Drinking from the happy glass.

We have a happy glass in our house.  It is, of course a wine glass.  We were given it as an engagement present, and it came with a beer glass mate.  The base of the wine glass is engraved with “happy” and the beer glass with “engagement”.  Therefore it is my happy glass, and at the end of a long day designing or kid wrangling I do enjoy a sip or two from the happy glass.

As today is Mothers Day in Australia, I’m having a little drink from the happy glass to finish off the day.  I’m having a drop of a special wine.  Mr Perfect and I have a tradition for the respective parents days, we organise for a case of wine with personalised labels as our mothers and fathers day gifts.  The labels always feature the Drama Queen and Daredevil and we try and come up with a clever name for our special drop.  This year I’m drinking “More Trouble and Mischief”.  We have collected a great timeline of empty wine bottles (we’ve only kept one of each!).

I’m talking about happy glasses because today I’m doing my second instalment for Seven Cherubs Happy Days in May Project.  (You can see my first instalment here if you missed it last week).  What’s made you happy this week?

7 May 2012 – Bigger than expected tax return – big smiles all round.

8 May 2012 – Babycinos and magazines with my little Daredevil – could do this all day.

9 May 2012 – 12 months of blogging, so proud that I’ve stuck with it, grown and am still wanting more!

10 May 2012 – PJ day at home followed by Mothers’ Day afternoon tea at child care – according to the Drama Queen I have pink and purple eyes and her favourite thing to do with me is dance – I feel magical!

11 May 2012 – Happy dances as the Drama Queen is moved up a class in swimming lessons, it has taken a while, but she’s finally getting a little bit more confident in the water.

12 May 2012 – A sleep in followed by a boy free morning – chill in with my girl and a bit of Drawn Outdoors.

13 May 2012 – Running around the wildlife park pretending to be kangaroos, emus, tigers, eagles and crocodiles is too much fun, we were so good at being monkeys that the Cotton-topped Marmosets all came down to the window to watch us!

Happy Mothers’ Day to all the Mums out there, I’m off to have More Trouble and Mischief from the happy glass!

Sam

When you can’t get outdoors

After last week’s weather curse, I’m hoping this one brings us some gorgeous sunny weather so we can all head outdoors and shake off the hibernation shackles.

Let’s face it, sometimes you just can’t, or don’t want to go outdoors.  It might be wet, cold, miserable, and if you’re really lucky it might be snowing.  Or, you just don’t want to go out today, you feel like a little bit of indoor entertainment.  That’s fine, I understand.  I’m not generally like that.  I start to get a bit stir crazy if I don’t venture out the front door.  There’s a world out there and I love being in it, but sometimes I do want to cocoon, to hibernate and to just sit at home for a while, generally that mood hits on rainy days in winter, so I have a feeling that we might be having the winter mood this weekend after the week of horrible rain, wind and cold that we’ve had.

When the winter mood hits, my creative soul doesn’t generally take a break.  I like to make things.  I try to make as many of my birthday and christmas gifts as I can, and any new babies can generally expect some hand made goodies too.  I have a fabric obsession that is verging on the insane, and I probably have the supplies to kit out a small haberdashery store.  So here are my top 5 things to do indoors, when you can’t or just don’t feel like heading out.

1. Craft it up – This is my number one favourite thing to do indoors.  It also becomes an outdoor activity in summer when I can grab a picnic blanket (hand made) and stretch out in the sun and create.  Lately I have become seriously addicted to the sock animals designed by Craft Schmaft, they are so easy and look so good.  I have made flocks of owls who have flown the nest to many appreciative babies.

Some of my sock owls before they found a new home.

I was making owls before I was a Bizness Babe, and it turns out that Craft Schmaft is a Bizness Babe business too – such a small world! There are so many more Craft Schmaft patterns to choose from, last Christmas I branched out into sock dogs too!

The Daredevil loving his Craft Schmaft dog

2. Read a good book – This is something that I’ve had less and less time for.  I traditionally devour books, regardless of the genre, and have been known to spend a whole day just reading a book that I can’t put down.  Mr Perfect tells everyone about the number of books I took, and the amount of time I spent reading on our honeymoon.  I have a soft spot for good contemporary Australian fiction, with Tim Winton being an obvious favourite.  With time at a premium, these are the books I have been gravitating to, though I have just started reading a classic, I’ve picked up To Kill a Mockingbird again.

3. Become a domestic goddess – a la Nigella.  I love cooking, and winter is a great time to try out new recipies.  The Oven being on warms the house and the food warms the soul.  I make a killer chocolate brownie, and don’t mind trying my hand at cake decorating.  The DramaQueen and Daredevil have had some fantastic cakes.  But winter is the best time to try out puddings, chocolate, caramel, sticky date, crumbles… all yum with cream and ice cream melting over the top!

