Christmas day passed.......................

Well the big day has come and gone. The only signs of Christmas having been here is our little tree is looking very lonely without all the gifts sitting under it and all those said gifts strewn all over the lounge room. I must admit we have had fun playing with all the new things. Monopoly Jr was given by Santa and has been a bit hit for the young and old in the house. We are currently starting a 1000 piece jigsaw which I think will take a few days. The weather has turned a bit sour here so it is perfect indoor entertainment.

Our Christmas day was spent with just the four of us. It started off fairly normal but proceeded to get much more interesting. We had a great lunch,which was mostly done by my husband, and then went off for a late swim, which was beautiful and then a trip to the emergency ward at the local hospital. I stepped on something in the water which caused great pain and swelling . We haven't come across anything nasty in the water before but do know there is a few things about here.We found out it was a Scorpion fish(quite common) and in the end it wasn't so bad but a 1 1/2 hour sit in emergency and a great big bandage on my foot was called for. When I walked out the kids were looking rather horrified. They couldn't quite believe such a big bandage was needed for such a little prick.

The said bandage.

Joyuex noel.................

'Only one more sleep!!'

We wish everybody a 'Merry Christmas' and 'bonne fete'!.

Xmas anticipation............

Not much going on here today other than browsing through the 'Hiver'(winter) edition of Marie Claire Idees. A marvelous magazines I have discovered in this French colony. They make such lovely stuff and display it in the most beautiful way. I do love how they even decorate their match boxes so elegantly. Eye candy for crafters and lovers of tres jolie stuff I think.

The countdown is on. Talk of food for the day and what is in all the presents that sit under our tree fill our house with much chatter. Only 3 sleeps to go and counting!!!

Sunsets and swimming...........................

The sunset from last nights picnic. It really is a beautiful time to be on the beach. We need to do it more and we always say that but never seem to get there. Maybe that's a 2008 resolution( yes thinking about them already).

The kids still swimming as the last of the sun disappears. It's amazing how the colours in the sky can change in a few minutes. As the sun hits the water the clouds all seem to go pink. Our Christmas time is very different from the ones I read about on the other side of the world. Oh and it's getting so close now!!

Bags and beaches..................

Just delivered my last 'Handmade' order for Christmas. There was a couple of bags in the order and on was requested to have farm animals on it and there it is.

I also had to make a bag for Django because he has been waiting patiently for so long to get his bag. It all seems to be made for somebody else and not him. He got one with mermaids. He obsession that has gone on for many years. Now we are off for a beach picnic and relax. It has been so hot here for the past few weeks about this time of night is superb on the beach. Hopefully there won't be to much sand in the roast chicken and a nice sunset to watch.
See ya I'm off!!!!

Day 18 and the peg dolls............

Day 18 presents off the advent calender( a little late for show and tell but oh well you all know the saying. Better late.......). Some cute card holders. Not overly exciting but come in very handy for the few cards we have received.

The days inbetween my last post and today have been filled with chasing peg dolls around our house. Literally. As soon as I start to make them they disappear into storyland with the kids. It's very cute and I like it when the kids go off and start using their imaginations. God knows they are vivid enough but at the same time it is truly annoying. Why can't they just stay in the one place!! Anyway enough of a rant. They are now packed up and ready to go off to new homes with other imaginative children.
Happy Wednesday to all I know we are going to have a good one we are off to the kids favorite restaurant for lunch

Ah the cards........

So I finally finish my wonderful homemade Christmas cards and would you believe in my haste of trying to get them ready to post I forgot to take a single photo of them. Are you all sitting there thinking that maybe they were really bad and she didn't want anybody to see them. Not at all! I was most pleased with the way they turned out. I was even thinking that I would do it again next year but maybe be a little more organized and start a little earlier. It just seemed that last week there was a endless list of other things to be thinking about or doing. Even though here in Noumea we work on Pacific time which is always a little slower paced than anywhere else but it can still get a bit hectic at times.
That's my excuse anyway and I'm going to stick to it!

Days 10, 12, 14...........

Our advent gifts have all been a bit different this year. In the kids younger years I had just bought the chocolate filled calenders. This year my mum bought over a hanging fabric calender. As you can see by day 14 the pockets aren't very big. Big enough for two chocolates though not much else but we have got around that. Big arrows and safety pins go a long way.

