Feeling hot hot hot

I really like this image from here, it says 'hot' to me!

It's been a really hot week here in Melbourne, breaking 100 year old records. The last three days were 43.4, 44.3 and 45.1 degrees celcius (that's about 110, 112, 113 fahrenheit), a cool change of sorts has arrived in some parts - that is we're only expecting a top of 37 degrees today (98.5) but out our way it's still 39 (102).

I can't complain when we never lost power completely (just had reduced power so the one little vintage aircon unit we have didn't work) and we didn't have threat of fires looming over us like so many other Australians this week. And for a couple of days we were each in the air-conditioned comfort of work or daycare. The nights were uncomfortable (with lows that didn't drop below 25 degrees) and we will have lost a lot of plants; the heat isn't over but hopefully it will be another hundred years before we get another three days of 43+ in a row (somehow with global warming I doubt that).

Cool cool water

What is it about boys? I just adore my boys!

Our new cargo bike

We have been thinking and researching and drooling over options to carry the two kids around for some time now. The option that we felt suited us best was the Dutch Bakfiets however they are very expensive to import to Australia and they only have three gears which would be difficult in our hilly suburban surrounds.

We considered a wee ride on the front plus a seat on the back, we were consistently told a trailer was our best bet but we really didn't want one. Safety, manouverability, communication with the kids, the fact it's a pvc sweat box were all downfalls in our opinion and even though you see them advertised everywhere we haven't seen many being used in our travels and the people we know who've had them say they're horrible.

So when Tavis came across a bloke in Ballarat doing his own import of what looks very much like a Bakfiets but with 8 gears at about a third of the cost it didn't take us long to place our order and the glorious "big bike" has already arrived and been built.

I love it, Tavis loves it, the boys love it (so far). I can see a lot more cycling in our future and a lot more blog posts too :)

Change

My baby (12 months old) started daycare today. Rohan (3 yrs) has been going there since he was 13 months old and loved it from day one, he was excited this morning to be going back to 'school' and was happy to now be in the big kids' room (3-5 yrs).

So today Angus just went in for a few hours for orientation, he was an angel the whole time we were there and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I left the room for half an hour or so at a time so he got a chance to know the carers which was great. At morning tea he enjoyed sitting at the table with the other kids, in a special little chair rather than a highchair, and he fed himself chunks of fruit. At lunch he was happy to be fed by one of the carers and ate three helpings of lunch and two of dessert! Then I whisked him home and straight into bed as he usually has a morning sleep. Three hours later and he is still asleep!

I have the day off work to take Angus in for orientation so during this unheard of only-one-child-at-home-having-an-amazing-three-hour-sleep thing that's happening today I made a padded seat cover for our neeeeeeeew bike! The seat part is only half the job, I need to do a backrest as well, so I can't say I've completed my January project yet but I'm half way there. Here's the seat cover. More on the bike later.

Planning

photo credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Planning to learn new skills and setting a timeline is a brilliant idea I read on this blog and it's inspired me to come up with a plan of my own. I love structure and deadlines so although I am inclined to resist committing myself when I am already so busy (and hate the thought of setting myself up for failure) I think having a timeline will inspire me to make more of an effort. It was also one of my New Year's resolutions to make better use of my time and this is a good way to keep me on track.

Some new skills I'd like to acquire and projects I'd like to try are:

Jan - sew a padded seat cover for our new bike
Feb - make my own pasta dough
Mar - learn to crochet
April - sew an item of clothing for myself
May - knit a vest for Angus
June - make my own bread (learn how to do it and keep doing it)
July - try quilting
Aug - something to do with photography
Sept - grow some plants (food) we haven't tried growing before
Oct - plan homemade Christmas gifts and get started
Nov - make Christmas cards and gift tags with the boys
Dec - 'do' advent for the first time to make Christmas really special

Hopefully this time next year I'll be able to make a mosaic like the one above from my own images!

Party dress

I made this party dress last night for one of my friend's daughters (please excuse poor photograph). It's been on my to do list since before Christmas. It's a man's shirt turned into a girl's dress from a great tutorial I found online here. It's the third one I've made but unusually the first two were more successful I think in spite (or perhaps because) of my NEW SEWING MACHINE! Sorry, I didn't mean to shout, I'm just so excited to have a brand new sewing machine that sews in straight lines and doesn't continually sew wads of cotton into the underside of the garment.

Don't get me wrong, I adore my old machine which is not actually mine but my Grandmother's 60's Husqvarna 60 20 that I appropriated from my mother (who just bought me the new one). We used to joke that my Grandmother had the first Husqvarna in Bendigo, which was funny because my family raced motorbikes and cars and Husqvarna are probably more well known for motorcycles than sewing machines; and because of the image of my grandma on a motorbike. Anyway, any faults I could attribute to the machine are my own for two reasons: I do not know how to sew; and I can't recall the machine ever having a service. So before returning the Husky to Mum I'm going to have it serviced by a nice man named Barry I googled in Ringwood. I might link him up and say a bit more about him after I've visited him.

So, back to the dress. I found it a bit difficult to find a suitable shirt for the conversion, which is hardly surprising given that patterns for men's shirts and girl's dresses do tend to differ somewhat. I eventually chose plain white with a nice texture (what's that called when the pattern is in the texture of the fabric? Self something?) and after a couple of weeks I cut it up into the shapes I needed to make the dress. Then it sat there like that for weeks, occasionally being moved around because it was in the way. I eventually got to it last night and turned it into something that was not quite a dress or a top and fitted me! Refusing to give up and go to bed as any sensible person would I cut right up the side seams, repinned it, made it a better (smaller) shape and resewed it. I was so over it by the end that I just guessed the shoulder strap length figuring it could be adjusted later and heck the dress might not fit anyway!

Verdict: Sewing machine - fantastic especially since I haven't read the manual. Easy to use straight out of the box even by a non-sewer. Lovely, straight seams and good tension. I even enjoyed trying a few different stitches. Dress - jury's out. We'll have to see if it fits the girl and if she likes it.

New year's resolutions...

I've never been the New year's resolutions type but I am interested in starting the year with freshness and better habits that have the potential to improve my (and subsequently my family's) well being, and I suppose that's what resolutions are all about. So mine are:

- more water (drink more that is)
- more exercise (I barely do any now so this should not be too difficult)
- better parenting (specifically less yelling/crossness)
- better use of time (ie more craft and photography)

It would probably be a good idea to be more specific and set some goals but let's not go too crazy on this resolutions thing.