Oct 30th

A had a wonderful day, today!

Lots of little things bringing me joy, all culminating into a day that left me flopping into bed with a smile on my face.

A big kiss goodbye from my gorgeous girl as I dropped her to her Dads.

A quiet drive to the studio, content in my own company, deep in my thoughts.  An opportunity to play over a scenario and contemplate if there was another way it could have been approached.

A powerful, strong practice amongst an intimate group of seasoned yogis, with one of my favourite teachers.  Being told my practice today was "inspiring" by said teacher!  And receiving much gushing gratitude from a newbie that stood behind me, after completing her first class, thankful for having someone to watch.

Home to a fully cooked breakfast, a freshly made vegie juice (with beetroot, my favourite), a hot cup of roasted bean goodness and a gorgeous man, all rested and rejuvenated from his quiet morning time alone.

Two hours helping out friends with tiny buttons, packing up three rooms of their home in preparation for their move next week - and all the chatting and laughing that ensues when people who adore each other gather together.

An evening out with my beloved - woodfired pizza and a bottle of wine, followed by a movie at the perfectly reasonable time of 6:45pm.  I do so love it when movies start early.  Leaving a lovely patch of the evening free for zooming home to enjoy tea and sweet goodness in bed, melting into the blankets in front of our favourite show for an hour or two.

Just blissful.

Oct 4th

I've always been a fan of bartering.

Money's great - don't get me wrong.  I LOVE money.  But sometimes it's difficult to place value on things.  Like a flower essence consult for a friend.  Someone you care about very much, in potent need of your help.  In private practice, I could quite easily receive around $80 to $100 for a 60 minute consult.  But I wouldn't charge my friends that rate.  And while it's not that I don't value my time - I do - it's just sometimes for me, the gift of being able to help is worth more to me, than the financial reimbursement of my time.

And the really beautiful thing with bartering is then that person gets an opportunity to explore their own gifts in order to offer something in return!  In this case, my friend is an excellent seamstress.  I on the other hand, am a struggling amateur.  So when we were discussing an exchange and I spied a gorgeous bag she'd made hanging on a hook, the words were out of my mouth before I'd taken my next step - "Make me THAT!"  No amount of cash in my pocket could find me something THIS beautiful in a store.  And even if something like this DID exist, I'd still have to find it!

A deal was struck!

I was utterly delighted with the idea of a new bag!

And she was incredibly grateful for the consult.

Bartering WIN.

Isn't it just GORG!

*swoon*

Sept 21st

You know what I love?

I love that the things that I'm interested in, passionate about, are the very same things that can help out a friend when she's in need.  In fact, many friends, often.  And, as it happens, not just immediate friends!  But a whole bunch of people in the wider community.  And I think that's just fab.

I very much enjoy doing what I do.

It is a wonderful bonus that people I care about, people I love, can benefit from the skills, the knowledge and the experience I have accumulated, doing the things I love.

Ain't life just grand?

August 4th

I do love the beast that is our Suzie.

 Okay, I would never lean on my Suzie, cos that's just buggering the sensitive scales in the feet, but I'm as cheesy as this woman when it comes to our thermomix :oD

Because today, I was able to whip up a double batch of beef and lentil bolognaise sauce for a single mama friend who's under the weather with two ill tiny kidlets - AND - a batch of banana berry muffins (made with brown rice flour that I milled myself, fresh as fresh!) for our arvo playdate.

All while, assisting my girl in ripping up paper and depositing into a jar of warm water (to make into pulp for tomorrow's paper making festivities), reading four books (sorry, reading one book FOUR times), cleaning up the kitchen and generally being an all-round attentive mama.  Which is a vastly different situation when I used to have to do said cooking over the cooktop.  Allow me to demonstrate.