Day 12 was a beautiful peacock but unfortunately he has lost an eye.

Day 10 was a lovely pink sparkling bird she is up there at the top of the tree with our lovely sparkling butterfly.

Lets see what the next 10 days bring.

Hibiscus............

A new addition to our family. Sold by it's most beautiful flower it has displayed. It is only a small plant at the moment but with a bit of love and tenderness it will grow into a great big tree that will be covered in these gorgeous flowers. We are not sure of the scientific name of the plant but we have named it 'golden glow'. She really is lovely in the flesh.

Christmas tree Oh Christmas tree...................

Our little contribution to Christmas this year. Our wee little pink tree. We bought it last year because it blends in with our pink walls in our house(they were already here when we arrived) but as the kids get bigger they want something bigger. So next year the request is for a grander tree. This little tree is full of lovely co-ordinating baubles and sparkles so we will have to make sure the next one will take all of them. We have had other lovely baubles coming out of our Advent calender which the kids have really loved. It's not just all about the chocolate!
This is Django's shy wee elf hiding in the tree. It was made with his Grandma when she was over. He also made an angel but she needs some hair so no photo until that has happened.

Not quite right.................

The internet here is sometimes so 'CRAP'. It has taken 24 hrs for it to let me upload a picture and it isn't even the one I want(that was my mistake not theirs). Can you believe it! I am going to leave it with you anyway and maybe try later for the ones that I actually wanted to originally post. By the way the image is from a second hand book. My first and only thrifting purchase I have been able to make here.

edit: 8.15pm Just realised why it wasn't working( well husband did). Somehow when I moved them off my camera the file size increased. So I need to change them to normal size. See you learn something new everyday, well I do anyway!!!!

Hark................

Finally some Christmas craft. Danglies for us and special others.

Views.........................

View from my friends apartment.

Wherever you drive in Noumea you see something worth gazing at. It could be the blues of the water, the cloud covered mountains in the distance or the huge frangipani trees. At times I drive/walk around a little unobservant of the place but every now and then I just stop, look and think how totally gorgeous it is.
I need to take more snaps of this stuff to show.

Major Tom...........

'This is ground control to Major Tom....... Where are you?'
It's been a bit like that around here this past week, all sort of lost in space. All confused about what was going on when, not sure where we were supposed to be. Kids performing all over the place, me having everyday morning classes to go too last week( that put the whole routine up the spout).I'm not used to having to do the same thing for 5 days in a row. I have everybody else's day worked out but 'no sirree' not my own. My floats all over the shop. Bit of this, a bit of that and I like it like that. So I have had no time to think about posting, crafting or Christmasing but that is going to change as of this week. The kids are not going to let us forget that Christmas thing is happening, I am all inspired to get back to posting after I followed all these gals doing the whole posting everyday in November thing (congratulations)and I have been secretly doing my Christmas card crafting-when time has permitted- so I do have a few things for show and tell.

I have linked the song from Youtube which this post title comes from. One of my favourite Bowie songs. Happy Monday to all.

Sunday...................

Well Sunday night is upon us once again. The weekend passed with us not doing much as was my intention. The lots we did do was sleep and a few jobs around the house that were on the 'to do' list. We haven't been out anywhere today and I sometimes like that. The kids are out having their last play as the sun goes down and the Sunday night routine gets put into action. Dinner- hair wash -and try for an early night before a busy week and it's to be a busy one for all of us. I have an intensive French course running all week and the kids are dancing in a production for three nights. They are particularly excited. I must admit I'm a bit proud and excited to see them up there on the stage doin' their thing. I will report back after we see the show on Tuesday. I also need to get some inspired this week to make some Christmas cards to send home. I vowed I was going to do it and do you think I can get started. No!!! Maybe another good night sleep tonight will bring some inspiration.

We can only hope so!!

Life as we know it.................

Life as we know it here will be back to normal this weekend. Our visitors have gone home and the house feels a little empty for it. The kids don't quite know what to do with themselves as there are two less people in the house to give cuddles. We are thinking we will spend the weekend just enjoying the good weather and getting back to a bit of a normal routine( not that they really exist in our house). We feel there is only a short window of calm before the upcoming Christmas celebrations start and in our house it is quite a long buildup to that special day. Two six year olds still don't have a great concept of time when it comes to these things.I'm looking forward to it as I love seeing these celebrations through the eyes of my kids. I am also going to read,read,read. I haven't had a great deal of time to read my books or the blogs I love or do any much needed homework for my French lessons. Visitors are a nice diversion to these things but when they go I realise how much I miss them.
Oh well such is life. Hope everybody has a good weekend I know I will.

