Crafting

Something I’m not too fond of is making crafty type things. Ok, I actually like making crafts, but not so much with my kids. Yes, I know that this qualifies me for worst parent of the year, but making crafts that actually look good* with a four year old can be very frustrating at the best of times. If we’re just painting or doing something where the end result doesn’t really matter everything is fine, but things that are more complicated rarely end up being fun for anyone…well, in my house anyway and we all tend to be a bit stubborn around here. Despite all that I still do the more complicated crafts once in a while and yesterday was one of those times and we made a home made advent calendar.

When I was younger my mother always made an advent calendar on a big piece of bristol board and cut out 25 different Christmas shapes which we would pick out of a bag each morning until Christmas. I loved doing this as a kid and thought my kids might like it too.

For some reason finding bristol board around here isn’t as easy as it was in Nova Scotia and yesterday I had no luck so I ended up buying an artist canvas. I also bought some tags and a gift bag to cut the 25 shapes out of, glitter glue pens and stickers for decorating, and a ruler.

Normally I would just go to town and draw my plan out directly on the canvas, but because crooked lines and oddly measured things are also a normal thing for me I decided to do a smaller calendar – to scale – on a piece of paper. I worked out all the measurements and everything fell into place nicely.

Then it was time to translate this to the canvas.

At this point I realized that all that “to scale” measuring did me no good because the 5 boxes that were supposed to be 7×7 cm ended up being four 7×7 and one 7.5×7.6 cm.

A little adjusting here and there and all the boxes ended up being somewhat even.

Next my helpful assistant came and we decorated the frame with stickers.

The glitter was next and I managed to run out of red and had to finish the date boxes with a dark orange, but you don’t even notice so I guess that’s OK.

Now we cut the 25 shapes out.

I ended up only having 22 or something so I went out later and bought a few more tags and we’re all set now.

This is the point where I realize that my other daughter who woke up from her nap half way through the decorating is suddenly too quiet. I turn around to find that she had gotten into some markers and had helped herself to a snack. A snack which just happened to be the last double chocolate muffin we were saving for Andy.

Then we left the calendar to dry over night and the next morning we had a fancy pants advent calendar that will hopefully last for a few years.

I think E is going to love this little tradition as much as I did. We already had a “practice run” and she can’t wait to do the first one tomorrow morning.

*I know. I know. Crafts with kids don’t have to “look good” and I’m not some nazi about it or anything, but sometimes when you put a lot of effort into making something it’s nice to have it come out looking like more then a bunch of scribbles, paint blobs and random bits and pieces glued everywhere.

Hooray!

I was not able to vote in this election because I am not yet an Australian citizen, but I am so glad the rest of the country got it right!

New Plan

I went to the meeting for E’s preschool tonight. I’m now the treasurer. I caved. I couldn’t help it, no one was putting their hand up for anything so first I said I would be secretary and then I also volunteered for treasurer, but you can’t be two things so someone else took secretary and there you go. I have never done anything like this before in my life. Should be an interesting year.

Not a humping marsupial in sight.

On Saturday we decided to take the train to Melbourne to see the Myer window Christmas display which ended up not being Christmassy at all. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see a peep shows like last year’s window and I was really hoping for some of that funny, but it was still an impressive display.

Too much glare plus too much humidity equals no desire to try to get any great pictures.

We thought it would be “fun” to take two small kids on a train for two hours -each way- and boy, was it ever. Ok, they weren’t too bad, but I think next time we head to the city we’ll take the car so that I don’t have to pick something up/ have someone climbing on me/ stop someone from crying and freaking out – I’m looking at you, Andy/ take someone on a hazardous bathroom trip every five seconds. Although I think the “next time we head to the city” we won’t because big city people suck…um, no offence to anyone from a big city who reads this because I mean other city people, not you. Obviously. I don’t have any fascinating stories about these people or anything, just in general they were pushy and rude, well except for the lovely bearded lady at the tram stop (no, really she was very nice and E chatted with her for ages) and I’m sure the kids in McDonald’s are pretty fond of the homeless gent who bought them their alcohol for the night…

When we arrived in Melbourne it took me about three minutes after stepping off the train to realize that I was in the same city as Justin Timberlake. I immediately told Andy that we had to scrap all plans and head to the Rod Laver Arena just incase I could catch a glimpse of him or maybe there was even a sound check happening at that very moment. The possibilities! He would not comply and I know my way around Melbourne as well as I know my way around, like, I don’t know – a big city I have spent little to no time in so we headed to Myer. I didn’t really mind because I figured my chances were pretty good of just seeing him somewhere in town eating lunch or buying shoes. I mean the city only has close to four million people so the odds were in my favour. Also I figured if we could find out what hotel he was staying in then we could just hang out around there, that was how I got to see Howie from the Backstreet Boys after all… What? In the end we didn’t get to see him, but there was a stretch hummer that drove past us and I like to imagine he was in there, singing Summer Love and looking at me as he drove past and then later at his concert pictured me while he sang it again in front of all the lucky bitc…people at the concert. Oh, hi. Yes, I am crazy. Why do you ask?

