My friend random.org has picked a winner of the lovely little tea zine;
Numero 8: Zofia!
Email me your address My Dear & I will endeavour to post it off to you… soonish.
You can enjoy it with Chai or English Breakfast, both excellent choices in my humble opinion….
But thanks to some lovely, generous people, you can buy a bit of comfort & assistance to go towards the QLD flood relief efforts.
We have been in tears this morning, hearing about the devastation that is unfolding at the top of our country; the loss of life is shocking – The Boy was telling me earlier about a little four year old boy who was actually IN the rescue boat yet was still swept away… it doesn’t bare thinking about, my heart aches for him, his parents, the rescuers, everyone that has been lost & who has lost.
Show your support by supporting some of the fabulous people that have been organising fundraising auctions on facebook & around blogland; just some of the auctions I have found so far;
Of course you don’t need to buy anything to donate, you can do so directly right here.
This is the second time I have posted this today – in the first I was musing about whether to auction a drawing or something to raise funds too, but somehow I felt a bit uncomfortable with that option the more I thought about it. Instead I just want to put the spotlight on all of the other people who have already done so much; Please support any or all of the above fundraisers, donate what you can & please, keep everyone who is affected in your thoughts; they are going to need all of our strength to get through this.
Stay safe. xo
It was Le Punk’s birthday yesterday, I can’t believe how quickly 3 years have flown by – especially since these last weeks with Suspense seem to have gone by rather slowly!
She had a wonderful day, full of presents, an indoor playground visit with her nanny, surprises (the dummy fairy came, took away her dummy & brought her a fairy!) & way too much sugar. I totally stole the birthday pancakes idea… thanks Kate!
My cake making efforts were dismal this year, I knew they would be & hoped to get away with an easy option – a giant cupcake using a silicone baking mould… not such a great idea when one has never used such a contraption before, or when one has an incredibly dodgey oven… Cake fail. Thankfully, for a Punk, lashings of pink icing & handfuls of M&Ms fix all problems…
Happy Birthday again to my precious Punky, I love you more than ice-cream & surprise kisses!
xoxo
PS, Lola, I think we need to put in an order for a couple more of these fabulous dresses, in the next size up…!
Everybody knows about Mother Guilt - but what about Mother Envy?
Mother Guilt comes when you feel as though you aren't doing right by your children - Mother Envy comes, I think, when you feel you aren't doing right by your self.
I've been feeling a bit of Mother Envy lately; while sitting here more often than not still in my pyjamas at midday, with eyebrows that could be mistaken for a pair of caterpillars that took a wrong turn at Albuquerque... I've been looking at photos of other mothers, reading their blogs, watching them on television and even; on the occasional hurried excursion out of the house wearing baggy maternity pants because they're too big yet my old pants are still too small, sporting a jaunty splash off baby puke on my shoulder; observing them in their natural shopping environment....
Some of them have teenagers, some of them babies, some of them primary school kids. Some have immaculate make up; others don't seem to have any at all. Some look as though they've been working out for years, others look as though they're not against a nice glass of vino in the evenings; but what these women all have in common is their aura; their presence of self... These chicks have got it together and I am in awe.
(Just in case you are lacking in Mother Envy – tell me you don’t wish you were Liv Tyler, above…)
Not the nice kind of admiring "I should follow your fabulous example" kind of awe, but the "...look at you with your fancy necklace and sparkling eyes, I don't like you at all!" kind of awe.
I want to be them. I want to be able to sit down with my two immaculately dressed children at 9.30 in the morning, order a coffee and a babycino and mentally check off the list of 23 chores I've already managed to get through that morning. I want people who glance my way to see a confident, relaxed woman, with her own style, happy in her own skin, who also happens to be the poster mother for parenting magazine.
I know that is never going to happen, but I feel the green eyed monster fidgeting about inside of me all the same, because, well, they make it look so easy...!
I'm not talking about arrogant young trophy wives here either, I'm talking about confidant, perfectly natural women, who are more often than not "older"...
Some live on farms, some look like hippies, some look like they would not be out of place amongst the sharks of the corporate world….
I wonder if that could ever be me. I wonder (hope) if they were ever like me, unsure, bumbling, awkward and often frazzled..? I was confidant in who I was before I had Miss Punk. Before I was pregnant with her more so, I was pretty much happy with the things I did and the person I thought myself to be, but with my changing body, my self-image began to change too.
The things I did or could do began to change, and now, as a stay at home mother of two living in a small country town, knowing no-one, I seem to be a million miles away from the city-dwelling, late-night-working, going out drinking with friends loud mouth I used to be, and I feel like I don't really know how to be this person yet.... not do I feel I am quite the mother I would like to be yet.
I wonder if it's something I can learn, or grow into?
Do you ever get a touch of Mother Envy? How did you reconcile the you before children with the you after?
….and if you don’t feel this envy ever; if you are happy and content and ‘together’ all the time, with an easy smile, pleasant children and a cute new jacket…. I don’t think I like you…
I had such a lovely suprise in the mail this afternoon – a cute little parcel of tea-themed goodness from Isis.
A while back Isis put out the call for tea-themed contributions for a zine she wanted to make, I sent her a drawing & she included it for me – very nice of her considering the pool of talent I now know she had contributing! I’m sorry Isis love – my Miss Teapot is positively outclassed!
Anywho – the finished zine is A M A Z I N G. Beautiful, cute, funky, clever & just… well… just my cup of tea. There are tea-themed crafts to make, reviews to read, recipes to drool over, stories to savour… I can’t believe how much dear Isis has been able to fit into this little gem & just how fabulous it all is. Truly! Perfect for sitting down in your favourite armchair with an iced vovo, & yes; a cup of tea. You might need a pot of tea actually, if you plan on getting through everything in just one sitting.
If you would like to see for yourself, you can buy it here for just $5 AND you get a free tea-themed badge!
If you are feeling lucky, you might want to tell me what your favourite drop of tea is in the comments below. I have two copies of this tea-riffic (ha! I kill me!) little zine & I’m giving one away. I’m keeping the badge though. Sorry.
I really, really do!
Hello! I’ve missed you! I’ve also missed sewing & leaving the house!
Yesterday I got to sew for a couple of hours while The Boy bounced a sleeping Suspense & it was WONDERFUL. Of course, finishing a couple of sewing projects put me in mind of blogging, so here I am. Ironically I don’t have a good photo to share of the Christmas stockings I whipped up yesterday because I am QUICKLY typing this in a stolen moment, but I just wanted to pop in & wish each & every one of you a fabulous & very merry Christmas!
It’s been an eventful year here in the Punky household & I have been lucky enough to share everything with you guys! I got my licence! I moved into our little cottage! I had a baby boy! Most importantly though I found some cool stuff at opshops…! ;)
Thank you everyone, fellow bloggers, sweetest readers & quiet lurkers, for being here for me to ‘talk’ to. For listening to my whinges, rejoicing in my happiness & over-inflating my ego when my various crafty pursuits turn out okay. You rock kids. You do.
Hopefully I’ll be getting back into the swing of normal life in the new year & will be back here, writing & whinging & laughing with you all, but until then, have a wonderful holiday with your family, relax & soak up the magic that is Christmas & this most beautiful time of the year!
Merry Christmas everyone, with much love from Vic, The Boy, Le Punk & Suspense.
xo