Lazy weekend........................

On the weekend we visited the kids favourite restaurant for lunch.'Dukes'. It isn't very French but it does the best hamburgers and kids meals for that matter( see above). Juliette has the mega burger complete with pink cadillac and Django has his mega chicken nuggets which arrives over the seven seas in a boat.We didn't actually do much else over the weekend. The Trade winds are blowing here so going to the beach isn't much fun and we still have our visitors and I couldn't be bothered doing a great deal. We did have a few games of Yahtzee which I have discovered is a good numbers learning game for the kids. I played it so often as a little tacker with my family. It doesn't take much to set up or pack up and I like those kinds of games.
I hope to resume regular posting towards the end of the week. Grandmas will have gone and I will have a bit more time. I have actually missed not posting as much and getting time to read everybody else's ramblings.I have alot of catching up to do! I can't wait.

Softies...........

Softies ready for take-off!!!

Cute French stuff...................

Some cute french finds to show. The kids get these little cd/booklets. The cd has a number of quirky french songs and the booklet has the words so we can sing along and very cute pictures. We purchase them hoping it is aiding their learning( and ours) of the French language but I think it helping their dancing round the lounge room skills more.

Yesterday at the supermarket I came across the aisle that has all the Christmas tins/chocolates and I found a Martine tin full of lovely biscuits. There was a few different pictures to choose from. After much deliberation I picked this one as my daughter loves horses and I thought one day she might use it to store stuff in as I do with many a tin.

And I have been busy finishing hand made stuff for people to take back to Australia for Christmas. Meet Fifi Bluebelle and Daisy May and below the Peg doll circus.

I will hopefully have a photo of my softies for Mirabel up this afternoon. They are nearly all completed except for the little final touches. I need to get them completed as they are hopping on an aeroplane with somebody on Saturday.

Mail from home.............

A little bit of post from home. I do love getting zines. I get one from this lady and I'm sure everybody already knows about the above one from these gals. Can anybody suggest any others worth looking at?
It's Friday again so I hope everybody has a good weekend.

Old ideas...............

'A late afternoon swim yesterday on a very hot day'
I have been a bit lack lustre about posting lately and haven't quite known what to write about. I also haven't had much time with my mum and mum-in-law visiting us. I tend to sneak off to the computer when I have a spare minute but what I have thought about doing is going back to showing a bit more of where we live( a little inspiration came from this picture). We have just past our first year anniversary here in Noumea and we are all liking it very much. So hopefully a bit more of what we see and do but I need to remember to put the camera in my bag when we go out otherwise I will still have nothing for show and tell.

Happy times.....................

There was a very happy girl here today.......her favourites were baked. Colourful meringues.

Happy Halloween...I think not!

Over the last couple of weeks I have been getting ready for Halloween . This was to be our first real Halloween experience. Kids were getting excited I was getting excited we had a early picnic to got too and then there was to be trick or treating but alas I was not meant to experience it. I ended up being sick earlier this week and that put all excitement related activities to bed(and me to for that matter). At the point at which I got sick I still hadn't completed the kids trick or treat bags so Wednesday morning I dragged myself out of bed to finish them off. They could have been better but they did the job. They held the stash and that was the most important thing. Being sick at this particular time leads me onto another point for discussion and that is I always seem to get sick when I have alots of things to do. As well as Halloween to get ready for I also had to get my place ship shape for my mum and mother-in-law to come for a visit. I don't have a overly big place here but it still gets very messy and dusty and things need to be done. I'm sure they wouldn't have given two hoots whether the place was not clean when they arrived but I like to have a tidy place for guests.Am I crazy or do others think like me?
Anyway they are here now, I am better and the place was clean but it has gone back to being it's normal self. Untidy!!!!!
A good weekend to all.

Fabulous and Fifty...............

After I wrote my post this morning I realised I hit the fabulous fifty mark. Congrats to me!!!! I didn't think I would ever make it this far. I am not sure how many others out there(apart from my hubby)have actually read along with me on my little journey but that doesn't matter as long as I am enjoying the experience and I am. I don't find the writing part quite that easy to do because I think way too much about what and how I am going to write. I don't see myself as a natural born writer and I think that has a lot to do with the ease or in my case unease of writing but as I said before I am quite liking the experience.