If you’re wondering when I was getting to the point of this post I’ll let you know now that there is not one. We went to Melbourne and my feet still hurt from walking around all day in shoes that were not meant for that much walking. Mostly though I just wanted to talk more about Justin.

Random stuff

~~ I’m finding it really annoying that my flickr widget will not center itself. I have no control over that widget other then adding it and it seems to me that it’s just a matter of simple coding for it to be centred. I just managed to get everything else looking neat and tidy and there is nothing I can do about flickr. I’ve tried making a badge through the flickr site and adding it here via a text widget, but nooo, of course that won’t work. Grrr.

~~ I’m really liking Heroes so far this season, but it seems like I’m the only one. I agree it’s a bit slow, but I think it is picking up. For me it’s kind of playing out the same as the first season because had I not had seven or eight episodes to watch last year right away (Totally legal means. Totally.) I don’t think I’d have got into it to begin with, but then the story picked up and I watched each week once the episodes started to catch up here (Australia = behind everything*). I figure the same thing will happen and that they are starting slow because there are new characters and we need a chance to get attached (or whatever) to them.

~~Summer is coming and the hot weather is starting. I hate the heat. I’m so glad that we only have four or so months of heat and eight of cool to cold, but still – summer is coming. Ack.

~~ I joined a photography/art site in September called Red Bubble. I’ve added a link to my profile in the sidear. There is some fantastic talent on that site! I’ve sold two cards so far and that means I have made $1.50 and this also happens to be my grand total for any money I have ever made in photography. If that’s all I ever make I’ll still be happy about that. Since joining Red Bubble I’ve regained some inspiration for taking pictures that I was lacking for a while now. Flickr just didn’t do it for me, mostly because there is a lot of portrait photography (there’s a ton of other stuff too, of course) on there and while I can appreciate some massive talent in that field, it’s just not my thing. So anyway, I’m really happy Cafrine decided to write about RB and get me started on my journey.

~~ The girls are continuing to grow. I’ll be going to E’s preschool meeting Monday night to meet the teachers and other parents. We’ll also find out if we got the days we picked so fingers crossed. One of the questions on the form we had to send in was if I wanted to be on a committee for her school, you know, president, treasurer, newsletter, yadda yadda – there was like ten or more things on the list. I chose….nothing. I have no desire to do any of that stuff. Does that make me a bad parent? If they actually ask me to do a specific thing then I will comply, but I really didn’t feel like putting my hand up at this point. I’d have to go to a monthly meeting. That’d be like 12 meetings or something.

* Things are getting better here thanks to <sarcastic voice> Super duper “Fast tracking” direct from the US! </sarcastic voice>. Seriously though, the “fast tracking” is good, it just sounds stupid and so I make fun.

A confession of sorts

Um, hi. Soooo…this is a little awkward, but I kind of…well, basically…I totally love Justin Timberlake. Love. Him. Yes, I am married with two kids and 28 years old, but I love him more then any other fan out there does. I do! You want proof? I receive emails from Google Alerts about him. I didn’t even know what a Google Alert was until I saw it was an option while I was doing my daily ::ahem:: Justin Googling. I’ve never really got into You Tube until now either, but do you know how much JT is on You Tube? An endless supply, that’s how much!

He is currently in Australia right now. He’s already been to Melbourne (the venue closest to me), but he is coming back for two more shows next weekend because the first ones all sold out so fast. I don’t have tickets and it is killing me. KILL.ING. I want to go so very badly, but the cheapest seats available are $150 and once you add travel to and from the city it’s just ridiculous, but still! The killing? It is, well, it’s killing me. A ton of money or not I’m still watching a bunch of tickets on ebay, you know, just incase.

The funny thing is I’ve never been one to go crazy for a celebrity like this, but Justin is special. And I love him.

That is all.