"Hon, yes, I'll read you a story in a minute.  Can you just, can you just, PLEASE hop out of the kitchen - just for a minute - this is HOT!"  "Crap!  I forgot to turn the oven on."  "Not quite small enough... rip them smaller, yep, rip them smaller... Yes, I'll help you in a sec.  Yes, in a sec, I'll just mix this, then spoon them into the silicon thingees, then pop them in the oven...."  "Hmm?  In about 10 minutes or so.  I know that's AAAGES, you'll survive."  "Sure you can lick the bowl... just mind the cat - MIND THE CAT!  JASPER - GET OFF THE BENCH!  Okay, now that's just revolting.  Teeeeee towel!!  Where's the tee towel?!"  "Bugger!!  "Nothing, love.  I didn't say anything.."

Yes, I luff our thermie.  She's cooks without me having to lift a finger.  And she calls me when she's done.  She's just ace *sigh*

June 23rd

Grateful for the ability to help out a woman in need :oD.

A gorgeous friend of mine is in the early months of her third pregnancy.

You know, that time when everything you eat ends up in the toilet, when you agree to read your three year old a story, so long as it's lying down in bed and you try and remember why you thought going again was a good idea...?

Yes.  And this woman, bless her cotton socks, is still working four days a week.

So, when she casually mentioned the volatile activity of Mount Foldmore in her family room, it was time to step up.  You see, if there's one domestic chore I adore doing - it's folding washing.  Actually, I even enjoy separating, washing, hanging out and bringing in, too.  Just don't ask me to put anything away once I'm done folding.  That's when you're on your own (I can't even do it in my own house).

I arrived this afternoon, delighted to find another mutual friend already elbow deep in delicates. So we had a fabulous ole time, chatting, folding, rescuing folded items from small children and shooing puppies from off the neatly stacked piles atop the sofa.  I love woman-to-woman time like this.  Where tongues are flying as fast as hands are.  Magical. 

And the outpouring of gratitude as you're leaving and then later, via a public forum is very sweet.  Little does she realise, that time in her company is worth every single sock!

For the tenth time, woman - you're welcome!

*laugh*

Anytime.

xxxx

June 4th

Grateful for the ability to help out furry friends in need.

Rufus is a Cornish Rex.

His family are going away for the long weekend next week and he is looking for some company in their absence... and someone to make sure is food bowl stays well stocked and his litter tray less so.

So, he came around to meet the kittens today, just to check for any personality clashes, prior to moving in next weekend.

This isn't Rufus, but it's the best pic I could find of his breed.

I'm not sure if you've ever met a Cornish Rex, but Rufus is a magnificent specimen.  I could stroke his fur all day... like silky soft ripples of velvet.  He's about three times the size of the kittens and about twice the size of MooMoo.  While MooMoo disappeared as soon as Rufus arrived (bless her white socks, she's had a hell of a week of new faces), the kittens came up to say hello and remained curious, despite Rufus hissing out his personal space boundaries.

He disappeared a couple of times and we found him atop a table, basking in the sun at the other end of the house, while his mistress was sipping coffee with us.  It appears separation anxiety won't be an issue.  And if he's comfortable up that end of the house, that pretty much has our three allocations of felines sorted for territory.

In other feline related news, MooMoo is now up to the point of nose touching with the kittens!!  There is still hissing on Moo's part (installation of hierarchy I imagine), but much less frequently.  And she's even comfortable enough to sleep in the same room, while they gallivant about the place.  Which they do.  Often.  Well, when they're not sleeping.  And they seem to be on synchronized schedules with each other.  It's quite amazing.  And it's all go, go, go - then all stop and fall in a heap.  There is no energy 'in between'.  A snap shot of cuteness from today, if you will.

Can you tell who's who, yet?

(Answers tomorrow :oD)

June 2nd

Grateful that one phone call to one person can result in connection to thousands.

Today, a photographer from the Leader Newspaper (the local rag) came to my home, to meet Sheree and me and capture an image to accompany the story they are running, about the hundreds (yep, 210 in total now!) of cloth pads and underwear donated to LifeOptions Cambodia.

Gosh.

