a sailor went to sea sea sea

 

Things have been a little quiet on my blog lately

as I have been helping my son get organised

for his new life in the Navy.

 

There have been many , many interviews over 2 years

and lots of planning to be done.

 

I had a surprise send off for him on the weekend with

over 80 people , we had such fun!

 

Can you imagine some of these being able to keep a secret?

 

They did and it is because my boy is such a well liked

kid they wanted it to be fantastic for him.

 

 

I could not be more proud of my son Jack

and so sad but happy for him at the same time.

 

The family are all going to send him off at Melbourne

on the weekend so if you don't hear from

me it's because I'm sobbing or cleaning his room

or probably sobbing at the state of his room.

 

Either way I know I'll be sobbing.

 

Yep sobbing now.

 

Gosh I love this kid and I'm going to miss him so much.

 

 

 

not much. too much.

 

Crazy , crazy week here.

 

When life gets so busy and stuff is going on

the only solution is to post a rabble

of totally unrelated photos and say hi!

 

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

umbrella prints trimming competition

 

Last year I didn't get my entry in on time

for The Umbrella Prints Trimming Competition.

 

Even though I've known for ages that this few weeks

at my place is going to be frantic with

stuff going on I still really wanted to join in.

 

I bought my packet of trimmings months ago.

 

Yes I did say months.

 

I finally got something together last night watching

the Blues win Origin.

Maybe I was good luck for them ??

 

Anyway if you like my wonky balloon a little bit

you can vote for my entry by pinning it

when it goes on the board in the next few days.

Go here to see all the creations.

 

I hope someone pins my poor balloon.

 

Edited ~ Amy has just informed me that we need

to comment on the pins we like.

 

choc chip muffins

 

Choc chip muffins are very easy to make

and taste much, much nicer than packet made ones.

 

They freeze well too so you can make a

double batch and always have some

ready for lunchboxes or afternoon tea.

 

You will need ~

2 cups of sifted s/r flour

2/3 cup castor sugar

100g melted butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 cup of milk

2/3 cup choc bits.

 

Mix it all together with a whisk.

Spoon into muffin cases and bake at 180c

for about 20 minutes.

Makes 12 largish muffins.

 

I told you they were easy!

 

 

give me a sign

 

I love the cheerful signs that people have in their homes.

Sometimes though I feel they may be a bit twee for our home.

 

 

Also considering this newspaper clipping

that has been hanging on our lounge room wall

for years and has become a bit of a favourite

may show just what sort of loopy family we are. 

 

So I think we may just go with our new favourite.

After all we do have teenagers.

show us your crafty bits

 

I'm so easily distracted.

I got side tracked for a bit doing the

Blog a Day with Claire

and I'm going to get back to that.

Then of course paid employment always

 gets in the way of crafting.

 

 

But then I came across this stool at Vinnies for 10c

and there was no way I was leaving that behind.

 

So I taped over the tears in the vinyl

 

covered it in some pretty fabric

 

added a bit of pom pom trim

(I painted the plain silver upholstery tacks

in glittery green nail polish)

and now the cat and I are both happy.

 

Well mostly happy as I know the tacks are not all straight.

Anyway .....

 

Don't forget if you look to the right you can see my Instagram

link and I'd love it if you found me there.

 

day 4 ~ your earliest memory

 

Let me just say right now I admit

that as a child I was a monster.

 

Even before I was out of nappies I was running away.

What child does this to their parents?

 

My poor mother was forever adding latches

to the doors to lock me in and had to constantly

have me in her sight as I would just take off.

 

The running joke saying in our family  is

"Where's Clare?"

 

This leads me to my earliest memory...

I was standing on the kitchen table in my grubby bare feet

being told very sternly by the local policeman

that I wasn't to run away again.

 

My latest adventure had been that I went to visit my dad

at work but I couldn't find him so I went to the beach.

I have no idea how long I had been gone or how I got

home but I do know that was definitely not my last escape.

 

Oh did I mention my father was a nurse at Long Bay Gaol?

Not really the place for a barefoot child to give her dad a surprise visit.