dispelling the myth

It has been quite humorous to hear from some of you about how I must have extra hours available to me because we seem to do so much. Ha! I am surprised you couldn't hear my mother laughing heartily at that suggestion!  For one thing; it is quite well known that I enjoy my sleep, specially in the morning.  I prefer to stay up late and watch crappy tv while I fluff around doing god knows what and then grumble that I have to rise before 9.  The other thing is, well, it all boils down to priorities.  This picture of our dining table, or should I say the table previously known as the dining table should enlighten you.

You see it became quite clear to me on the first day of school holidays (which also happened to be Good Friday) that having Mr Whizzme and Miss Whizzme at home together for days on end was only going to produce a riot of chaos.  My choice? fight it or ignore it.  I chose to ignore it.  There have been days when I have severely regretted this decision.  

I am happy to admit that I am quite the clutter queen with my collections of china and books and knick knacky things, but I do like them to be in. their. place.  I am a what I like to refer to as a pack stylist.  I live by packs.  Packs mean that things can be found - no matter what the occasion. Take my hand bag for example (I use this example as this seems to be quite the in thing in the blog world of late!)

Packs. Emergency pack, pack of wipes, pack of tissues, pack of pencils, small pack with meter change.  Easy to find.

Another example is the boot of my car:

Again packs. Medical pack, art pack, swimming pack, towel pack, shopping pack, beach pack, rain jacket pack*.  I'm sure you are getting the picture.

Anyway, back to the ignoring the chaos challenge.  By the end of Easter I was seriously fighting my urge to pack things away, but I held firm.  Well, I reasoned, Miss Whizzme and I were going to be away for a week anyway, it could wait.  Of course leaving a husband alone in a home with no supervision is just asking for trouble!  And then, we returned with a 5 day count down to Miss Whizzme's birthday party.  Therefore, I must confess that I then not only ignored the mess, I added quite liberally to it.  So, while maybe we might have benefited from having somewhere comfortable to eat our meals, and it would be nice not to have to leap over the washing to get into bed at night, overall I have really, really enjoyed these holidays.  

Tomorrow though, I clean!

Psst! if you want further details click on the photos to see the notes in flickr.

*sometimes the car boot also has an extra

Snapshot

yes it has been a while.  So long in fact, that catching you up with all that has been entertaining the whizzme household of late would be overwhelming to have in one post, so here is just a snapshot.

• Finally cutting into the Liberty, after inspiration from here.
• Easter at home: family painting on Good Friday, eating well, lamb roast on Sunday, Ravelry, Miss Whizzme making her own softie, catching up with an old friend on Easter Monday.
  
• Panda: counseling, and finally a survey online for those of you who have used Panda before.
  
• Down the coast with some friends: time spent drawing, gossiping, eating well, trampolining, more drawing, making sock puppets, laughing, more drawing, a little crochet.
  
• Back home: cleaning up the chaos, making items for Miss Whizzme's party, uploading, washing, reminiscing.
  

Once the newly turned 6 year old returns to school next week I am hoping that posting will resume on a more regular basis.  Well anyway, the best laid plans and all that....

busy work

I have been spending a lot of time with busy work. You know - that work you do when you are studiously avoiding doing something else you should be doing?! Busy work is actually one of my core skills, and I like to show off this skill all to readily. So, most of the weekend was spent busy working all my craft related stuff that has been scattered throughout the house, into neat, like-with-like containers.  All sewing needles in one box, all embroidery thread in another, bobbin's in the nifty bobbin holder,  sewing machine bits in a special sewing machine bits box. It is such a cleansing process, and most certainly needed to be done. I mean, it was way more important than those things burning permanently into my to do list. Way more.

Last night it was the books in the house turn.  Of course I started this task at 8.30pm. But now all the knitting books are together, the sewing books are together, the quilting books together, well, you get the idea.  When I had finally finished, even I had to admit that there probably weren't too many books left that I still needed to add to my collection. Phew luckily, I hadn't admitted this out loud.  Because today the post man delivered this little hoard which I had quite forgotten about.  

Still a few spare spaces left to squeeze them into.  

Now onto making some skirts, oh the possibilities Alison has given me...

To do list? What to do list?!

oh help!

or how nothing goes to plan part 2

Yes the chaos in the Whizzme household continues.  8 nightdresses were made, finally, after me literally sitting up all night to finish them.  It also involved a lot of swearing at the sewing machine! (and I forgot to take photos - arrgh). In between nightdresses I managed a quick alteration of this dress, so that her highness would be appropriately attired for dress up day.  

(Schools know that last minute dress up days drive parents crazy - don't they?!) I then accompanied Mr Whizzme out to his work dinner that night, having no sleep and wearing my newest high heels (no pain no gain).  With no sleep and little practice at wearing such heels I managed to get through the night with no embarrassing moments (bit of a first for me and work dos).  

Yet, still no chance to relax, because I have chosen this hectic month to change just about every room of our house around!  Crazy? - you bet I am!!  Luckily Mr Whizzme is wise enough to know when it is best to humour is wife!  And, although the main moving is done, I am still sorting, culling and putting away all those books and other very important items we own.  The pile in the shed that is ear marked for our storage unit, is getting larger by the day, and the bag of items for the op shop is now beyond lifting.  Nothing like a spring clean in the middle of chaos I say!!  But now it's back to sewing a few more nightdresses, some craft packs, some costumes and maybe a shirt or two.  We leave for Adelaide next Thursday, so plenty of time!!

For those of you who have asked about PANDA, please see their website for more details.  And thank you for all your encouragement.  I am really enjoying adding this work to my life.  Not that it really feels like work.

Finally, I haven't forgotten the giveaway winner, who for November is

Blackie

Please email me (whizzme (at) bigpond (dot) net (dot)au) your snail mail address, and pant size required.

As for December, there just has to be a giveaway - so last chance to leave a comment and win for 2007.  And no matter if you are crafty or not, every one loves treats, so the December giveaway winner will be receiving a package of choccies and other treats.  Get your name in now!

birds

Well today I re-organised the house, room by room, so that everything is now back in the proper place (or where I like it to be anyway, which is really the same thing!). I can never get anything else done unless I feel like there is proper order. Miss L was quite helpful in this monstrous task, and we even made a new rather large collection of things to be given to the op shop. I was very impressed with her ability to let things go because someone else might need it more. We try to do this quite regularly, the rule originally being "if you get something new, then something old has to go". But sometimes rules do not apply, or so I've been told by 4 year old Miss L!

Anyway, after completing this detoxification I thought that I deserved some 'me' time, so I got out my journal and my new graphite pencils. I haven't drawn for a very long time (doodled, but nothing specific) and I was very nervous about what would appear from the end of my pencil. I have been harbouring an eagerness to join illustration friday but thought some practice was required first. Hence the purchase of some new lead drawing pencils. This is what emerged, no.1 dream and no.2 scared:

I then moved on to number 3 and decided to use my new Derwent coloured pencils too, so no.3 asleep:
I am quite happy with these first three, so think I'll keep playing around with them this week. Next I'm going to learn Illustrator, but that might be a little way off for now.

Off now to do some more beanie knitting. It's getting cold....