The story will also be run in a western suburb town of Melbourne (Essendon), as that is where Sheree resides.  Donna, the reporter, absolutely loved the work being done by Denise Love and team in Cambodia - as did Kim, the photographer.  The editor, we later learned, was not as keen on the idea of menstrual pads appearing in his paper and was making plans to bury it back page or thereabouts.  Our photographer grinned as she told us, it was most certainly making the front page *laugh*.  I offered up a menstrual pad for her to take back to her editor, as a goodwill gesture.  She thought that was hilarious.  So a white pad with "sit still froggy" and a cartoon picture of a frog was chosen for him, and off it went *grin*.  Can't wait to hear what he thought of our offering.

So, I don't have a picture to show you (as I was in it).  But I will link back once it runs.

Before I sign off, today's melting moment.

The cute.  Oh, the cute!

May 26th

Woke feeling like yesterday's viral threat had taken hold.

Bleugh.

So, a day of go slow was on the agenda.

Goose was happy to play at my feet to the sound of sewing machines whirring.

That and an unexpected interruption....

meant that tonight, I finished off a swag of cloth pads, 35 in total.  A whole lot were started on Tuesday during a cutting and sewing get-together with Sazz, Leah and Veronica.  And tonight Ben helped serge some boosters and snapped the lot of them!

So at a final count tonight, we're sending off 155 cloth menstrual pads to LifeOptions in Cambodia.

Awesome effort *smile*.

Very grateful for the opportunity to help in this small, small way.

May 22nd

There's a couple of things I'm very grateful for today.

After the awesome group energy of yesterday, today was a day for Ben and me.

A couple of days ago, a friend online had asked if anyone was interested in an overlocker - used once, still in the box.  I immediately (like, within 19 seconds) said yes.  And today we went and picked it up.

Meet my new machine!

We decided to coordinate our four hour round trip around breakfast and a coffee date with the beautiful Carly, the provider of my brand new machine (*squeeee*).  I love that I live in a world where items that are no longer needed or used, are offered up to be loved by someone new.  I also love that I could then on-sell my (laden with past life heaviness) overlocker to another home in need.  Perfection.

The second thing I am grateful for, is a man's need to tinker.

And a man's need to figure out how things work - and then *make* them work!

Have you ever had to thread an overlocker?

Oh my.

This is a five threader, but you get the idea, right?  Eep!

So, while I was busy attaching more boosters onto more pads, Ben was threading the overlocker and then serging even more boosters (enjoying the fruits of his labour).  We had a wonderful afternoon stitching together *smile*.

I was contemplating this train of thought, as I was stitching earlier...

I am very grateful for the ability to dedicate a whole day and evening (and another afternoon planned for tomorrow) to helping people achieve something they could not do on their own.  I started thinking about my gorgeous friends yesterday, who turned up on my doorstep, arms laden with sewing machines, fabric and children and contributed an amazing effort, despite the constant up-down, up-downs of parenting small children.  And how one of the gifts of not having children in my life full time, is my capacity to contribute my undivided time and attention to causes just like this.

Ben told me a story of how one of the many counter-arguments he would give in support of his choice to not have children (a stance he has found he has needed to explain and at times, almost defend since his decision more than ten years ago), is how he is able to positively impact the lives of so many more children (if he chose to) by not having his time and focus 100% taken up by his own, had he had them.

Knowing myself first hand, just how energy demanding children can be, I really resonated with that sentiment yesterday and today.  And I felt very grateful that, while at times sharing my daughter with her father is incredibly hard, it also frees my time to help others.  And I think that's wonderful.

And now this post is done, we're off to cut out some more cloth pads!

I plan to crack that 100 mark *grin*.

Enjoy your evening!

May 21st

frieWOW!  Where do I begin??!!

What an awesome day!

The first of the seamstresses crossed the threshold just before 11am and from there, the house filled up pretty quickly.  Machines were all lined up.  Fabric was grouped.  Iron was switched on.  The first and only tutorial for the day was briefed.  Then away we went!

