Things I Love and Making With The Smalls At The School

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the launch of Megan Morton's brand spanking new book 'Things I Love'. It's beautiful, and if you don't already own a copy - get your mitts on one, Christmas list it, buy it as a gift for yourself, whatever it takes - just get one. It's sheer brilliance.

Full of beautiful homes - and even more beautiful inspiration, and ideas-a-plenty Megan once again trumps it with her own brand of beautiful. There's a lot to love.

And on the night itself, she was glowing.

 Absolutely take it from me, and put it on your Christmas - or treat yourself. You can buy 'Things I Love' here.
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I took the smalls to make God's Eyes with Little Nicki at The School on Saturday. Megan met us at the door, and was doing her thing, charming the pants off anyone who came in.

The Doctor hears me talking about Megan quite frequently, so knew meeting her was kind of a big deal. He was SO cute and chuffed to be talking to her.

We spent such a lovely morning sitting together creating amidst a sea of coloured wool. It was such fun. 

If you've thought about doing one of Megan's classes - do. It's such a rare treat to sit and make. And for me, it was so good for me (and no doubt my smalls) to sit with them and not have any other distractions (other than the need to Instagram what they were doing every now and then) - and be.

Check out the timetable here for The School.

Are We Going Today?

We are going to the snow this weekend as guests of Toyota. It's only my second time. The smalls first time. Matt's champing at the bit to get in the car and hit the road. He's a mad keen snowboarder. Me? Clearly I am no pro. I don't even know what shoes to wear. I've been questioning everyone - I am not convinced my ballet flats and high heeled boots are going to cut it.

The kids are beside themselves excited. They've been asking to leave every single day. "Are we going yet?" has superseded "Are we there yet?"

We're having a lesson on Saturday morning - and I've let Matt know he can go off snowboarding while I do that. Particularly if it's a hot male instrutor called Sven.

Other than that - we are free agents for the weekend. Out of Sydney and into the snow. YEEEW!

Have you got any top tips for being in the snow? I have NO idea.Except for the fact: it is cold, white and wet.


Bianca Jagger image from Andy Warhol's Interview via here. Absolutely nothing to do with snow, but pretty, yes?!

Stuff Happens

Remember the other week when I wrote about what was happening for our little family? About the childcare woes, the distinct lack of village, and the big changes?

A few people commented on here and over on Facebook, imploring me to ask some mums. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen? They could say no.

I sat on it for a few days feeling really, absolutely awkward.

Then I bit the bullet and contacted a few mums that I vaguely knew from dropping the kids off to their houses. I asked them if they could look after our smalls one afternoon a week, for the next two terms. I told them they had no obligation.

And then I waited for them to respond. The three all responded saying they'd love to help, but of the three, one logistically couldn't do it. But the other two said YES! And one asked if we could look after their daughter before school. Of course we said YES!

Things have worked out well. Well, so far so good. We won't know until we're in the thick of it. But for now, I feel so much happier with this place we are at.

Thank you for empowering me to ask. Thank you. Thank you.

images - because I love them - by Spanish artist Lola Guerrera via Design for Mankind

Horrid Henry School Holidays Giveaway

Have you ever read Francesa Simon's Horrid Henry books? Well. Maybe not you, but your kids?

They are very, very good. The Doctor adores them. They are funny, and clever - and just what little people like. Humour that's totally read-able, a little bit of mischief and a few illustrations tossed in.

But did you know they made a film of Horrid Henry? Just like the books, it is super good - and stars the ever-beautiful Angelica Huston, the cerebral and stylish Richard E. Grant. It's a great film - and Tiny loves it (she's four), just as the Doctor does (he's seven) just as Matt and I both do (we're in our 30s).

The good news is I have a Horrid Henry giveaway. One that's perfect for the Winter school holidays.

There will be two winners. One winner will receive the Horrid Henry DVD and a hard cover activity book. The runner up will receive one copy of the HH DVD.
All you have to do to enter is tell me in 25 words or less (and I am strict so I don't get into trouble with the law):

What was so horrid about you when you were small?

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Open to Australian residents only
Entries are open from Saturday 30th June 2012 - winners will be announced on the PottyMouthMama Facebook page on Wednesday 4th July 2012.
You must be easily contactable.
There will be no disputes, no arguing and strictly no haggling over the winners.
PottyMouthMama is the judge of all entries.
PS - I love you.

