live, love, laugh...

my new pendant to celebrate life ovaryless!

Looking Up

2009 has been a tough year for me, for regular followers I don't have to go into details. For new followers, You'll just have to take my word for it. But with 2009 almost over, it's time to start looking up, and thinking about all the good things that next year will hold.
To start with there is Jamie Oliver - well, 20 hours of Jamie courtesy of Mr Sew Funky who brought me his box set for Christmas!

Then there are the new friends I've made since moving to Pukekohe. Friends like Helena who gave me some lovely flowers, just to brighten my day!

Then there's the vegetables. Mr Sew Funky seems to have found his green fingers, and the tomato plants are showing promising signs of fruit!

More immediate is the broccoli - this beauty will probably be on our dinner plates this week!

Last but definitely not least, there is Henry. Henry is one of the surviving kittens and he's become quite attached to me, as I have to him...

exhausted

This is exactly how I feel today.  Yesterday was a very long day, as Briahna went in for her long awaited tonsillectomy.  We waited 2.5 hours just for her to go into the operating room and then of course there was the 4 hour wait until she was able to go home after the surgery.  During this time I was unable to contact my normally contactable hubby because his cellphone was playing up (unbeknownst to both of us at the time - I thought he had it switched off and he thought it was working).  Needless to say it all added up to a very stressful day! 

Briahna came through the op well, but is in a lot of pain!  And last night was very sleepless as we had to give her her pain med's every four hours.  It felt a lot like having a newborn again, glad that's all over - hehe!

Needless to say - I am totally exhausted!  And after her 10am med's I think I might join her for a little naptime.

On a little sidenote, unrelated to the above, look at what I won during Angelique's Blogtoberfest giveaway!

Blue Bunny

Included with him will be a little parcel of pacific goodness all the way from New Caledonia! YAY!  I'm such a lucky girl.  I've loved the No Life Without Wife blog for a while now - if you've never seen it, go check it out!

D.

My name is sewfunky...

and it's been almost a month since I last posted.

It's funny how easy you can get out of the practise of blogging - way too easy!  Especially when I really didn't think I had anything good to post about.  This year has definately been my annus horribilis, it can't get much worse than losing a parent.

I have been working on just getting through the rest of the year.  In December, I am going to be having a radical hysterectomy because I carry the BRCA1+ genetic mutation.  It's a little scary and I just wish that I had my Mum around to help me deal with the decisions that have needed to be made.  I have put on hold the decision of whether or not to have prophylactic mastectomies.  That's just too hard...  I am feeling a lot of peace though!  God is good, and He is helping me...

Anyway, I have missed you all and I really want to get back to having fun with crafting.  It's nice to have something to take the mind off it all!

I am planning on doing a couple of local craft markets and am making some neat Christmas decorations and some brooches, cards etc to sell. :)

I hope you all haven't given up on the sewfunky blog, cos I plan on making a comeback real soon!  :)

Birthday Season!

Yep, it's that time of year at our house.  Lot's of birthday going's on's!  A couple of weeks ago it was Hope's and now it's Aimee's turn.  Luckily for Aimee, I think I have my craft mojo back, at least in a small way.

Lookie, what I'm making her for her 11th Birthday tomorrow!

Well, a sneak peak anyway...  still unfinished, but thank God for husbandless evenings, because tonight I'll finish it!

In case you're wondering what it could possibly be...  It's a little case (fur-lined & waterproof resistant) for her Nintendo DS.

Yesterday at craft group my interest in applique was rekindled and I've been at it like crazy since then.  Cupcakes, birds, flowers all excitedly stitched.  So, lets hope the craft creativity drought is finally over because I am getting sick of reading novels hastily chosen from the local library!  There's a season for everything, but I was going a little crazy there!

Hope life's treating you well,

D.

the forecast looks good...

Saturday

5° | 14°

So far the forecast is for mostly sunny weather on the day we move! YAY!

Being winter at the moment makes shifting house difficult. So hopefully the predictions
are correct! :)

UPDATE:
The weather forecast now looks like this - even better, but I do wonder why the change in
just 5 hours.

