Love is.....

knowing you will spend forever with your best friend.

Happy Valentine's day

x x x

If only I had one wish, I'd want a million trillion lifetimes

That I could spend with you ...

Fall in love with you again and again

Let's pretend.

K and I have been playing lots of imaginative games lately. We always do but recently instead of playing "Mum's and Dad's" we are going on dates (shock shock too much Hannah Montana I THINK!!) or my favourite game is the Princess game.

K is just desperate to go and see tangled! We have a girly day planned with Lor and Beebs but we just can't seem to be on the same schedule! In the meantime we are having a lot of fun acting out the snippets that we have seen on the Disney channel.

I like to play let's pretend too

Let's pretend that my baby isn't turning 5 in three weeks time

Let's pretend that I wont get sentimental and cry while looking through baby photos at the time she was born.

Let's pretend that I am not super ecstatic that K has changed her party from Hello Kitty to a pretty little girly Princess party.

Let's pretend that I am actually organised for said party and wont be frazzled and rushing by the night before.

Let's pretend that my BABY isn't going to get any older! She will always stay so little, sweet and loving and we will always be best friends.

Lotsa love

Hello! Is anyone still out there?? I wouldn't blame you all if you had shuffled along to another blog where there are actual posts!

To those who are still hanging on

Thanks for "bearing" with me ;)

As usual , life just seems to be hurtling along at a break neck speed and I can barely keep up! I hit the ground running , when I got home. last Tuesday and have barely paused for breath since.

Oh but how I miss this little corner of my life. I love settling down in the morning, cup of tea in hand and K playing away in the other room. Even if it is just to catch up on my google reader or blogroll. I haven't even had tine to do that! But I must make that time. I will make that time.

I wanted to share a couple of valentines crafts I have done this past week. We don't go all out for valentines, by any strech of the inagination.

But, I guess it is a celebration of love. And for all that is lacking in our home,organisation, regular mopping,the inability to keep pairs of socks together..... there isn't a lack of love. That deserves to be celebrated.

I have been pretty uninspired recently and haven't been able to think of many crafts/activities to do with the kids AND our oven has been broken for a week so no baking either!! Shock! 

So after a little googling, most of the inspiration out there is valentinesy. (ok not a real word but you all know what it means, right?) The kids don't mind the theme, so long as there is messiness, glitter and fun, they're in!

This website popped up and I LOVED it. I found a tutorial for making these sweet little string hearts.

I had everything (almost, I did pinch some wool from Granny Mary) so I pounced on it and we got stuck right in!

It felt great to be up to our elbows in glue!!

It is so easy, I did it with two 4ish year old girls and they loved it too.

First , you draw some hearts on freezer paper, I used greaseproof paper which worked out ok.

Mix some white glue with a little water. I put ours on our little kids Ikea plastic plates, so it wasn't too runny as it didn't pour off, so don't add too much water it still needs to set when it dries.

 dip your yarn/wool into the mixture and then follow the lines of your heart. Filling in the centre with squiggles.

(strange pose optional)

Leave to dry.

Once they are dry the glue has made them hard, so you can hang them.

I used a little ribbon to hang mine up with and then because we had quite a few we made a simple valentines garland.

I just threaded the little heart decorations onto a length of red ribbon.

I also made a little ribbon heart wreath to hang for some extra festivness (is that a word??)

This actually the back of it. I thought it was much prettier than the front!
You could only see the outline of the heart and all of the pretty ribbons that I used from the back, so I hung it up back to front LOL.

.

Happy love day.

ps..I want to apologise to the person who runs the blog I linked to, my computer wouldn't open the page, I previously have een following by reading on my ipod. So sorry I couldnt put the actual link to the tuorial in there. My laptop is a little elderly and she gets very easily confused!

I never know .....

what I might  find when I open the curtains in the morning!

Silly cat! See the basket bulging! LOL



Belfast Baby!

We are back!! The girls have returned to the nest after an adventurous weekend! What a lovely girlie time we had together. But we did miss the boys a whole lot!

