Is blogging narcissistic?

I don't think of myself as having an inordinate fascination with myself or an excessive amount of self-love nor do I consider myself overly vain (thanks to dictionary.com for the definition). But I do have a blog - so does this make me narcissistic?

I was out for dinner with some girlfriends on Friday evening and we got around to talking about blogging and the other four ladies (who don't know I blog) were quoting the movie Julie and Julia where it was claimed that blogging is narcissitic. And all four of my friends agreed wholeheartedly. Needless to say I kept my mouth shut!

All weekend I've been feeling a bit down on myself after this dinner. Maybe because I wasn't brave enough to pipe up for myself and my blog or perhaps because I regret not having had another glass of wine and let the conversation slide. Anyway, I feel like I should have stuck-up for myself, because I enjoy writing my blog and especially enjoy reading other people's blogs and getting inspiration and sharing ideas and the sense of community you have with people who share my love of all things handmade! Many of my real-life friends just don't get it!

I feel like the bloggy-world is like the 19th Century village I would have lived in, where I'd pop over to your place and we'd sit down with some knitting and chat over a cuppa. My blog is a place where I can record what I've made (successful or otherwise), what we've been up to as a family and things I aspire to do or make. I don't keep a diary so in some respects this is a place where I gather my thoughts in one place!

And this post? Definitely narcissistic!!

Post Box Bombing!

Our local post box has been yarn bombed...

...and paint bombed...

...and we love him!

My version of Spaghetti with Spinach and Coppa!

I have been reading the Tuesday Easy Peasy Dinner Winners over here for the last few weeks and been quite inspired. I work three days a week and often find it hard to be inspired to cook decent meals for the family on those days. The kids get a warm midday meal at childcare so I feel less guilty about vegemite sandwiches or baked beans the days they get them for dinner!

I don't claim to be a masterchef of any description. I can cook (generally following a recipe). I have a massive collection of recipe books - because I like the pictures but I rarely use them, tending to rely on my tried and true favourites. Although, we do challenge ourselves to cook something new a couple of times a month - just for variety, and to try and add some new faves to our repetoire! That's how we came across the Spinach and Coppa spaghetti from the Women's Weekly Italian Cooking Class book.

Grab...

olive oil
1 clove of crushed garlic
small red capsicum (finely chopped)
small brown onion (finely chopped)
1 small red chilli chopped (or the equivalent from a jar or tube for us!)
6-8 slices of smoked ham (finely chopped)
baby spinach leaves (finely chopped)

Heat oil in a frying pan and cook everything but the spinach for a few minutes. Then add the spinach and cook until its wilted.

In the meantime cook some spaghetti (we like the wholemeal). When its ready, drain it and add it to the frying pan and mix through the sauce.

Serve with grated parmesan cheese. I love to use my Microplane grater with a block of parmesan - feels very sophistocated, especially since we're not!!

Yummo!

The most time consuming thing is the cutting. I often use scissors to cut the spinach leaves, and always use my "stick blender with food processor attchment" to chop the onions and garlic (quick with no tears). Matilda loves to help with dinner so if we're in less of a hurry she will cut the capsicum or ham or both.

Can the next one have pockets?

I've made another hoodie - this time for Matilda!

I used two old t-shirts (for the hood and arms) and some new fairy fabric for the body. Matilda loves it but she did ask if next time it could have pockets! Nothing like constructive criticism!!

Salmon Ponds

With the days getting longer the kids are up and about a bit earlier and we feel like getting out into it again with the warmer weather. So on Saturday we decided on a trip up to the Salmon Ponds about 1/2 hour away from home.

We stopped by the cemetary on the way there - to visit family members gone but not forgotten. But it raised lots of questions from the 4 year old girl. How do they dig the holes? Why do they put those concretes (a gravestone) on top? What happens to the person? When will I die? etc. etc. We had a full and frank discussion about it all and she and her brother happily skipped back to the car, playing hopscotch on the gravestones!!

The Salmon Ponds were fabulous and not very busy for a school holidays weekend. We bought ourselves a tub of fish food and threw it into the water and were promptly splashed by the enthusiastically eating rainbow trout!

Matilda loved it...

Kelvin was very wary (which was quite a surprise to me)!