I'm Famous! (Also Known As: What To Do In The School Holidays)

Tiny has a fascination with being famous at the moment. I'm not altogether convinced she quite grasps the idea of being famous, but when something good happens she'll jump up and down and shout: "I'm famous, I'm famous." And then she does a funny little jig and continues her chant.

It's cute rather than being precocious. Well I can say that, I am her mama.

Last weekend we got to tread the charcoal swirly carpet to view a preview of Brave. (Almost famous.) There was highland dancing, bagpipers, face painting, and then of course - the movie.The smalls were in utopia.

Brave is all about a teenage girl-princess, Merida, growing up in Scotland. It involves bows and arrows, haggis, bears, and a witchy woodworker. We found it pretty enchanting. Tiny got scared at one point and climbed onto my lap - and then continued to rave about Brave after we got home.

I loved listening to Billy Connelly and Emma Thompson breathing life into their characters. And the gags that went over the kid's heads.

The smalls loved the adventure, the story, the action and the excitement. For us, it's school holiday viewing recommended. And basically, since I need all the help I can get for school holidays - I'm going to continue this week with some more school holiday worthy ideas that you might like.

Or are you going away somewhere warm? And in that case - take. me. with. you.

Sunday at the Movies:: Brave

The smalls and I are going to see Brave tomorrow. We three are super duper looking forward to it. And it's super good weather for a movie. Yes. Melbourne is sharing their weather with Sydney.

A female lead that's strong - Scottish and brave? I am IN like FLYNN!

Because dudes, my lineage denotes I am of Scottish descent. I was born to love Scottish accents. And with Billy Connelly - well hellz yeah!

I will report back and let you know if this is a goer for the upcoming school holidays (how did we get to July already?!).

When Small People Won't Go To Bed. And Steam Comes Out Your Ears.

I am like this hamster running on one of those wheels. Running. Running. Running. And getting nowhere fast. 


Tiny is totally punishing me lately. 


All week she's been a reluctant sleeper, there have been raised voices. There's been hollow threats. And a threat of punishment (and I struggle with this because I can't think of anyway to punish her - because her response is always so non-chalant).  Once she's finally wrestled down to sleep - I find myself in the middle of the night pushed to the edge of the bed - with no covers on me. Cold, uncomfortable, and with no pillow.


This week her bed linen had been changed after an accident, and had literally been replaced, when she came out to me and told me her bed was wet. 


She denied denied denied, then blamed it on the Doctor and said he wee'd on her bed. I told her that the Doctor didn't do it (because I know the Doctor better than she does), finally she admitted that no, the Doctor had nothing to do with it. Instead she had been playing with water on her bed, and now her doona was wet through. 


I was pretty cross. 


It was one of those nights when you're like a jack-in-a-box, up and down, up and down, putting the smalls back into bed. Then they come out again. And so on for around 15 minutes. Then the steam starts to pour out your ears, and you walk them back and tell them once more - don't come out again. It's late. It's bed time. 


So this is where we were. I stripped the bed again when there was an almighty crash. I peer into the Doctor's bedroom and he's inadvertently smashed his bedside lamp. Glass everywhere.


If someone was checking my blood pressure, I think that cuff thing they put on would have been torn to shreds as I turned into the Incredible Hulk. 


Seriously. The bed humdrum is killing me. And not softly. 
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Images - despite being totally unrelated were something that made the smalls and I laugh today. We went to visit my sister, Sarah at Calico + Ivy today, and en route to get some smoothies, we spotted a plane vapour trailing his way through the sky. 'Marry Me'. We stood with our mouths agape looking skyward, causing other pedestrians to do the same. By the time the pilot got to me the marry had blown away and looked like a mangled version of the word. Whoever commissioned that - I hope they got in quickly. 

Getting My Christmas On

I am so excited about Chrismtas this year.

Let's face it. I am excited about Christmas every year.

As the smalls get less small, I think my excitement grows, because the greater the understanding of Christmas.

We bought our tree today from the nice gents at Apex, and the money goes to charity. Win:Win.

