here and now..

while my two bigger kids are braving a hot day at school

while my farmer boy is with his cows getting ready to parade them around at the local show tomorrow

while my smaller kidlet is dripping food colouring on coffee filters making beautiful art

while the leaders of our country astound me with their behaviour

while dragonflies buzz around the farm and i wonder are there borrowers flying on them a-la Arrietty

i'm sitting here . surrounded by textas and drawings and my first copy. i need to change the back cover picture. thats next on my list.

i have the beginnings of a website set up...linked to a bigcartel store....and there you will find my book... hopefully in the next week or two.. just in time before my birthday when i will turn 40! and that to me is a little surreal!

my coffee has gone cold. again.

happy weekend !

babushkabook

today i went to pick up the first draft of my colouring book. exciting!!

its very hard trying to see it through eyes that are not my own. do you know what i mean? its kind of like looking at your own kids. i dont see them, i see right into them. so with my book i need to step back and look at it to see if i actually like what im seeing. my farmer boy likes it alot and so does my little amelie. thats two votes of yay.

apart from that, its pretty cool fun to be holding my book in my hands, full of my drawings.

we haven't coloured any of it yet...first we are going to show the kids when they get home from school, and then maybe we'll try it out. the paper is nice and the weight of it is nice.

apart from the book, ive been spending(wasting) alot of time playing with my coloured babushka pictures on my computer. adjusting the shades and sizes is lots of fun, as is dreaming of what else i have planned for these girls. ive downloaded inkscape and slowly i'm learning how to use it. slowwwwly. but slow is good right? now i'm hungry and it's time to pick up the kids again. the days are whizzing by. it really feels like it was just the weekend and soon it will be the weekend again. its blurry when its busy. and right now its busy all around me.

okay off to get my lovehearts .... x

rugs gourds and wasps

i spied a baby gourd outside my kitchen window. lots and lots of them actually. exciting.
i succumbed to all the inspiring photos and talk about rag rugs and started my own one last night. i had the kids plaiting torn up sheets and fabric held at one end with their toes. im hand sewing the plaits into a circle mat. it should be finished by 2013! nah...by winter im hoping.
and worst of all today....see those nasty things up there in the corner, busily making a (very cool looking) nest. paper wasps. well this morning i planted the jacaranda before it shrivelled up on me, and one thing led to another, as it does in the garden, and i found myself cutting off dead branches in the bushes..next thing i see what i think is a bee hive, then feel unbelievable stings up my arms....and then i run for my life...... i got attacked by paper wasps! i had disturbed a nest hanging in the branches that i didnt know about- i do know about all the other nests under the verandahs which are now highly endangered.im gonna get them!! i ran inside and soaked myself in vinegar, cold water, ice, aloe vera, and then lavender oil...and eventually the pain stopped. i thought i was going to have a heart attack and i thought of thomas j and veda, bawling her eyes out in My Girl, and then i got the kids to ring my farmer boy to come home. i still feel sore on the sting spots which there were about 10 of them. wasp stings hurt so much! im so glad it wasnt the kids being stung. so i decided to stay inside and stitch my rug and then cook with the kids for the rest of the day.
tomorrow is mission exterminate the wasps. though apparently you spray them at night time when they cant see you to attack you. and you have a red light so they cant see you. sneaky hey. sneak is needed with those dirty rotten scoundrels.
so beware of wasps, and goodnight x

anticipation

my babushka girls have left home and are at the printers.
i feel like ive jumped into the water and im swimming to an island ive wanted to visit for a long time. im not a great swimmer but im going to try to get there anyway.
i like that the printers are nice local people.
i like that the paper for my colouring book is all recycled paper.
i hope that when i see the book i love it.
when i go to see the first sample, me and the kids will take some textas to try it out. maybe i can get the printer people to do some colouring in with us.
::::
in other news, today i need to dig some big holes to plant some new baby trees. (actually i think i will get farmer boy to dig...he has bigger muscles and the ground is like rock)..we have another jacaranda joining the family, another bougainvillea-number 3! and some lemon scented gums.
at the farmers market my mum and i brought the same baby tree and we are having a race whose grows the quickest. she has hers in its new place in the earth, big hole, watering set up, love and attention....you get the idea. well mine still sits on my front verandah, waiting waiting. i have no hope- mums trees grow and flower after two years....five years later and my trees are hanging on for dear life! kind of. some of them.
anyway, i have a beautiful boy talking lego in my ear so i had better go listen with two ears.

my day in colours

playing::building::counting saved coins...today has been a fun day together
my amazing gourd plant reaching for a cloud to wrap itself around
i want to paint a wall on my room outside this colour:: i haven't found the paint yet
i pruned the buddilea? so that she stopped poking me on my way inside. she looks beautiful in a vase too, and she doesn't poke me anymore.

oh gourd.

I have a gourd plant growing outside my kitchen window. It winds itself around anything within reach and is growing like a triffid. did that movie scare the pants off you too? Its giant leaves fill my kitchen window with green. I love it. especially with afternoon sun. I'm excited to see if we get gourds growing on it... and im wondering whether it grows and then dies or if its a permanent plant that is going to take over our house... annuals/perennials i never know which is which.

first day blues

the first day back at school is never an easy one in our house. its probably mostly my fault. i try not to give it anything but good energy, but the kids must feel it. today my boy had a rocky start to the morning thanks to the disorganisation he was faced with when he got there. he was already off balance and the chaos of new buildings, mixed up grades and useless lists and scattered teachers....threw him off the deep end. my sensitive one. and my big girl rang me at 9.10am to inform me that year 8's start school tomorrow. yep. so funny. and the rest of the day has been mostly about waiting for 3pm when i can go pick up my boy and hopefully hear stories about what a great day he had. hope your day has been rosy!