The group energy in the workspace and in the house was so beautiful to be a part of.  Seven adults and four children filled what was a relatively small space, with the noise of sewing machines, coffee machines, seven-way conversations and children voicing their needs - all at once!  Yet, it felt relaxed, constructive and organised.  

 Jobs were detailed and everyone selected a role they felt like doing.  Patterns of pads were traced onto cloth and cut.  Cloth cut outs were then sewn and turned.  Sewn cloth was then pressed with the raw edge turned under.  

 Patterns of boosters and PUL were traced and cut out.  PUL was then stitched onto the booster.  The booster was then overlocked. 

Cloth bunting, courtesy of cotton tightarsery.

The open end of the pad was then sewn closed, where I learned the most amazing thing!  Cotton tightarsery!  Have you heard of it??!  The saving of cotton (and time!) by running your next project under the needle, right up against the one you've just done!  Genius!  THIS is one of the reasons I LOVE crafting in groups.  The things you learn!  Another friend of mine today learned that the top stitch comes from the reel cotton and the bottom stitch comes from the bobbin cotton.  So, if you are stitching two items together that are different colours, you can match threads *grin*.  She was positively stoked at that revelation.

Anywhere, back to cotton tightarsery...!  I was so thrilled in learning this concept, all I talked about for the rest of the afternoon was tightarsery.  In all honesty, I loved the word as much as I loved the concept *laugh*.  So, thank you Veronica!  I will remember you forever, for that fantastic introduction! *grin*.

Then the final step in finishing the pads - the attaching of the snap press studs and...

Voilà!

So far, we have stitched together a total of 88 cloth pads and 26 boosters.  A huge, awesome effort.  I'm so excited.  The magic number I had in my head to begin with was 100.  So, I have a little more work in store *smile*.  Which to be honest, is not actually work.  I have thoroughly enjoyed every part of this process.  I'm looking forward to stitching up a few more *smile*.

Not too long after the sewing goddesses had bundled their machines and children into their cars and zoomed off home, I was blessed with the company of two gorgeous women (and one scrumptious wee boy) for dinner for three in-house.  *sigh*

Dining in is such a wonderful concept.  Especially when your dinner date brings with her all the ingredients to make a divine Thai chicken curry, then promptly takes over the kitchen while you sit watching in delight, sipping white wine.  I know!  How ace is my life??!!  *laugh*

Delectable food, sprinkled with fabulous conversation, followed by more enjoyable conversation and some yarn work (naturally).  We well and truly saw into the next day before my gorgeous guests departed for home.  Such a soul enriching day.  So many delights and so many things to be grateful for.

Some days I feel truly blessed.

May 19th

I am involved in a very special project.

In June, a woman in my community is traveling to Cambodia, with her baby to volunteer with LifeOptions Asia.  An organisation who believes in children and their potential to contribute to change.  Sheree will be working directly with families by teaching them of safe birthing practices, hygiene and encouraging their children to continue attending school.

Many of the girls stop attending school because when they bleed, they don't have sanitary items, so choose to stay home for this time and fall behind in their studies, eventually dropping out, thus continuing the cycle of poverty.

One of the things Sheree is asking for in donations, is washable cloth (therefore reusable!) sanitary pads, enabling the girls to continue their schooling during their cyclical bleed.

I felt very moved to help towards this cause.  Apart from the obvious terrifying thought of not being able to complete my education just because I bleed every month, I have used cloth myself for nearly ten years (in combination with a menstrual cup) and I would never use disposable products again, given the choice.  I  have also sewn every one of the pads I now use.  So this cause was totally doable for me.

Getting started on the cutting.

Today I am grateful for the generosity of friends.

People not necessarily able to spend an afternoon focused on a sewing machine or be surrounded by scissors, pins, needles and oodles of cotton thread due to being responsible for tiny folk - but still wanting to help.  The contribution of fabric, PUL and snaps is just lovely.  And I just heard there's more coming in the post tomorrow!

Looking forward to our day of crafting this Saturday!