Saturday

3° | 12°

Oh, and by the way, this is my 500th post and to celebrate I'll be doing a giveaway once I'm
settled in the new house, so keep an eye out in a few weeks time!!

D.

real good

I am beginning to get excited about the shift, more and more so as I pack up the house! :)

Yesterday, I discovered this bag full of buttons.  Now, I thought I'd discovered all the buttons I'd had around the house and organised them into jars.  I was mistaken.

Today, I rang the schools to organise enrolment (and leaving) of the eldest and youngest (the middle daughter get's to stay at her current school!).  It's such a good feeling to know they'll be going to good schools within walking distance of the new house!  Really good! :D

So it's all coming together, just a few more (say 20 or so) boxes to pack and come Saturday we'll be on our way!  YAY!

films, a nice distraction...

Today, we all went into the city to watch the new studio ghibli film, ponyo. What an awesome little japanese film. :)

Then to add to the Japanesey theme, we went to a little Japanese shop and I bought this sweet little soy sauce pot, a clear plastic umbrella (for my 12 year old daughter!) and a neat little elephant notebook. I could've spent a whole lot more, but the budget was tight.

All in all, a great way to spend a day in the middle of the school holidays. Especially, when you need a distraction from all the packing going on!

D.

thank you...

for all your kind words of support. 

It certainly has been a very hard month for me, and not a whole lot of crafting has been going on around here.  Grief is a funny thing, it's like a barage of emotions hitting you all at once.  You feel like you won't get through and then surprisingly you do, for that moment, anyway!  I really wouldn't wish this upon anyone.  It has been so very hard and awful.

The flowers are dying now, and I really should get on with packing up the house - we move on July 25th - it's good to be busy.  And I am, really busy, the school holidays are upon us.  I'm shifting house.  My autistic daughter is not coping well with any of what has happened and what is happening ie. the shift.  I think I need a holiday - any offers?! ;)

It has been fab seeing all the family, especially my sister Paula, who I hadn't seen in 12 years!  Funny how it takes something terrible happening to bring people together.  My sister lives in the UK and its ever so expensive to travel between NZ and the UK.  We've both been super busy having kids and raising them.  I guess one day I'll get to travel, when they're all done being raised. :)

Anyway, I'm not sure how active the blog will be while I pack up the house.  So much to do, so little time and all that jazz!

Thank you so much for all your prayers for my family during this most awful time.  I feel truly blessed to be a part of this community of crafty bloggers.  Your're a great bunch - you know!

D.

Blessed Assurance

My Mum passed away on Thursday afternoon at around 4pm. I was lucky to be there when she passed away, and she will be missed terribly by me. How hard to imagine life without her.

She was a follower of Jesus, and I know that there's a party going on in heaven right now, but I miss her. Alot. Her death was a shock, unexpected, even though she was ill.

Yesterday morning, I woke up with this old hymn in my head. I didn't know any of the words, except for the title - Blessed Assurance.


From wikipedia;


vs.1
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.


vs.2
Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
(Refrain)

vs.3
Perfect submission, all is at rest!
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with his goodness, lost in His love.
(Refrain)

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support.

D.

Postscript;
It would have been my mothers 58th birthday today. Not sure how to handle anything. Just living moment to moment.

sad day...

packing up the craft room.

I know that I will have another one in the new house, but... it's still sad to see most of it packed away!  You can see a peek of my sewing machine that's still out, but that too will be packed away. :(

I am going to need to do something crafty over the next month, just for sanity, and I'm thinking of knitting some socks. :)

We still haven't found a house to move into, which is stressful.  The house we wanted last week fell through at the last minute and so we are back to square one on the search.  I do have some news though, and that is we are looking to move to Pukekohe!  YAY!  It will be so good to be living close to some good schools that the girls will be able to walk to! :)  We will be looking at a couple more houses there tomorrow, so wish us luck.

D.

Aaaaargh!

Yep, that image represents the last few weeks I've had.

Lot's has been going on around here, but the gist of it all, is that we are shifting house, getting a new car, and possibly the girls will be starting new schools. Also, my mother, who just came back from Pakistan has been in a perilous health condition in hospital. Aaaargh!

