Thank Goodness It's Sunday

Sunday seems as good a day as any (perhaps even a better day than most given its slow, laid-back nature) to reflect a bit on some of the little things I'm grateful for.  Of course there are the big things (clean water to drink, my wonderfully supportive husband, a healthy family....) but the minutia of the day to day are also worth pausing over and giving thanks for.  Here are some of the small things I'm grateful for today....

:: Pancake breakfasts and the rare chance to sleep in (thank you, wonderfully supportive husband.)

:: Our first monthly menu plan and monthly grocery shop, completed.   There's something very survivalist and satisfying about attempting a monthly shop -- it feels reminiscent of time spent playing "Oregon Trail" in grade school.  Will we lose our oxen?  Get dysentery? Run out of pasta spirals?  Hard to say, but to be sure only the most resourceful and thrifty survive.

:: An afternoon spent planting and weeding.  It felt so good to get outside and put my back into some heavy work.  Thank you to Aya who slept, making the garden work possible. And thank you to Solomon, who played beside me, befriending a family of snails and making "building sites" in the dirt.  Hooray for dirt!

:: Our first bbq and evening meal outside.

 :: This great project, commencing on 10.10.10.  "One Day on Earth"  -- I'm so excited to see some of the footage.

::  You!  Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to read what I write here.  I really really really appreciate you.  When I began the Seedling blog last February, it was purely as a link to my business.  But in the past months I've learned an incredible amount and I've come to really value the community that's available here.  Thank you for reading and thank you for occasionally talking back via comments -- it's wonderful to know you're here.  As a token of my appreciation, I'm planning an exciting giveaway; just waiting for the magical numbers of 100 readers on the blog and 150 likers on Facebook.  Soon!

Hope you've had a fabulous weekend with much to be grateful for as well.

No Rest For Blogtoberfest

 

This post was very nearly about how I'm taking the weekends off from blogging, Blogtoberfest be darned.  And then I realized I had already pretty much done my post for the day, and an idea for tomorrow (to recur on Sundays) had come to me while writing too.   If I need to take weekends off in in the future, that's fine.  Good enough is good enough.  And short and sweet is good enough too.

Inspiration came to me today in the form of baking.  I love these Anzac biscuits -- comfort food of my adopted home. In most ways, this is a traditional recipe, but I bake them in muffin tins rather than on a baking sheet, which creates a really nice crunchy outer and a beautiful soft middle.  Plus, they're big -- and bigger in this case is definitely better.  I made some for us and some for the kids' great-grandfather up in the North Island.  They'll have to weather a few days drive with my cousin-in-law, but I figure that's what they were originally designed for -- to travel well.

Ingredients:
3/4 c flour (I usually use white, but whole-wheat works as well)
3/4 c sugar (any type really -- up to your preferences)
1 c coconut
1 c oats
1/2 c butter
1 Tbs golden syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 Tbs boiling water

Mix together dry ingredients.  Melt butter and syrup.  Dissolve baking soda in boiling water and add to butter mixture.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients.  Press into muffin tins (I really love baking with silicone -- easy, not greasy.)  Bake for about 15 minutes at 180 C (350 F) or until tops just begin to brown.    

Totally delicious.  'Nuff said.

My Creative Space

Has looked a little like this....

But far more like this....

  It's school holidays, and even though neither of my little ones is in "school" per-se,  S does an afternoon Montessori program a few days a week, and all of our other potential activities (like music, library or gymnastics) are on hold during the break.  So we've had a lot of home time; I've intentionally let go of any print-making expectations, lest I get frustrated when they go unmet.  So we've colored, we've painted, we've play-doughed, we've baked, we've gardened, we've made little homes for the worms we've found, we've built train-tracks, and we've gone to the park.   I've really enjoyed creative playing without any focus on "making" or "getting done."

If you have the time, please check out Kirsty's blog Kootoyoo for many wonderful creative spaces.  Happy to be joining in....

PS, still ticking along with Blogtoberfest!  So far so good....though I may sit down tonight and do a little planning to keep the momentum going.  Have already found so many amazing blogs through the sign-up list; if you have time, take a gander.  Find it here.

Wordless Wednesday

Oh boy....Blogtoberfest!

Tonight while trolling my favorite blogs, I stumbled upon a reference to something called "Blogtoberfest" on Cadi's wonderful Chocolate Fishies.  Curious, I googled away and was led directly to an awesome new-to-me blog called Tinnie Girl.  The premise seems simple -- try to blog daily, try to keep it interesting.   I know I said I was going to take a bit of a break over school holidays, but things seem to be back under control as the flu-ishness subsides..... Oh heck, why not? A good challenge never hurt anyone.

I have a new button on my sidebar; if you're a blogger and would like to sign up too, just follow the link.

Wish me luck!

At My House....

....we've been working on this house!

The latest treasure from the flea market, I picked up this sturdy, handmade doll's house for a scant ten dollars over the weekend.  I happened to arrive just as its seller unloaded and I pounced, inordinately excited by my good luck and timing.  As a little girl, doll houses completely captured my imagination and I loved creating small spaces of my own (call it pre-nesting.)  I've so been looking forward to this kind of play!

The kids and I spent some time removing the stickers that the previous owner had liberally decorated with and cleaned up good thick layer of dust and grime before we moved it indoors.  Last night, I pulled the sewing machine from where it's been malaising under my desk in the studio and got to work.  I made a bed set with dual-sided covers, a pillow, and a carpet.  Simple, but a beginning.  I can't wait to get some test-pots of paint for the interior and exterior, make some curtains, and begin to look for more wooden furniture.

By the way, I'm so happy to be back into sewing!  I managed to finish a few items on my Christmas to-do list, hem a pair of pants, and make a little tunic for a doll who has been sadly under-dressed for some time.  I think when I get too far out of the habit of sewing (and this applies to other things too, like yoga or running) I build up a certain amount of anticipation and anxiety around them; amazing how quickly that disappears and I think, "This feels awesome; I should do it more often."  Hey, sewing is fun!  Not scary.  I think I'll take the week off from doing prints and leave my machine out in the place of pride in the middle of the desk -- it's incredible how satisfying ticking off a few long-procrastinated projects can be.

Ps. If you have the time, go visiting and and see what other crafty bloggers are up to at their homes over here on Buttons by Lou Lou.

Another Saturday Night....

It's Saturday night.  What am I doing?  I'm listening to a favorite podcast, I'm baking a double batch of bread, I'm cleaning out and organizing my pantry, I'm playing around with this awesome new application I've just discovered (oh and this one too!  I'm feeling a bit out of the loop; is everyone else already aware of these things?), and I'm writing out a list for our first-ever attempt at a monthly grocery shop. 

Quiet, peaceful, perfect.

Now off to curl up in bed to savor the last quarter of this amazing novel I've been meaning to read for ages....I'm so glad I finally plucked it off the shelf.

Taking it easy on the Seedling front for a few days....the family is recovering from a bout of flu, Solomon's afternoon program is on break for another week, and I think it's best to plan on focusing my energies elsewhere.

See you in a few days....