The Drama Queens' Butters cake made for her 2nd birthday

4. Take a bath – Another thing I haven’t had a huge amount of time for lately, but there’s nothing better than running a warm bath, lighting a few candles, adding some bath oils and relaxing.  Fantastic for a bit of alone time, and to recharge. I have to give a little plug for a fellow Bizness Babe – Felicity at the Karma Soap Company has just launched her website and it looks fabulous.  I’m thinking her new body scrub would be a great addition to a relaxing bath, or any of her handmade fresh goats milk soaps for that matter.

5. Cheese and wine – Well, lets face it, these are good any place any time, but they seem a bit nicer when you’re sitting around an open fire.  My sister is the queen of cheese, check out her christmas cheese platters.

Lou's Christmas cheese platters

Most of these things go very well with an open fire and a nice quilt to rug up with. Maybe you could make one??!!??

Sam

Rug up and get out there.

OK, so it’s winter and it’s really cold, but that’s no excuse not to rug yourself up and get out there. That’s what gloves and beanies were made for.  Besides, while it may be cold and windy, that sun is still spectacular and warms you to your soul.  Make the most of the cooler weather and try and do some of the things that get harder when it gets hotter.  Note for  those of you reading from the northern hemisphere, yes, we know it doesn’t get that  cold here in Sydney, but we think it does, we’re like Goldilocks, as long as it’s not too cold or not too hot it’s juuuuust right, and that’s the way we like it

We’re at the point at our new place where it’s warmer to head outdoors during the day than stay inside, so here are my top 5 things to do on a cold but sunny winter’s day.  This long weekend have a think about giving some a try…

1 Plant some vegetables. It’s probably not something you would normally associate with winter, but there are some great winter vegetable crops you can plant and enjoy in your hearty comfort food concoctions.

The Drama Queen’s snow pea crop is starting to power, though her broccoli is a little out of season, so they aren’t doing so well.  Other vegetables you might want to try if you’re looking at some Sydney vegetable gardening, are carrots, parsnips and beetroot for root crops, broad beans, snow peas, Spinach and cabbage for the above ground types.  If you’re looking for something a little more herbal, try parsley, oregano or chives.

Pop's spinach crop

Just try and make sure you keep their feet warm with a bit of organic mulch (try sugar cane mulch it’s a great re-use of a by-product) and that you give them plenty to drink, Sydney winters are normally dry.

2 Go for a walk.  Winter is a great time to check out your local neighbourhood or try something a bit more adventurous.  There are a few spectacular walks in Sydney, one of my favourites is the Spit to Manly, a little bit of bush, and it can end with a wine or two and a nice meal.  The bonus of bush walking in winter is you don’t need to worry too much about snake spotting, they’re generally fast asleep.

Another of my favourite winter walking habits is playing tourist in your own city, and Sydney is a fantastic place to play tourist, The Rocks, Circular Quay, Opera House, Botanic Gardens and Art Gallery, you can’t beat that for a walking circuit!  and if you’ve still got puff left, you can always walk across the bridge to Kirribilli and Luna Park.

Me and the Drama Queen on one of our tourist adventures in the botanic gardens - and yes, this was in winter!

3 Do some garden renovation – lets face it some of the hard stuff in the garden is hot work, and in summer it’s just not fun.  Really, in winter it’s not much fun either, but if you can’t afford to get someone to do it for you, winter is the best time to do the tough jobs like re-mulching, pruning and building, then you’re all ready to enjoy what spring then summer have in store.

4 Share a wine in a sunny beer garden – So you’ve planted, walked, and put in the hard slog, me thinks it’s time for a reward.  I love spending time with friends and family out in the sun, and partaking in a drop or two of good Aussie wine.  Need I say more?  Just head on down to your local, find a nice spot in the sun and have fun.

5  Go skiing.  Oh how I miss our skiing holidays.  Since the Drama Queen was born we haven’t managed to make our way down to the snow.  Despite our pre children promises, it appears we have turned into those parents who stop doing some of the things they love when munchkins come on the scene.  Every June long weekend, when the Australian ski season starts I get a little pang of longing, and then every October long weekend, a little pang of regret that we’ve missed another one. So if you’re heading down to the slopes this weekend for the season opening, I am soooo jealous!  I can’t think of much better for a sunny chilly winter’s day than shooping down the slopes to stop for a hot chocolate and a chat.  Really, I think I spent more time with the hot chocolate than I did with the snow…

ahhhh... sun, snow and skis, can think of nothing better in winter

I’ll definitely be doing number 4, how about you? Stay warm and have fun!

Sam