Whilst walking along the riverbank there were some interpretation panels about platypus that visit the area. I explained it to Matilda who then turned to Trev and said "platypisses are very shy"!

We decided to stay for pancakes by the pond before heading home.

Perfect!

Lazy Afternoon

The boy is asleep, the girl is playing at a friends place and I'm induging myself with a cuppa, a cupcake and a quiet read in the Springtime sunshine!
Hope you can find a quiet moment too before the craziness that often comes with weekends!

Wet but Productive Weekend!

I've managed to get a bit of sewing done this weekend! It's been wet, the kids have been watching TV with their dad and I've made the kiddo's some new clothes from old t-shirts (and a tiny amouont of new kids prints from Spotlight) using a couple of really easy patterns I bought from Ashley at Lil Blue Boo.

I haven't really sewn stretch fabric before but it's pretty easy and very forgiving!

I love the fabric combination in Matilda's dress - it's girlie without being "pink" (if you know what I mean)! And she really loves wearing it - super comfy in old t-shirt material!! Same with Kelvin's hoodie - it is so soft and cosy!

The Man who is Dad!

Happy Father's Day Trev - you're great!

Crafty Plans

I may not have been particularly prolific with my blogging lately and I haven't really been particularly proific with my crafting. However, our spare bedroom (AKA my sewing room) has had a major tidy up and I can now see my fabrics better and we can also see the floor!

I have finished knitting the kids some jumpers and thought it would be nice to attempt something for Trev so I bought some of this Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 10ply (in denim)...

...to knit one of these!

And I was in Spotlight the other day to get some elastic and thread to make some shorts for Kelvo for the summer and wandered past the jersey knit and they had some great kids prints so I bought three different types.

I have grand plans, firstly using these (matched with some of my thrifted t-shirts and fabric) to make...

...some hoodies for Kelvin.

And matched with more thrifted t-shirts and fabric to make...

...a dress for Matilda.

We've Gone Viral!

But not on You Tube!

There's snotty tissues and high fevers and general malaise at our place (and I know we're not alone). Poor old Kelvin is suffering at the moment and spending a lot of time on the couch either asleep or watching whatever is on ABC2 (accompanied by the dog)!

I'm enjoying the snuggles while I can because he's growing bigger everyday and I'm realising he's not a baby anymore but a tiny little man!

Want to move in next door?

It's up for sale...



...plenty of space for a craft room...

...and the neighbours are quite respectable!!

Cheescake, Buttercup & Hoodies

Trev made the most delicious baked New York cheesecake on Thursday night. It was meant to be covered in lashings of whipped cream but it looked to good to cover up (we just had the cream on the side)!

We don't eat baked cheesecake every day - it was to help celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday. I made her a buttercup bag - my first ever bag! It was pretty straight forward and only took one night (plus some hand sewing in front of Play School the next day). She requested midnight blue, chocolate or charcoal - but this really jumped out at me at Spotlight so she ended up with a Cactus Shot Silk Dupion bag instead!!

I also finished knitting a pair of matching hoodies for my kids - now to force myself to sew them together!! They are knitted in Sean Sheep Beulah using their free pattern.

Hope you've all had a great weekend! Ours has been busy - with lots of visits from friends, my brother staying and general weekend stuffing about!!

Hiatus

I've delayed the completion of my Masters in Traffic Engineering. I am three weeks into a subject on Public Transport which wasn't really doing it for me! So I've withdrawn for this semester and will instead do a case study next year.

I feel like a weight has lifted.

And it means more time for crafting for me!

Yay!!

The Lovely Bones

I read the book The Lovely Bones back when I was living in London. I loved the book.

Trev was home sick most of the weekend so I grabbed a few DVD's for him and the kids so we could survive the weekend and The Lovely Bones movie was on the shelf so I grabbed it for me!

It has been such a long time since I last sat down to watch a movie of my choosing. I enjoyed the movie (probably because I'd forgotten the details of the book). It was a bit weird (in a good way) and great to watch while stitching or knitting.

Most of all I enjoyed the 1970-ness of the setting. Esepcially after the Vintage Sheet FQ swap I couldn't help but marvel at all the lovely vintage bed linen they were sleeping on!

Random Swapping!

38 packages...

800+ FQ's of vintage goodness...

SWAPPED!

And some fabulously generous thankyou gifts (unnecessary but lovely all the same)!