K loved the plane. She sat by the window on the way there and fancied herself a wee aisle seat for on the way home. She was a perfect little angel and we had great fun being "weally high in de sky"

K loved her magic lollipops , to help her ears.

Ta-da!! We made it!!

"Mummy! You need to Ta-da too"

The 5am start, kicked in hard!

Lady Heather with Lexi - Poops.

The reunion!

The girls were so happy to see each other!

Our girlie weekend continued with all of the best ingredients.

Shopping!

Some "GLEE-ful" dancing!

A teeny tiny bit of wine.........

.....and maybe a splash more....

What a great night this was.

With an ice skating non-event, some arson and a little bomb scare (ok ok Heather, I know, it was 5 miles away......) our weekend was certainly eventful!!!

It's safe to say, I will never be a city girl! LOL

I had a great time but we were both super glad to tip into our own beds on Monday night.

I think we have maybe been bitten by the bug, who wants to be next for a girly visit???

Time out.

Well I don't know what happened there. I seemed to disappear for almost 2 weeks! I wish I could tell you I had jetted off for an exotic holiday, or that I made a conscious decision to un plug myself from the internet in order to devote myself 100% to my wonderful family.

I didn't.

I have just had nothing to say!! Shock shock! That is not like me!

I have just been lazy, reading other peoples words, hardly even commenting. I can't seem to string a sentence together at the moment, whether it be spoken or written. My brain has shut off.

I still have nothing to say, but my fear is that if I don't even try to write , it may never come back! My darling husband had also mentioned the presence of tumbleweeds rolling through my blog, so I figured some words were better than none!

Through my laziness and inability to finish sentences and remember the words for simple things, I have actually managed to work towards two of my New year's resolutions. Unfortunately for my poor long suffering husband, it isn't the being more organised one!

I have successfully re-joined my slimming class and have lost 5lbs so far.
 I have organised my girlies to consider walking the moonwalk this year to raise money for breast cancer. This is to give me a goal to work towards, if I don't set one then I wont get off my fat buttsky and actually move! So the idea of walking 13.1 miles in June should spur me off the couch and onto the pavements!

I have managed to see a bit more of some family and friends, not only have I met up with them, we have also pencilled in the next get together so we don't reach summer and say - hmm I wonder where all of that time went!

K and I are going away for a girly weekend! We leave early on Thursday morning, or as K says
 " weally eh-uh-lay". It is always more exciting to leave for the airport while it is still dark, don't you think?

We are heading to Belfast, Northern Ireland to stay with our friends. One of my best friends, Heather, completely and totally abandoned me, leaving me feeling unwanted and unloved and without a friend to have coffee with and eat danish pastries with every day and moved back home to Belfast. Our girls were best friends and we all haven't seen each other since April last year!

I'm not sure I'm ready for what she has in store for me! But I will share what I can, so long as there isn't too much tequila involved ...........

All of this taking time and thought for myself has been fun! I even managed to get a haircut (which I love!!!) and bought myself a couple of new things to wear. Having my hair cut has just made me feel like me again, I hadn't even realised that I wasn't feeling like myself.

Inevitably, the mummy guilt is starting to set in , time for me means time away from everyone else. But I feel like I need it at the moment, which will surely benefit us all in the long run. I hope!

And the boys will have fun this weekend right? A boys weekend filled with video games and a lethal weapon movie marathon will keep them smiling I'm sure.

Hopefully this rambling nonsense will stop the tumbleweeds for a few days and maybe the next time I blog will be from the emerald isle!

Playing hooky.

Do you ever read something that just resonates with you. Just nestles down in your brain and you just can't shake it? This happened to me after reading a blog post in December. Well, really just the essence of the blog post. I'm sure the blogger really needs no introduction, Kelle Hampton, from enjoying the small things. I like reading her blog, it is a little guilty pleasure I have.

In December she wrote about feeding the wolf. The quote , she used, just stuck in my mind.

There is an ancient Native American story about an old Cherokee who told his grandson about the battle that goes on within us. "My son," he told him, "Inside every one of us dwells two wolves, one evil, one good. The evil one is angry and jealous, full of regret and arrogance, greed and sorrow, guilt and self-pity. The other is good. He is kind and loving, full of hope and peace, joy and compassion."
The young boy thought about it for a moment. "Which wolf wins?" he asked his grandfather.
The old Cherokee smiled and simply replied, "...the one you feed."