We brought it home, and I've been decorating the house ever since. I am in a state of great excitement.

Spare a thought for those doing it tough this Christmas. If you can, pop a little gift under a Wishing Tree for a little person. I know Kmart has them in conjunction with the Salvation Army, and lots of other shopping centres do something similar. I always get my smalls to choose something they'd like, to give to someone their age. Helping someone feel a bit brighter makes Christmas much more special.

And if you're stuck looking for a gift for someone really difficult, or would just like some awesome gift ideas, check out Oxfam. They are always my favourite types of gifts to give.

Magical Mystery Tour

Despite the triathletes best efforts to thwart our morning trip to the city, we finally arrived at the Sparkle Cupcakery half an hour late. I hate being late. But so it was, after gridlock, driving in bus lanes, running red lights, and generally getting harried and cranky, we found a parking spot and made our way in to meet Sparkles the Fairy and William the Wizard from Magical Tales .

If you've not heard of Magical Tales, then you should. The Doctor told me all about it. He's apparently an expert. And me, not being an expert on children's programs, looked to him for guidance.

As soon as we walked in (late), Sparkles and William made the smalls so at ease - they were hooked. I can't rave enough about how comfortable, funny and rad they were. They are both a rare breed that are so at ease with communicating and interacting with small people - and making the big people laugh.

William, I am convinced (though after a thorough Google background check - nope, I'm wrong) is Hamish Blake's younger doppelganger.

Sparkles is a vivacious, effervescent and infectious (in a good way, not like she's got chickenpox) fairy.

We had a beautiful morning tea with them. The smalls enjoyed morning tea, decorated cupcakes and had so much fun with Sparkles and William.

After a big weekend the smalls enjoyed curling up on the couch watching a few eps of Magical Tales.

There was silence. And it was magical.

Stuff Kids Do

My kids do so much stuff that I would never do. Like drink toilet water.

But it's other stuff too.

Like hold a big snake.

Hunter Valley Gardens gave me a family pass to visit during the school holidays. We went up last weekend and had a blast. I will write more about it over the weekend. It's a beautiful place to spend time. I felt like Marie Antoinette taking a turn in the garden. I imagine if you were a child it would be magical - it was magical for me.

So Tiny, the Doctor, the snake and the woman in camo? At the Hunter Valley Gardens as part of the school holiday activities, there was a reptile show. At the end you could hold the snake. I wasn't so fussed on the idea myself, however the smalls were first in line. They really were.

Make Mine A Swine

So we go up to the supermarket today to buy some Cream of Tartar to complete our playdough making. Simple task.

I smelt it before we saw it. The animal farm. Without George Orwell. Small animals right out in front of the supermarket. Like being at a fancy Chinese restaurant and choosing which animal will you dine on tonight? Oh I'll take that little piglet running about screeching. Not.

Of course we had to go in and pat the animals. Man it stank. Seriously. I am a country girl, I am well familiar with the warm smell of cow pats. But this was something else entirely. Oh and the parents letting the kids chase the small animals around. Fail.

In fact, I think the whole scheme was FAIL! Too many small animals in a small enclosure with small people chasing them around on small feet, squealing small squeals.

Alpaca.

Ducks.

Ducklings.
Geese.

Chickens.
Bunnies.

Lambs.

A 2 week old goat (oh man - soooo cute!).

A calf.

I quickly herded my smalls out of that pen, and as we were leaving the piglet started squealing and the Doctor remarked that he hoped the piglet was not dying. Yep. Me too.

Small animals. Supermarket. Squealing small pig. Not cool. Or am I being a fuddy duddy?

Buying Time

This afternoon we three went to the little shops. We enjoyed an icy pop together with Tiny wiping most of hers on my dress. Er thanks.

Then we went looking for a stranger's cat to pat. We always look in the streets for cats. Alas today was cat-less and we went home wanting. We meandered our way home through the back streets. The Doctor pointing out houses that we could buy (they weren't even actually for sale, and besides this, we're not in the buying market - boo hiss!).

My smalls tend to go a little berko when I'm prepping for dinner. Well particularly the smallest one. Tiny wants to be carried around which is not conducive to chopping and locking (sorry! I had to work in that lame pop and lock reference).

