My audience of three

Until recently I used to worry about why people were no longer reading my blog posts. I know this from my blog stats delivered each month to my inbox. They tell me I have a regular audience of 3, which I can pretty much guarantee are my mum, my sister and my best friend. Like I said, until recently these stats would have caused me some agony over why, what to do, etc, etc.

2010 has become my year of reflection, not by my choosing, but nonetheless many insights have been gained and lessons learned. One of these insights has been that really I had lost sight of my reasons for blogging and in turn my blogging audience. When I started blogging several years ago it was to provide regular stories about my crafty dalliances and our lives in Melbourne. My audience was then 3, yes those same three who I no longer could share regular physical get togethers as they all reside in Adelaide. Over time I, somewhat surprisingly, gained other readers and an a new online community open upped to me. The excitement of finding like minded people encouraged me to blog more, to read more blogs, to join this community. However, at the same time I was battling post natal depression and as has now become apparent blogging became a way to hide from my daily struggles. Spending much of my time online became not quite an obsession but a habit.

As part of my recovery from PND I began to back away from my online world. My real world needed my attention, my involvement. It has taken a long time to regain a balance between my real and my online communities. It has taken a toll on some of my personal relationships. A toll that I now look on with sadness and bewilderment. Reflection has felt like I have had my blinkers and rose colored glasses removed. It felt brutal to start with but as sometimes can be the case, a good dose of reality has become strangely liberating. So now I feel I can blog with more freedom again, as I am aware that these posts are really for an audience of 3. But for those of you that also drop by from time to time, I heartily thank you for providing some bonus online hugs!

Until the next post, x Sam

i've been a little bit naughty*

(photo by Carlos Porto, found on flickr)

Books, books, and more books.  In case you hadn't noticed I really love books. I did a quick scan and realise that there have been 14 previous posts on books.  There have also been some photos supplying evidence of my book collections.  But there is no such thing as too many books. Well not in my world anyway, and, thankfully Mr Whizzme has nothing to say on this subject (which is quite amazing given how much he has to say on most other things!)  Anyway, today I discovered a like minded soul who likes to have several books on 'the go'.  Over the years I have been asked about this bigamous reading habit a lot.  I know many people prefer to read one book at a time, cover to cover, until beginning the next.  And, yes, sometimes I do too.  But generally, I like to have a selection next to the bed, so that no matter what mood takes me, I have a suitable book.  Don't get me wrong, this habit can have its down sides;  it can take a long time to finish a book,  sometimes I have to re-read bits because I've forgotten the gist of the story line between readings, and some books can sit on the bedside stack never being chosen, forgotten, neglected, buried beneath more recent purchases.  Our discussion of this phenomena led to confessions of the books we currently have waiting for their reading moment.  I thought this would make a interesting meme (and has probably been done before but I missed it).  So, in no particular order here is my list of current books that keep me company in bed.

• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (about a third read, my favourite read this week)
• A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Sonit (purchased after reading about it on Keri's blog, and have been randomly reading chapters)
• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (recently finished and kept because I still have book questions to answer)
• The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall (recent purchase - not yet started)
• The Dressmaker's Daughter (another recent purchase not yet started)
• The Art of Domesiticity by Jane Brocket (about 2/3 read, my second favourite read this week)
• Australian Story - off the record (also a recent purchase not yet read)
• The Meaning of the Night by Michael Cox (bought from the secondhand bookstore because it looked good, but haven't started it yet)
• The Bay by Di Morrissey (present from Mum at Christmas, but haven't looked at yet)
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (a favourite of mine, and there in case I need a book to read to Miss Whizzme when she is sharing my bed if Mr Whizzme is out of town)
• A Vintage Ladybird Annual (same as above)
• The Passionate Shopper by Marion van Alderstein (a gift from Mr Whizzme that I love dipping into)
• Agatha Christie by Andy Easts (a vintage quiz book given to me by a friend who knows how much I love the queen of crime although the quizzes are quite hard!)
• On Friendship by Michel de Montaigne (a gift from the best friend - I just like looking at the cover)
• A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (also a gift from the best friend, but have only read a few pages so far)
• Crochet Handmade Style (a little inspiration, and for when I'm too tired for words)
• It's in the details by Lucinda Ganderton (there for the same reason as the previous book)
• Book Lust by Nancy Pearl (in case I'm hunting for a particular book)
• So Many Books so Little Time by Sara Nelson (purchased a long time ago, keep meaning to read it one of those buried at the bottom of the pile books)
• Then there is the magazine pile which includes the lastest issue of Frankie, the last few issues of Dumbo Feather, some Marie Claires, an Australian Country Style, and an older issue of Home Companion.
  

Phew! No wonder my little reading light's batteries keep needing replacement!

Well, that's me, now I wonder what these people have on their bedside tables?

Stacey, Jodie, Martine

or feel free to play, but please let me know so I can check it out too.

*If you are Mr Whizzme don't read any further because it good cause you some distress.