Well on I will go and see where the next fifty will lead me.

Sidetracked by slipperydips...........

Last week life just didn't feel normal. Our weekly routine seemed to be hijacked by stuff beyond our control. It wasn't bad stuff it was just different stuff. I had a list of things I wanted to get done and not a lot of it got achieved. My husband got home, eventually, the kids had things on at school that we had to get there early for, that wasn't easy I can tell you. I can't remember what else happened but it was just a different kind of week. Hopefully this week we might go back to a bit of normality.

We went off to a party yesterday at the local water slides. The kids had never been on one. At the beginning they were their usual scardycat selves but by the end they just couldn't get enough. There is also a little baby pool with little slides and these very cute watery mushrooms.They remind me of something that would come from Alice in Wonderland.

My mum and mother-in-law are arriving this week for a pre-Xmas holiday. I have many a thing to do to get their rooms ready and general cleaning but I just don't know where to start nor have the motivation. I think I will have my cup of tea read all the blogs I haven't had a chance to read over the weekend and get on with it. All I have to say is I will try not to get sidetracked.

Buy/make homemade.....................

I took the pledge for this today. If you want to you can go over to Buy Handmade and do the same. In my case it will be me making handmade to give to my nephews and nieces. I have been tossing up whether to do that or not, whether the sister-in-laws are sick of the Aunty's homemade wares but what the heck I am just going to do it anyway. On the other side of the handmade present thing I have been busy making gifts for others to give. So I suppose I am in the loop of the handmade society. Yay!!!!!
Better get off and get going. Time is a tickin'.

Cute little things.......................

Somebody here makes these little dolls. I found them in at the local market. They are made from wool and are very cute. I sometimes use them to finish off a bag but usually they just hang around our house.

Raining and reading............

It has been raining here for the last two days and that doesn't make me particularly inspired to do anything much other than read. The reading matter could be anything books( this is on the go at the moment), magazines, old good weekend's that people have brought over or other bloggers. So today I'm going to just tell you about a few I have discovered. They are not necessarily new but they are new to me.

Dudley Redhead -I do like ready stuff from my home country.

Bricolagelife - don't know what to say just like it.

fine little day -fab photos.

the glass doorknob - literally I have just started reading this one.

Yarnstorn - I have just ordered her book. An early Christmas present to myself.

That should keep you busy for a while. Better go off now and clean up the house. Husband is due back today. He's not arriving till this afternoon but with the rain continuing it could take me all day. There seems to be reading material wherever I look. Aarrgh!!!!

Finally.....................

Finally we have pictures!!!! It has taken me soooooo long to get here. Between blogger just not wanting to co-operate this morning and then this evening somewhere along the line me losing connection with the mother station every few minutes. But now it is done. Hooray!!!! I'm not sure if there is a greater being out there not wanting me to pursue a career related to the computer because I often find it very frustrating and could quite easily find something better to do with my time. Like sew or watch what my children are doing! But I persist for some unknown reason. Somebody please tell me why!!!!
Anyway some satchel bags for kids for Christmas. Some are going to Canada and some to Australia. It is exciting when you know your stuff is heading out into the big wide world.

Basic black.
Girly pink.

A bag I made for a birthday gift. It is for a friend I have made here in Noumea. She has become the families French tutor as well. The bag turned out tres cute and I like the shape and the drawstring thing very much. I think I am going to make one for myself from some retro fabrics I got sent over from Mikes.

I have two more days until the hubby gets home and I need to pack away the sewing stuff. Let's see what I can get done and let's hope this b*$#@&y computer starts to behave itself.
Have a good week everybody.
P.S thanks Brenda for being my model.

Problems...............

Having a bit of a frustrating time with blogger this morning. I am trying to put up some pictures of what I have been doing this week but can't. It keeps giving me a code to send to the support team but I can't find the support team. I am not the best at dealing with things that go a bit haywire with the computer so I think I will go and have a coffee, tend to my daughter that had a fall at the park and has hurt her back and come back in an hour. If it is still not working you all might just have to wait till tomorrow. The problems with the internet may just be a roll on effect from all the other things that are happening in this country. There is a picket line at Presto pizzas( for some this is very disastrous),ground staff at the airports are on strike so not all planes are coming in here. I have a friend whose husband has been away for nearly 3 weeks and he was due home today but his flight has been canceled. She is one pissed off lady. My hubby's not due home till Tuesday, let's hope everything is back to normal by then. But lets hope even more that the internet is still not having it's tantrum and I can get news to and from the outside world.