So I set up 'washing up'. When better to start your smalls on the domestic chores than rightthisveryminute?! They washed up their tea sets. I cooked dinner. They didn't want to come in for dinner they were having so much fun. If only real life washing up was so good.

Confucious Say

'When sharing drink bottles with small children, close eyes tight so you don't see special additives. The floaty bits.'

PS - If you have a SIGG drink bottle, you might want to read this. And you can see here the difference between the old and the new.

image via

It's Me: Day 6

It's such a blissful day today. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. The smalls are happy. The mama's happy. Parenting when the sun is shining is so much easier than on grey days when you're locked in the house and then cabin fever sets in. I tend to go a little barmy. Perhaps even more than a little. Perhaps I go tres barmy when I have cabin fever.

Today I feel like a snake that's shedding it's skin. No need for too many layers. I am a big fat snake in the sunshine. Stitching. And while I know snakes can't stitch for lack of hands, I am sure it's not through lack of trying.

So today we're clocking up time in the sun. A 2002 UK study revealed that eight-year-olds could easily identify Pokemon characters far more easily than they could name "otter, beetle, and oak tree." Scary huh? Get into the sun people! Enjoy nature peeps! Pokemon are for... I don't know. We're not into Pokemon. Phew.

Day 6. Four days to go. I need to pull out the big stops from here on in.

PS - The Doctor took a hilarious series of shots this afternoon of me - right after he photographed the lavender. Apparently it needed a photo too. My photos - totally unflattering, funny nonetheless. Totally untouched, just for the record.

But We Didn't Find A Circus

So we ran away. We're up visiting my Mum and Dad and it feels so good. Country air. Freezing cold nights, chilly mornings, so many cups of tea. The smalls playing in the dirt. Op shops. Cups of tea! Cake! Lights! Camera! Lions.

I've hidden my camera at home so well I can't find it. I always seem to do that. I put things in 'special' places. So 'special' they're soon forgotten. Aye aye aye.

Thanks for all the kind comments. We're all good. I'm giving the first half of July the bird, but the rest is pretty darn good. I made an ace pear butter cake from here, and if you have it - do it, it's totally delightful.

So no photos today. But you'll be ok, won't you? Meditate on the cake. Trust me, it's worth it.

I Don't Get Out Much Pt 2

It's been months since I last scavenged some rubbish from the side of the road. Some readers may think I've gone into rehab, but I'm just starting to get the cold sweats. Hallucinations (is that a Parker sideboard in the park?!). I'm wearing tracksuits twenty-four-seven. I haven't washed my hair in weeks. Make-up..? What's that?

The cold hard facts are people, that even the rubbish has been hit by the recession.

No one is throwing anything out these days. Not even the rich people. Not even the people who inherit stuff. They're just shoving all the excess up their un-used chimney flues. They're sewing their old teddy bears into clothing. Pretty soon previously fashion-savvy business men are going to start wearing teddy bear couture as opposed to Zegna. And what about the crockery? I used to find mountain loads tossed out. Now what are they doing with it? I hate to think they're... using it. I'm blocking my ears at the very thought.

Times are tough, and you know who's feeling it the most. Me.

People. I need your rubbish. It gives me unexpected excitement. Cast your mind back to the days when I'd wait for rubbish night to go rummaging through the bin. Baying at the moon. Those were the days my friends, I thought they'd never end.

I'm like a wild hyena sniffing around in the bushes with no fresh furniture carcasses to haul back home. What's going down? What's a gal to do for fun?

I've been continuing my decluttering phase and taking some of the bin paraphernalia to the op shop. Maybe this will set things right again in the world and I will stumble across the next big haul.

PS - Image totally unrelated. Since so many of you* have been asking about the Doctor's scarf I started six years ago, here it is. Getting more scarf like by the minute. Oh and a small vintage belt buckle that I found (in a shop - doesn't count) a few weeks ago. You can't see here but a tiny, tiny, dainty diamante is in the middle. Love that inky blue.

* Read... no one. Ok ok, no one has asked about the scarf. I shake my fist!

More Colours

Apparently some small people residing in our house decided that sprinkling confetti around the living room was a great idea. Given we don't have any Oompa Loompas currently in residence, I think I've got a pretty good idea who it may have been.