And this is why the blog has been so quiet. Life totally got away from me, and still will for at least another month. We still have to find a new house to live in, and I totally want to move somewhere nice. :) Ideally, it would be at least 4 bedrooms (think space for a craftroom!) and would have a yard for the girls to run around in.

I appreciate any prayers that you may make on behalf of me and my family at the moment - it's totally what is keeping my head glued together!

Missing you all heaps!

D.

I hate to drive...

but I love google and the internet!

Look what I found...

when I was thinking about how much I hate to drive after this mornings trip to school.

I sometimes wonder why we decided to put our girls into a little country school when I have to drive there and back, twice a day. Cos, I HATE TO DRIVE!

Need to move closer to their school!

Postscript;
And, yes, this means SCHOOLS BACK! :)

Not sure what to do with myself, now that they're back doing what they're good at. Last night, Briahna begged me to homeschool her again! I homeschooled them for FOUR years, and they've been at school now for almost two years. Does she think I'm a sucker for punishment?! ? Actually, those four years were some of the best years of my life. I got to know my girls really well during the best hours of the day! But I don't think I'll be wanting to give up my crafting days and ways to school them anytime soon...

This week will be interesting and restful as Aimee has respite on both Tuesday and Friday, which means I'll be getting a well-deserved break! In fact, we are heading into relaxing May, with two retreat's planned for ME! and three respite days for Aimee. God is good, because I really need some treat me well time! I'm sure it's He who organised this coming month as I only just put two and two together and figured out the respite times last night, I'd been looking at just March/April and May/June as seperate letters, and not together as April/May! LOL :)

oh, the possibilities...

goodbye to the old...

hello to the new!

Yesterday, we picked up the new car, a little european opel vita. She's cute and a whole lot smaller than the old beast! Can you see me smiling at being able to say goodbye to the chariot?! Of course we can only just fit the family in the vita! But as we are trying to conserve petrol and the planet wallet, I don't think it will cause too many problems that we can't get over easily! Hehehe!!!

Look at the damage the wee costly nose to tail caused to our car... It's scary how quickly and easily damage can be done!

Space is at a premium in our new wee car, so look what I made as soon as I got home!

I'm gonna make another one for the other seat, too. I made a boxed bottom and a hidden pocket so that the kids can stash their stuff when we're in the car!

and because Honey is just so photogenic, I couldn't help but add another pic to the post...

Already, Aimee's used it to stash her current read, Roald Dahl's BFG! So looks like it's gonna be handy! :)

Postscript...
New dishcloth for the cloth of the month will be posted either today or tomorrow. It's been designed and is just waiting for me to type up the pattern and photograph the proto-type! The beginning of the month has gotten away on me, what with the excitement of birthdays and new cars...

tired...

tired

1. In need of some rest or sleep.
2. Fed up, annoyed, irritated, sick of.
   
   

   I'm tired of this

3. Overused, cliché.
   

   a tired song

I am just so "all of the above", it's not funny!

We are in the process of buying/finding a new car, and that's so tiring!  We have a budget and a type of car in mind.  I want a hatchback car, that's economical and fairly good looking.  We currently have a Mitsubishi Chariot, but with 7 seats it's big, cumbersome, and un-economical.  So we had a look around some car yards this afternoon and I remembered what I HATE about buying cars.  The car dealers, the sheer cost difference between yards, all the decisions and feeling rushed at every point.  I think that we are wiser this time around, but it's still hard for me not to want to buy the first thing I see that I like.  I get so sick of the crap!

And, we are also trying to organise some respite care for Aimee.  It has taken since May last year to get to the interview stage with the social worker yesterday.  Then I had to fill out screeds of forms that just took the stuffing out of me.  Having to remember and put into words what her behaviour is like on a daily basis was very difficult.  It will be good to be able to have a break from her, especially so that we can focus a little more on her sisters for a couple of nights a month.  We all need it! 

She is a wonderful kid, who comes up with amazing thoughts and "wisdom", but her constant behavioural needs are getting us all down.  She said the other day, out of the blue, as usual, that the car indicator's were speaking to her.  When I asked what they were saying she said, they say - food dis-order, food dis-order, food dis-order...  Listen to them next time you're in the car and you may just find yourself agreeing with her... ;)

Then there's my almost 9 year old's birthday sleepover I have to prepare for on Saturday night.  Four little girls giggling into the night...  the things we do for our kids!  I am hoping to do a little craft maybe make some softies and have mini makeovers think pink fingernails and lips.  It should be fun, especially if I can farm my other two girls out...