I have a day off work today. I had a huge plan of what I was going to do. I was going to tidy and clean K's bedroom, find a place for all of the toys she received at Christmas time and move the furniture around a little. I would hoover my floors and scare them with the mop for a change. I would use this time practically , sensibly.

This morning I woke up to a grey , rainy day. A grumpy boy and a loud and slightly crazy girl. I have come down and sat at the laptop to drink my cup of tea and eat breakfast.

The sky is clearing, the day is looking brighter. So I have decided I am going to play hooky. I'm gonna grab my best girl, we are gonna head out somewhere for a girly morning. Peeking into shop windows and maybe a bite out for lunch.

Then I am going to drop her off at nursery and I am going to visit with my Joe boy and breathe in his yumminess.

I am going to feed my good wolf.

I don't know how to have a house that isn't full of toys and laughter, crumbs and scraped knees. My home was full from the start. I am more than ok with that! Tidying my house just doesn't feed my soul in the same way as impromptu mornings out with my girl.

There will be many years ahead of me where all of the rooms in my house are tidy and organised. Where things will still be where I left them, where everything will be as it was when I left for the day.

The thought of those days make me want to enjoy these days even more.

So I am taking my last sip of tea, I am going to grab my handbag and my girly girl and we are off to find some moments that will feed my good wolf. He is hungry.

 

I may have gone and done it.

Every year I choose a special Birthday dress for K. It is given to her as part of her gift. And in the world of Kirsten, a pretty dress may be one of the best gifts there is.

This year, I am going to attempt to make this very special dress.

But in planning to do so I may have made a fatal error.

I have resisted the temptation for the year and a half that I have been sewing.

I am afraid that I may have unleashed a beast, have started on a slippery slope.

I will whisper just two words

Amy Butler.

**Sigh**

At least I can remember what I bought it for!

In the haze.

I am thankfully feeling a lot better today. Still not 100% but somewhat human. I have been able to climb back onto the Hamster Wheel and it feels oh so good.

It is nice to be sat at my kitchen table again , instead of laying on the couch. A warm drink in my hand and a tub of grapes (replacing the biscuits) for some snacking while I read through my blog list.

I have been unable to sleep the past few nights, not being able to breathe if I was anything but bolt upright, kind of made it tricky to tip myself into slumberland. So as I lay there trying to drift away, my silly silly brain starts thinking of all the fun projects I could get up to. I am at my most creative while I can't do anything about it! I then feel a little cheated when life gets back to normal and I don't ever find the time to do these "amazing" projects.

Apparently at some point in this haze, I decided upon an ingenious project. I am sure it was something that just popped into my head. Like a lightbulb going off!

Photo sourced through google images

 I probably pressed and stitched every seam in my mind , all the while wishing I was able to jump up and get going.

I really should sleep with a notepad by the bed. I really should have written down this idea. Because for the life of me I can't remember what it was! It had to be a corker though, because I just received an email to say that the 3 metres of medium weight , white, iron - on ,fusible interfacing that I ordered, has been shipped. Ha ha ha! I have no recollection of ordering this! But there it is. In My ebay, paid for through paypal and everything!

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I may have been creating in my crazy sick person haze??

Lying low

I'm sick. Again.

I have been more sick this autumn/winter than I have been for a long time. This time it's tracheitis and not tonsilitis. You know, just for a wee change.

I've been doing lots of laying on the couch under my quilt that I FINALLY finished!

Probably some master quilter would have a fit if they stumbled across this quilt!

I wanted it to be completely random but  co ordinating. I made it up as I went along.

But is is so warm, comfortable and it looks ever so cheerful, don't you think?

Lying on the couch all day leaves plenty of time for catching up on everyone else's blogs and even adding some new ones to my list.

Hopefully I'll have something to write about soon.

Oh and I think I have decided on a name for my new girl .............

Ina.

It just had to be!

I'm  off to bed now, with a warm drink.