...and so we begin the silly season

Thought i was dead and buried? Nowhere close - alive and kicking, revving at high speed and packing the hours in with everything from regular routine, kids, extra murals, lots of design work, crocheting, decorating, little bit of shopping, yoging, crafting, movies, stretching, tramping, lunching and girls day out to a nearby market.
hence no posting!!!!!!
i'm constantly reminded that i'm slacking off on my blog - didn't realise anyone read it to be honest (not even my mum in South Africa for whom it was first started!!!) so Sunday night - beginning of a new hectic week tomorrow - thought i'd start on a good note.

Christmas is 26 days away!!!! scary thought especially seeing i haven't written my Christmas cards yet let alone mailed them. But the tree is up, the advent calenders are hung (few too many for our tiny space - but kids love them). The wreath is hanging but the one on the door should go up tomorrow, the card tree has started (thanks T for your very beautiful Christmas card - first one to arrive!) and tonight we went to our wonderful community Christmas extravaganza which is 2 hrs of funky carols, dancing, singing, Santa and a serious amount of bling. Some gorgeous friends were up there performing and blew my mind. so much talent in such a small community. awesome.

Made this wreath last year. love it still.

Also made this advent calender last year. Can you spot the glaring mistake? Must fix it.

Anyway a bit of news, Dave won the hearing for the building of the shed which means we can officially carry on building in said spot, with said plans, only criteria is it is now titled a "holiday house". What difference that makes to the environment, to our neighbours, to the community... who the hell knows. Saving face in my opinion.... Dave and Steve (our builder) march ahead and roof should be up before Christmas.

Chickens are still alive (as is Lucy) but only producing 1 or 2 eggs a day so sadly it may be the end of their very happy and free range lives before we leave for the beach in January. Sad and try not to think about it but live with a farmer so what to do.

Which reminds me I don't think I mentioned that we are proud parents of two wee lambs who think they are humans and deserve to be inside at all times. They are fenced in but manage to find a way out and spend their days lying at my back door and trying to sneak in at any chance. They cry three times a day at mealtimes (like they are wearing watches) and drive me insane but are so fluffy, cute and human (maybe a bit too much).
the farmer who is their real owner came around on Friday to "tail" their tails, "earmark" their ears, vaccinate them and doctor the one wee lamb's gooey eye. Well I couldn't watch, hell I was raised a city girl so I was of no help to him and was almost in tears by the end. The amount of blood that came from the poor girl's ear which she tried to rub against her belly getting blood all over her pure white wool, then she couldn't stand up from the pain in her tail, and clearly her eye powder was killing her. Farmer was long gone and these two babies were crying for me to help them, falling over, clearly distressed and in pain. I txted him all the drama and said I was worried - should I be? - only to get the quintessential Kiwi answer "she'll be right!" I should have known. Crikey I was upset. Anyway he was right - a few hrs later when I got back they were as good as gold. And seem to have forgotten all the pain. The novelty of bottle feeding lambs has long gone for the kids so Kippie here is their "mother" and I'm followed around like Mary was. Priceless!!!

Wee Bella is a twin (not to the other one, Angel) and has a 2 painted on her wool.

Stella took this pic for her school "news" the day we got them. So little.

Still related to wool but on a totally different note....
Crocheting (better called "crotcheting" in our circles). Not sure if I mentioned how "hooked" I am but bought a book on 150 squares to crochet which includes circles, flowers, snowflakes etc. I'm working on a few projects, still the big blanket, dropped that for a while to make Stella some triangle crochet bunting for her room. Finished except for joining them but kind of put it on hold to start my Christmas pressies for teachers, and friends. Little snowflake tree decorations. Love them. Some on our tree!

Kids decorated the tree all by themselves! Not bad! 

One of the crocheted snowflakes!

And that will do for now. I'm so gutted I am missing a HUGE family wedding in SA this weekend. Congrats to Keith and Sarah - may you have a strong, long, happy marriage and stax of kids to haunt you!!!!! ha ha would soooo love to be there. Happy days....