Hope you are all faring better than I. 

overdone...

I'm just feeling a little overdone at the moment, what with all the giveaway's I've been entering and holding on the blog, my new etsy store, the kids starting back at school etc. So I've decided in an effort to "just say when", I'm going to make myself have an enforced timeout this weekend.

Today is Waitangi Day here in NZ, so it's a long weekend and I really feel the need to reconnect to my family and to the sun... ;)

Mr Sew-Funky is talking about a re-do on the design of this blog, and so keep an eye out for that over the weekend. But as for me, I shall be silent... or at least I will try to be.

Saying when...

UPDATE: New Design put in place, now I (Mr Sew Funky) have to move all the links etc back!!
UPDATE: Menu items on orange bar finished, fixed search function, slowly adding content to side bar.

mysterious goings on...

Well, maybe not so mysterious, and yet...

I finally received my Christmas present from Mr Sew-Funky and it's a goodie, even if it is over a month late! :D

try to ignore the fact that you can see up my nose!

I am loving this book, and can't wait to try out some of the recipes! It's collated by colour, which I find very intriguing. If you haven't seen it before, get it out from your local library that's what I did, and I so liked it that I asked for it for Christmas!.

In other mysterious going on's, we discovered that the female kitten we brought home is not very female and in fact is a male! So we've had to go through a name changing ceremony. Sophia is just too girly a name. This time I opted for a "sex-less" name and he now goes by the name of Pickle! :)


Oh well, we probably do need a little more testosterone in our house, especially since it's so estrogen filled. We have 4 female human's, 2 female cats, 1 female dog and 3 female chickens compared with 1 male human and 2 male cats! Yep, we can be glad he's a boy! :D

Not much crafting going on here, just spending lots of time with the girls before they're all back at school next week!

Don't forget to enter my OWOH giveaway!

If you want to know more about the giveaway or want to enter some more take a look at the gypsy caravan! At the time of writing this post, there are 660 giveaway's going on. It's huge!!

And the peace was shattered...

It's almost back to normal in our crazy household, and hard to remember that we had 2 weeks without kids now! Back to chaotic happiness I guess...

Today was a holiday because it was Auckland Anniversary Day. Usually we spend the weekend hot, tired and with ringing ears but this time we opted for picking the girls up and spending the rest of the weekend at home. Must be getting old! Hehehe!

We got very productive in the garden and hopefully in a month or so we'll be eating fresh vege's straight out of the earth! It's all rather exciting, and great seeing Mr. Sew-Funky doing manly things outside. If you knew/know him, you'll understand what I mean! ;)

in the beginning...

I only hope our vegetables don't die because I am probably the only one in my family without green fingers or thumbs... Where is my sister Erica when I need her??

Filmguide | Bridewars

Check out my new review over on filmguide...

I went to see Bride Wars, the new Kate Hudson/Anne Hathaway film tonight! :)

Loved Kate Hudson, she reminds me so much of my friend Juanita! Not that, that was enough to make me love the film... ;)

peace...

My peace is about to be shattered tomorrow, when the girls finally come home from their holidays at the beach. I am looking forward to it, two weeks of quiet is long enough!

It's been great to feel childless for a bit, we've caught up with a few old friends, watched lots of movies at the cinema! ;), and it's been nice to only have to think for myself for a bit.

So today is about preparing myself, and the house, for the children's imminent return. I did very little housework while they were away, preferring to hold close the mantra of "life's too short to clean". I now realise I need to get a little organised, vacuum the house and put stuff away!

I'll probably be a little quiet on the blog for a few days. Today, I'll clean, tomorrow, I'll be travelling all day 4 1/2 hours drive each way :( and Sunday and Monday will be spent loving the girls!

Don't forget to enter my OWOH giveaway!

If you want to know more about the giveaway or want to enter some more take a look at the gypsy caravan! At the time of writing this post, there are 400 giveaway's going on. WOW!!