I visited one of my favourite, very well stocked, book stores today and spent a while in absolute bliss finding new titles to add to my book list.  In fact, the sales assistant was feeding me so many 'have you seen this one' titles even I became a little overwhelmed. So, it probably would come as no surprise to learn that this visit unearthed two titles which have been burning holes in my book list for a while now.  They. Had. To. Be. Purchased.  I know you understand...

best friending

Ok, so we are back, and reality can hit hard! After a weekend of sleeping in, nosing in shops, eating too much, watching movies, enjoying the winter sun and a lot of chocolate, all without children or partners, it can be really hard to be back into the routine of school runs, washing, cleaning, cooking, you know all the usual daily tasks. I hate to rub it in, but the weekend really was sublime! The house we rented through Daylesford Getaways (who I would highly recommend) was kitted out with two large queen size bedrooms, both with ensuites, large living area with open fire and window day bed, and gas ducted heating through out (pictures here). We celebrated our arrival by lighting the fire and preparing a large bowl of chocolates!!
I won't bore you with a blow by blow account of the weekend, but some of the highlights were,
- being able to read the entire paper on Saturday morning, in peace
- lounging on the daybed in the winter sun reading and knitting

- finding funny little shops with funny little items for sale
- finding the local yarn store (Purl's Palace) with enticing goodies and welcoming chairs around a fire

- eating the best chocolate cake at Koukla
- enjoying a little too much champagne and red wine
- eating dinner at Frango's & Frango's

- sleeping in
- visiting the Convent Gallery

- meeting 'Bob' at the local market
- buying hats from Bob and his wife Shiena at their wonderful shop in Gordon
- getting a large welcome home from Miss L when I returned Sunday night.
There will be more photos on Flickr. I wish we could do this more often - maybe a plan?

But back in reality again I must finish and get ready for another day of routines tommorrow, with hopefully just a little bit of crafting. Stay on the lookout, as a giveaway will be coming soon.
P.s. for Caroline - see I am reading my book group book!

where is she?

She, I mean I (R mentioned the other day that we, as in him and me, need to stop referring to ourselves in the 3rd person for Lucy, like, mum doesn't like it when... or mum thinks..., anyway I'm off topic already so let's leave this!) so I, have been neglecting this poor little blog... again. And I truly apologise for not responding to any comments, I will try to get to them soon. I am sure, however, you will all be relieved to know I've been having a wonderful time in my absence though!! You see, (here come the excuses) my best friend and her family are living in my town for 6 months, so we are trying to do as much as we can, while we can, lovely I hear you say! Oh yes, but now we are down to the last weeks, weeks and there is still so much we planned to do! Not that I'm panicking. No, I just realised that it was much easier to let everything else slide and do what I did for exams - cram! Therefore, the rest of this post will be all about our long weekend away, to Apollo Bay, a beautiful part of the Victorian Great Ocean Road, even if a little nippy in June. What did we do? Well, you know the usual, eating, drinking, playing, eating, drinking, reading, eating, shopping, walking, eating, dvd's, drinking... I'm sure you get the picture, and here are the pictures.


Tree top walk in the Otway Ranges
fascinating collections of fungi
buying gourmet finds, sampling local cafe, finding new friends, enjoying the beautiful sunshine in Biregurra

But you see one weekend is not enough for moi, so we are off again this weekend to explore Daylesford. The best part of this weekend being it is just us two girls. So the weekend is more likely going to be, talking, eating, talking, drinking, talking, shopping, talking, walking, talking....

Since I am neglecting you, I feel I should be at least leaving some enticing links for you to explore, but I haven't even had time to browse the web. I'm sure you all know how to amuse yourselves though until I get back from best friending, like, buy a dog!?

a superhero, a fairy princess and a handbag

Today was all about a care package for my best friend who is having a horrible week, or even month. Tomorrow is going to be a chaotic, horrid day, so I thought a care package might bring her and her two beautiful munchkins some sunshine. Of course this being me, I left it to today to pull the whole thing together!

I bought a t-shirt weeks ago to make H a superhero shirt with cape and this time I wanted to try that freezer paper thing that did a great tutorial for. But leaving it for posting today sort of canned that idea, so I quickly printed out an iron transfer, which actually came up okay.


Next a little fairy dress for E. Again I've had the tulle and tank top hanging around for a few weeks. So first I sewed on the tulle, sleeve ruffles and ironed on some flowers. Okay done. Until I held it up and you could see right through the tulle - not every little fairy wants to show off her underpants! So I hunted through the fabric stash and found some lilac chiffon to add a little modesty skirt!! A few quick sequin addtions and da dah.
And thankfully about a month ago I had a spurt of making handbags, so J's bag just needed a few final stitches and an iron.


I really like these bags, so must get to and finish the other 6!!
So after a solid afternoon I managed to get the whole thing posted before 6 pm in an express bag, so it will reach them tomorrow. I hope it does bring some sunshine for them.
Now off to do several swaps I've organised this week. Hoping to make the post office tomorrow. I'll let you know how that goes....