years to throw a blanket in to wrap her a little, she and Tiggy usually have the first argument of the festive season. 'Tree' always wins by stabbing poor Tigs in the arm and leg as we drive home.

 

Tigs added one turquoise heart (I think it's hiding round the back now!)

So although I've painted a rather fun picture of our trips to collect the Christmas centrepiece, who am I kidding.  It's always stinking hot, there are flies everywhere, the spiky, sharp bush grass has been cut down at the perfect height to strip your ankles.  The guys are cute but, honestly, I am married to a pretty cute man and they're probably 18 years old and that's just sick Emma!

Really putting on her sparklies now.

This year my vegetarian/vegan, tree-hugging sister, Flossy, implored me to buy a 'faux' tree (Tigs told his teachers we have a 'fake' tree).  She even threatened to boycott Christmas if I chopped one more tree out of the world.   Which just wouldn't do. (Hang on she's Buddhist!)

My hopes for everyone.

This year 'Treesa' has joined the festivities. 

She's actually rather beautiful, not even as far as 'fake' trees go.  She's perfect.  And as you can from my trimming I like it to all look perfect.  She came from here.

Here she is in all her finery. 

We're hoping her jewellery stays on long enough to celebrate Christmas Day.  Woo has a much higher reach than I expected and seems to take joy in removing all that she can, as quickly as she can, before I spot her and then holding my breath and biting my tongue, lest I scream at her, I remove them and return them!  I don't remember Tigs doing it at all (he probably did though).

And so starts the countdown to my favourite day of the year. 

Tree up - check
Decorations around the house - check
Christmas Carols CD on - check
Spicy Orange essential oil burning - check
Air-con on - check!

Have a great day everyone!

E x