Now what is in the cupboard (that's not good for me) that I can have with my coffee!!!

Messiness.....................

Sewing machines still on the table. More fabric and bits being dragged out everyday. Every evening coming up with new ideas to be put into progress. Keeping a little space free at the end so the kids at least can eat their breakfast at the table. They are not so upset that the table is full of crap it means they get to eat their dinner in front of the television. All this makes for a much more relaxed lifestyle when their dad is away not that our lifestyle needs slowing down. Any slower and we would be called the sloth family. I will do some show and tell at the end of the week and show what I have been doing with all my free time.

A theme..................

Images with a theme that I cross paths with everyday. Usually I am picking most of it up off the floor and putting it away!

Girls after a lovely bath at the kitchen sink.

Girls that usually hang out anywhere and everywhere.

Most treasured books. Have been read many, many a time.

These girls actually just sit looking pretty(most of the time).

Bedroom walls.
Who do you think all this stuff belongs to? girl or boy?

No Husband and Halloween.................

Well everybody I am husbandless for the next 8 days. What am I going to do with myself in that time? To name but a few things. I am going to keep the sewing machine set up on the kitchen table for the whole time( unfortunately I don't have a designated sewing area here),have a reasonably tidy house(I always find it easier to keep the house under control when he isn't here) and not have to worry too much about what I cook. In that area I don't have a complaining husband but I do feel I need to put a bit of variety on the dining table but when it is just the kids and myself we slack off a bit. They don't mind to eat a lot of pasta and I don't mind making myself a big pot of soup and having that a few nights in a row.

I do have a few tasks I would like to complete this week though. The kids are celebrating Halloween for the first time this year. They are doing stuff about it at school and there is a few people here who get together on the night for some 'trick or treating'. They are pretty excited about that. I am on the job with costumes. That is the easy part in this household but if anybody can tell me if there is anything special made and eaten at Halloween that would be good. If we are going start this tradition we may as well do it properly. I am waiting for this zine to turn up in my post box. Maybe it might have some ideas in it that can help.

Everybody out there have a good week I know I will.

Treats..................

Yesterday I said I was going to post about something delicious. Well something that my husband and I think very delicious anyway. Back in Australia our most favourite chocolate is Cadburys Turkish delight and there is nowhere here that you can get it. I would probably think the French may not even know what it is. Anyway when Simon goes away for work he generally has to pass through an Australian airport and he picks up some to be devoured when the kids go to bed. There is noway these precious bars are going to be wasted on the children. But I have found a solution for our need to eat chocolate coated turkish delight. Do it myself. My sister-in-law left us with some of the icing dusted, rose scented stuff. It was truly melt in the mouth 'a la natural' but I couldn't help myself. I went out and bought a bar of fairly high grade cooking chocolate and what happened with it is pictured belong. All I can say is that it didn't last very long in this household once it was discovered.

I know I can put this little experiment into the 'I will do that again' basket.
Ohhhhhh it was soooooooo nice!!!!!
Am going away for a couple of days we have more friends visiting. See you soon.

Pirates and rabbits...........

On Saturday Simon took the kids out for some daddy/offspring bonding. I got to do some bonding with my sewing machine. Much needed I can tell you. I was on a mission to make a gift for a 3 year old and his party was on the following day. The theme was,you guessed it. Pirates. So of course what did he get, a pirate doll. This was my first attempt at making a pirate. Not to bad. The kids liked him so I thought that counted for something. There is somethings I would probably change a little on the next one but that always happens when it's a first time. The rabbit was already finished and it was going to the birthday boys little sister. The little sister hasn't been born yet but it's nice to give little gifts early.

The kids also had some requests while the sewing machine was out> I don't know what anybody else's children are like but they always have requests when I am making cute stuff. They wanted little rabbits this time. Below you see Rosie Raspberry on Lucy the unicorn.


And these two are Blueberry and Grape. The two pictures of the bunnies were taken by Juliette. Not too bad are they?

I am going to post tomorrow about something that is really delicious. Well Simon and I love it anyway.